Review of The Avengers Assemble

The Avengers Assemble is a 2012 American superhero movie directed by Joss Whedon. Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evens, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson. It a cross over movie including the characters from the movies Iron Man (Iron Man 2), The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America. This review contains mild spoilers. Nothing major.

I'm going to start with the fact that I personally have been excited for this movie since 2008 when it was hinted at at the end of 'Iron Man', so in my mind, it had huge expectation to live up to and it didn't disappoint. It's funny and its overflowing with greatly choreographed action sequences, what more could you ask for in a superhero movie? It is easily the best superhero movie ever made. There's simply no doubt about, the cast works perfectly together, the actions obviously great, the stories alright, the musics brilliant and everything looks epic. I saw it in IMAX (only the fourth film I've seen in IMAX, the others being 'Avatar', 'Tron Legacy' and 'Iron Man 2') and I have to say, it's the one that looks the best. For a post-conversion 3D movie, I was pleasantly surprised. By that I mean that it was actually the best 3D film I've ever seen! Everything was done so well, it gave the picture depth, stuff came flying out the screen (almost, it still could have been more eye popping). It made the sequences look more real.

One of the main concerns with the cast for this film was the fact that they all play larger than life characters whom most have had there own movie prior to this, so straight away Whedon was facing a challenge to ensure that each character had an equal amount of screen time, because obviously we already knew the characters (with the exception of Hawkeye with his first appearance only being a cameo), and every person has their favourite character before they go into the cinema, so he has to cater to everyone's needs. From my point of view, everyone got what they wanted, each character had a good amount of screen time. My main concern was that it was just going to turn into another Iron Man movie, but it didn't, however, some characters didn't get as much screen time as they could have, mostly Thor, Captain America (but I'm not saying that they were left out, they just weren't as much of a major role) and Hawkeye. Hawkeye is a victim of the story, even though part of the story revolves partially around him, he isn't used to the best that he could be.Jeremy Renner plays him brilliantly and the lack of Hawkeye at the beginning is made up by the end because he makes a bow and arrow look extremely cool. The two main stars are Iron Man and Bruce Banner/The Hulk. Downey Jr and Ruffalo are brilliant, both are really funny. Ruffalo's Hulk was the biggest surprise in the movie. He had big boots to fill (no that wasn't a Hulk pun), both Eric Bana (the name worked well for him) and Edward Norton played Banner really well (the movies may not have been brilliant, but they were). Ruffalo provides a fresh perspective on the character. He portrays him as an older, more wise version of Banner, who has came to terms with his condition, he almost understands it (accepted it even), but he still fears his other half. Ruffalo is the first actor to play both Banner and The Hulk in a movie (through the use of motion capture technology), so unlike the other movies, you can actually see the actors manor isms in The Hulk.

Some have complained about apparently Banner seems to just flick a switch and then he can now control The Hulk. I however think that this isn't the case, I think that now that he's older, he's began to understand that The Hulk is a part of him, it saved his life in the gamma accident. At the end of 'The Incredible Hulk' we see that Banner is still in there when The Hulk is unleashed, his mind is just overpowered, and near the end, he doesn't control The Hulk, but he manages to aim him. He directs his attention and anger towards his enemy, before he transforms. So that's what I think happens in 'The Avengers', he directs his anger, which in a way, almost controls The Hulk. Hope that made sense. Also many professional archers have complained about Hawkeyes method with his bow, to be quite honest, it doesn't really matter, it is barely noticeable. Most of his shots are impossible, it's obvious for everyone to see, but you have to bare in mind that this is a superhero movie, they can try and make it as realistic as possible, but that's what it is always going to be, so that gives the feeling of reality a knock before it even starts. Instead of complaining about little things like that, just enjoy it. You're complaining about how he holds a bow, when there's a Demi-God (at least I think that's what he is) fighting along side him, of course it's not going to be that realistic.

The story isn't spectacular, I'll admit that right now, but it doesn't have to be. It has a nice simple story, because the audience isn't going for a movie with a complex story that has to be thought about, they're going to see superheros fighting bad guys (and each other). So with the cast that they have, plus a great action choreographer, Whedon could afford a non-complicated story. It is everything it needs to be, action packed and funny (there are some really good lines throughout the film, some of them had the entire cinema laughing). Naturally with a movie like this, they want to leave it open for a sequel. As could be expected, there is a small scene after the movie to give us a hint as to what we can expect next. Even as a Marvel fan, I was surprised by what I saw. At first glimpse I thought I knew what it was, but then I was thrown by it. I still haven't worked out who/what it is yet. Which is a good thing because we don't want it to be too predictable.

So that is my near enough spoiler free review of 'The Avengers Assemble', hope you all liked it. Like I said, it is now my favourite superhero movie, and that's saying a lot because I never thought anything would top 'The Dark Knight'. It was also my best IMAX experience to date ('Tron Legacy' was very difficult to beat) and although there are a few problems through the journey, by the end, you don't care about them. For what mistakes are made, they are made up for in action by the end. On that basis, I am going to give 'The Avengers Assemble' a 10/10. Round of applause to Joss Whedon, you've done a real good job here.