Review: The Avengers

Plot:  When Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) leads a band of alien creatures known as the Chitauri to Earth in order to obtain the Tesseract, the world seems to be at the demi-God's mercy.  Seemingly outmatched, S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) decides to activate the "Avengers Initiative," a protocol designed to bring Thor, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) together to fight this common enemy.  But when these superheroes' superegos collide, will they be able to put aside their differences in order to save Earth?

Review:  Director Joss Whedon had a difficult task when it came to The Avengers.  Creating a film with this many superheroes in it could have been a recipe for disaster.  Without the right group of people and the right person steering the ship, The Avengers could have been a titanic flop. 
     Thankfully it's not.
     While The Avengers is by no means the flawless film that other critics and moviegoers seem to think it is, the movie is still entertaining, action packed, funny, and well acted.  Whedon does an amazing job of intermixing the various superheroes throughout The Avengers.  The chemistry between all the actors is palpable.  In fact Whedon blends the characters together in such a seamless way that no one character overshadows another.  While Downey Jr.'s Iron Man gets the majority of the good lines (Downey referring to Thor as "Point Break" and "Shakespeare in the Park" was classic) I never once felt that one superhero was being short changed.
     Joss Whedon's screenplay however sometimes leaves a little to be desired, especially where the dialogue it concerned.  Often times the word play was a little strained and the banter between Captain America and Iron Man felt forced.  Additionally, there were some jokes that were borderline hammy, almost cringe worthy.  I do like how Whedon fleshes out the character of Bruce Banner/The Hulk in The Avengers.  Due in large part to Ruffalo's excellent performance, The Avengers shows a meek side to the character, something not seen before in previous incarnations.  The Hulk, and in particular Ruffalo's performance, is an integral part of The Avengers success.
     Without question the driving force behind The Avengers are its action set pieces.  There were no less than 2,200 visual effects shots in this film and fourteen different companies contributed, including Weta Digital and Industrial Light and Magic.  Scenes such as an early three way battle between Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man were simply stunning.  Credit also has to go to cinematographer Seamus McGarvey for balancing intimate dialogue scenes with panorama action shots.  I also particularly liked the representation of the stealth plane that the Avengers make their home on for the majority of the movie.  However, I thought that theyclimactic battle with Chitauri went on far too long and was somewhat reminiscent of the last Transformers film.
     As far as popcorn movies go though you could do a lot worse than this film.  The Avengers kicks off the summer movie season like a rocket missle from Iron Man himself.

My rating:  8/10