Review: The Avengers (Assemble)

★★★★★

“The Avengers Assemble is about as good as it gets for an action blockbuster epic”

For a long time it seemed like the idea of doing character crossover movie was a bad idea. After all if ‘The Avengers Assemble’ ended up a failure then it could damage the reputation of each of the separate franchises in the Marvel Universe. Why throw all of your eggs in one basket?

Directed by Joss Whedon (Buffy & Firefly), The Avengers Assemble sees Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) & The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) team up to stop the Loki (Tom Hiddleston from unleashing an enemy threatening global safety and security. Despite pulling together the ultimate dream team, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and longtime confidant Agent Coulson must find a way to convince the superheroes to work with, not against each other.

I can safely say that The Avengers Assemble is an absolute joy to watch. Joss Whedon’s grasp of everything: the dialogue, pacing, action & character development perfectly hit the right mark.
The characters are well handled and maintain their unique identity already established from their solo efforts, in this respect this film is a great counterpart to each of the properties. A sense of humour is kept throughout in different forms, from the cutting wit of Iron Man to just the strong headed Shakespearian naivety of Thor and it adds a welcome light-hearted tone when needed.

Robert Downey Jr. pretty much steals the show as Iron Man; his sharp tongue and matter of fact egotism makes for the perfect anti-hero. Captain America maintains his heart on a sleeve boy scout stature and team leader presence, which is used to great effect to create conflict between some of the more rogue members of the Avengers.

Mark Ruffalo has stepped into the giant shoes of the hulk, seemingly they wanted someone who felt like he was on the edge of mentally breaking which Ruffalo does embody in his disheveled manner. Thor’s character strength of his old out of time feel is played upon and provided much comic relief, but also his bullish nature leads to some toe to toe fights with the superhero heavyweights; he does also make quite the entrance as the God of Thunder. Hawkeye & Black Widow rather sit in the same boat as clinical assassins, but the former is deadly with his arrows & the latter uses her feminine wiles making her an underestimated threat. Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury I find is rather much just Samuel L. Jackson playing himself… with an eye patch, but I’ll let that one slide.

The action in the Avengers is possible some of the best that a blockbuster can deliver. There are two big events and smaller battles well placed throughout. It culminates in a climax of mind blowing proportions and really does set the bar for how much of a high action films should end on What is really well managed is the way the superheroes interact, never does it feel as if any of them is outclassing another in a one-sided nature. Everyone is pulling their weight and in this sense the audience can get behind all the characters, no matter how great or small their ability is. Yes we know the Hulk has unlimited strength and can smash anything but this is offset by Captain America’s strategic intelligence, Tony Stark’s through the roof IQ, Thor’s hammer… etc. Also get ready for some multiple nerdgasms when you see the superpower team ups! The Avengers Assemble is infact littered with direct from the pages flourishes, which will please the keen eyed out there who know their comic book lore

It seems as if what the studio has always been waiting for is for someone like Joss Whedon to take the reigns of an incredibly tricky property such as the Avengers and absolutely own it! The Avengers Assemble is about as good as it gets for an action blockbuster epic and fans of the Marvel series will definitely be pleased with this. All I can think is, “when is the next one coming out & is there room for Spiderman?!”

Oh & stay for a short while after the credits, Marvel’s usual teaser is there again.

Reviewer: Dexter Kong (@dexterk)

Rating:12A
Stars: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston
Director: Joss Whedon
Release: 26/4/2012