The Avengers - Movie Review

People have been waiting for this movie for years...decades even. The anticipation has been building ever since the first Iron Man movie came out and we first heard Samuel L Jackson as Sgt. Nick Fury say the words, "I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger initiative".

He wasn't just talking to Tony Stark in that post credits scene, he was talking to all of us. Now, after five movies featuring Earth's Mightiest Heroes on their own, Marvel Comics, Paramount Pictures, and writer/director Joss Whedon has given us...The Avengers.

The Avengers picks up right about where the "Captain America" and "Thor" movies left off and we immediately see that Thor's brother Loki is going to be causing quite a bit of trouble for S.H.I.E.L.D. after he manages to steal the Tesseract cube (a source of unlimited power) from under their noses. Sgt. Fury then decides it is now time to bring his team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes together to save the world.

That's all you really need to know about the story and I don't mean to say it is too simplistic of a tale, it is actually quite brilliant and well thought out. The best thing you can do is just sit back and enjoy the two hours and twenty two minutes of awesome that has been put on the screen for audiences around the world to enjoy.

One thing this movie shows us is that technology has become second nature to the people who get to put together movies like this as every special effects scene looks as realistic and natural as possible so there is nothing fake or cartoony to distract you from what is going on. This gives the story tellers more freedom to focus on the heart of the movie which is the characters and how they interact with each other.

What was most surprising about the experience of watching this movie was how much laughter there was from the audience. The witty dialog and the hilarious banter between the cast could rival just about any comedy that has come out in recent memory. Even the little gags that are thrown in work perfectly and add so much to the movie.

Joss Whedon is very good at creating this type of vibe with his TV shows and movies as well as successfully juggling an ensemble cast of characters and, with The Avengers,  he absolutely nails it.

I was also impressed with some of the more dramatic moments that help flesh out the characters and I have to give major props to Tom Hiddleston who plays Loki about about as well as anyone could ever have hoped. He is truly a villain in this movie yet you still find it hard not to like him even when he is at his worst. There is a scene where Black Widow goes face to face with Loki and each of them tries to use their unique talents to gain an advantage over the other. Just when one thinks they have won, the other turns the tables and this contest of both will and intellect turns out to be a major highlight of the film.

The Avengers grabs you from the opening moments and doesn't let go until the closing credits start to roll and even then, there are a couple things you should definitely stay in your seat for. In the interest of staying spoiler-free, that's all I will say about that, but please go see this movie, you will not be disappointed.

The last movie I saw that was anywhere close to being as entertaining as this one was a little film called "The Cabin in the Woods" which was also co-written by Joss Whedon so he is definitely on a roll right now, at least in my book. If you haven't watched it yet, please do so.

There are so many "moments" in this movie, you will have no choice but to go see it a second or third time so you can enjoy it all again and maybe catch a few things you missed the first time around. Super fan boy moments like seeing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s iconic Helli-Carrier on the big screen and hearing one of the team say "Hulk...smash" and then watching him go do it are worth the price of admission alone.

As a fan of comic books, super heroes, action movies, and big special effects blockbusters, I was about as happy as a person could be when I walked out of the theater and thinking back on what I just witnessed. Of course, my first thought was to see how quickly I could get back inside so I could watch it all over again.