The Avengers

It's no surprise that The Avengers operates like a well-oiled machine. After all, Marvel Studios has been building up to this movie for the past few years. I'm sure they've been planning this one for a long time, knowing that if they screwed up this ultimate team up of some of their biggest superheroes, the comic fan community would never let them hear the end of it. And so it is. The Avengers is a well-executed and well-cast kick off to the summer movie season. It gives what it promises, and is almost guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser.

The Avengers finds six of Marvel Comics' biggest heroes banding together to battle the evil Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from last year's Thor movie. With so much superhero talent, it's a shame that Marvel has given us one of their weakest villains in recent memory. Loki does not come across as being menacing or all that evil in the slightest to me. He is arrogant, he is smarmy, and he's kind of whiny at times. He strikes me as somebody who wants to be a great villain, but really is just a cocky little egotist who sees himself as being something greater than he actually is. Even the Avengers themselves don't really seem that afraid of him. He's the kind of villain who has to be backed up by an entire army of lizard men-like aliens just to get people's attention. And that's just what he does this time around. He's seeking a cube of energy that can open a gateway to said alien dimension, so that they can cross over and conquer Earth. He wants the people of Earth to view him as a god, but when you think about it, it's the aliens who do all the work, so shouldn't they be the ones being worshiped if the invasion campaign is successful?

When Loki succeeds at stealing the energy cube, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) from a secret government organization known as SHIELD seeks out some of the world's greatest superheroes, so that they can counter that threat. The team that he gathers to make up the Avengers includes Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson). Characters like Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Hulk need no introduction, as they have appeared in many successful film and TV projects. Hawkeye and Black Widow will be less known to those who don't frequent the world of comics, and this is most likely why they don't get quite as much screen time as the first four. That doesn't mean they're wasted, or given little to do. As a matter of fact, one of things that impressed me about the film is how well it balances its large cast of superpowered characters, and gives each of them a turn in the spotlight to show off their powers.

As the heroes assemble, they quickly learn that they have to face their own egos and work together if they will succeed. Iron Man is a snarky loner, who doesn't seem to embrace the whole team mentality at first. Captain America is literally from another time and place, and doesn't quite fit in to modern society. And Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) has that whole anger issue he's been working on for a while. The movie is just as concerned with the heroes battling their own egos and issues as it is with them fighting aliens from space, so it's a good thing they're played by some strong actors. Downey, Evans, and Hemsworth all step easily back into their roles, especially Downey, who easily gets some of the best lines and moments in the film. Ruffalo is the third actor to take on the role of Bruce Banner in roughly 10 years, and is probably the best. As for Renner and Johansson, their roles are more physical, and they impress the most when they are showing their skills in their action scenes (he as an expert archer, and she as a martial artist/assassin).

The Avengers plays out pretty much exactly how you would expect, right down to the extended climax, where Manhattan is reduced to rubble by invading aliens. But, it's all done with a lot of energy and style by director and co-writer Joss Whedon. He directs the action with the giddiness of a teenage fanboy, which I guess is appropriate, given the source material. On the other side of the coin, he sure does love exposition dialogue, some of which seemed endless. There's not a whole lot to this plot, but the way these characters sometimes endlessly drone on, you'd think there was. What's really important, however, is that the movie delivers on the special effects, action, witty exchanges, and daring heroics that the audience for this movie wants. It's certain to green light some sequels for the individual heroes, as well as probably an Avengers 2 somewhere down the line.

A movie like this is bound to shatter box office records, and probably sell a good amount of toys to go with it. But hey, at least the filmmakers were kind enough to make the movie itself good. Mind you, I said good, not great. It's fun and all, but not very smart. I have a feeling we may have to wait for Christopher Nolan's next Batman movie later this summer for smart. The Avengers are all about fun, and hey, that's not such a bad thing.

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