Review of The Avengers (2012) by Lloydharrison — 17 Nov 2014

The Avengers and the wrest of the Marvel cinematic universe could prove to be the Star Wars of it's generation. Joss Whedon clearly has a love and understanding of these characters and the source material.

He collaborates all of these stars to perfection and balances their screen time effortlessly. His overall direction is solid and all of the set pieces are thoroughly enjoyable. The final act in particular is unbelievable and incredibly crowd pleasing.

The whole cast is strong but Robert Downey Jr. is the standout as Iron Man. Tom Hiddleston is as equally superb as villain Loki, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow & Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury have much more involvement and most surprisingly Mark Ruffalo is a welcome recasting as the Hulk.

Chris Evans & Chris Hemsworth are both strong also and have grown into their characters Captain America & Thor respectively. However my only minor criticism is Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye. Personally I didn't like the way his character was developed throughout the film until the final act.

And I hope his character has the chance to shine in future releases. But otherwise as a lifelong fan of these characters I was both pleasantly surprised and incredibly satisfied. The Avengers caters for everybody, it's action packed, full of humour and it will please fan boys and newcomers alike.

This is without a doubt Marvel's best film to date and it epitomises the success of the Phase 1 films. And even more excitingly it kick starts Phase 2 perfectly.