Alex Reviews...

Avengers Assemble

My heart was in my mouth before I watched this film; so much hype had surrounded it that if it was to fail, it would actually be soul-destroying. But, my fears would not be recognised - this film is epic.

I would say that you will enjoy this film a lot more if you have seen at least some of the films that preceded it, but it does a good job bringing you up to speed in any case. For those of you who don't know, the premise is that a super secret agency known as SHIELD hopes to bring together a team of heroes to combat the ever increasing threat of supernatural forces. Lucky really, because a god from another realm has touched down on Earth with the ability to conjure up an entire army of aliens to wreak havoc. So, the head of SHIELD, Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), reaches out to Earth's best and brightest - Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and more importantly his Iron Man persona, Captain America (Chris Evans) who is still getting used to living in the modern world, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) the super sexy and kick-ass spy, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) as an amazing scientist with a equally amazing angry green secret, as well as Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the god from Asgard, Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Together they must defeat Loki (Tom Hiddleston) before he can reap destruction on Earth (although in this case it's mainly New York, but you know). But, it can't be as simple as that - putting superheroes in a room doesn't make them a team - heads butt, fists fly and Hulk's smash, and the Avengers have a long way to go before they can hope to defeat anyone.

I don't know how responsible Joss Whedon is for the success of this film, but his influence is definitely all over it as director, producer and writer (I think?). First off - it's really funny; full of Whedon's trademark tongue-in-cheek humour and pulled off superbly by the acting talents available. Second, the action is immense - every hero in this film seems badass which is exactly what we want and expect - it's hard to pick a favourite. I was worried that Hawkeye and Black Widow would be overshadowed by the bigger names and physically stronger members, but Hawkeye still astounds with his abilities with a bow, and Black Widow holds her own and pulls off some of the cooler fight sequences in the movie - which is of course to be expected when someone who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer is at the helm. The dialogue is great and the relationships between the characters are well thought out - I particularly liked the relationship between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner when they work together briefly in a laboratory setting; it really captured the idea of having two amazing scientists work together with mutual respect for each other. The visuals were amazing, even when in 2D (because I really hate 3D these days) and although the film was actually pretty long, it never felt stagnant or boring. It deserves all the accolades that are pouring in for it, and my only worry is that when sequels come out (Avengers 2 is almost certainly on the way) they will struggle to match it. But real credit should be given to Marvel creating a batch of films (albeit some better than others, but all still good) that are able to web together to form this superhero hybrid of a blockbuster. What will we see next? Will the new adaptation of Spiderman show up in Avengers 2? Will we see some of the other founding members show up (Antman?)? Will the X-Men members make an appearance? Even if the next film in the pipeline doesn't reach the magnitude of this one, I can be happy knowing this film exists and I will surely be having Marvel-marathons in the years to come.