Avengers Assemble

Four arrogant, beefed-up men, one curvaceous woman, and an individual with severe anger management issues for comedy value. How could Avengers Assemble be anything other than a success? If you saw, and enjoyed, any one of the previous Marvel films (see Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America or, dare I say it, The Incredible Hulk) chances are you were eagerly awaiting the arrival of this comic book blockbuster. With so much at stake it was almost a sure thing that the big cheeses at Marvel Studios were going to let us down somehow, but after churning out some of the best films of the past four years it would seem Marvel have done the impossible. They have successfully produced the coolest, biggest, teenage-boy-arousing comic book film I have ever seen.
With so many huge, hammer-wielding, shield-throwing, general ass-kicking stars Avengers is the kind of film that could almost get away with having only a vague semblance of a plot but the story line concocted here is actually quite engaging. When Thor’s wayward brother Loki returns to Earth to dominate all life war is imminent, and with completely unequal weaponry Earth doesn’t stand a chance. It’s in this vein of desperation that Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D approaches our six heroes and enlists them as his personal response team. One by one they come in, bringing tight outfits, baggage and enormous egos with them. After a swift capture of the renegade Loki the team quickly descends into chaos, dragging up each others’ weaknesses and errors as they all quickly lose patience.
This is a heavily character focused film, and it’s in getting these right that Marvel Studios have hit on such success. These superheroes are not perfect. It’s enjoyable to watch Steve Rogers’s struggle to come to terms with the modern world, Thor’s guilt for the errors he made with his brother, Tony Stark’s general playboy arrogance and Natasha Romanoff’s exhaustion as she engages in a final battle that is really beyond her capabilities. It is in these human elements that these characters become likeable, and it makes their final acts of valour all the more awesome. Another great perk of believable heroes is humour that actually works. These are not predictable one-liners shoe-horned in between explosions, they are moments of sarcasm and wit that are genuinely funny and I hate to admit, almost clever.
One key point that Joss Whedon has got completely, one hundred percent right in this film is the balance of screen time. Avengers is not Iron Man and friends or three big names plus two more human tag-alongs and a big green guy. Everyone has their own elements of back-story and their own time to shine. In screen time this really does feel like a team movie, not just a badly weighted spin-off of a previously successful film, without going too far the other way and becoming a revamped X-Men.
Of course, it is not totally perfect. The ending of the film is, as you would imagine, way too convenient to be even remotely believable, though why after watching a half hour battle with the Chitauri (think Orcs from space) I’m not sure why I’m worrying about believability. In some ways Avengers strays into the realms of the ridiculous, I mean don’t get me wrong, if ever a film required suspension of disbelief it’s this one, but I do require some level of logic in my comic book heroes. The absurd science talk forced in to explain away Loki’s use of the Tesseract can quickly get dull, and seems more of a desperate ploy to explain why we’ve been chasing a blue cube around for one-and-a-half films. Meanwhile, the moments of emotion injected into a genre all about heroes and villains feel fairly stilted.
With all the hype that five previous successful films have to offer Avengers Assemble has done well to deliver. Engaging and entertaining this hero film is a refreshingly good watch after a succession of high fliers that fell flat (see Spiderman). My one piece of advice would be to swat up on previous Marvel films before heading down to the cinema, Thor and Captain America are certainly important to the plot and the whole spectacle comes off a little better if you’re already familiar with the characters. All in all this film is an explosive hit with classic one liners, explosions and end of the world peril. Don’t expect to be intellectually challenged but you’d be hard pushed to find a more satisfying guilty pleasure.