Review of The Avengers (2012) by Twistedellipses — 04 May 2012

The film worked best when the Avengers played off each other and in the strength of the majority of dialogue. Loki has gravitas as a villain, Iron man is witty and Hulk is treated with restraint by the film-makers, but steals the show.

It does however have flaws; the extended actions scenes aren't all the memorable and are exhausting (especially in 3D). The opening will make you feel like you missed a film and played too seriously for how silly it is. Loki's army is under-developed, borrow an unrelated (and stupid sounding) name from the comics and are dealt with via a plot-contrivance, followed by a convenient killswitch. A lot of assumed knowledge is required to get for example, Maria Hill's inclusion or the foreshadowing of the final shot of Stark tower. Odd things like not calling Hawkeye, 'Hawkeye' seem like easily fixable glitches that get over-looked. The Avengers is great, but the barebones, flawed main storyline stops it being exceptional.