The Avengers (2012) Movie Review

***Reader-Submitted Reviews***

Directed by: Joss Whedon
Written by:

Joss Whedon (screenplay & story)
Zak Penn (story)
Stan Lee (comic book)
Jack Kirby (comic book)
Starring:
Robert Downey Jr. - Tony Stark / Iron Man
Chris Hemsworth - Thor
Chris Evans - Steve Rogers / Captain America
Tom Hiddleston - Loki
Samuel L. Jackson - Nick Fury
Mark Ruffalo - Bruce Banner / The Hulk
Scarlett Johansson - Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
Jeremy Renner - Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Cobie Smulders - Maria Hill
Gwyneth Paltrow - Pepper Potts
Stellan Skarsgård - Professor Erik Selvig
Paul Bettany - Jarvis (voice)
Lou Ferrigno - The Incredible Hulk (voice)
Clark Gregg - Agent Phil Coulson
Jenny Agutter - Female council member
Walter Perez - Shield Pilot
Rashmi Rustagi - Woman in Calcutta
Evan Kole - Joey


By: SammyB
(Adelaide)

Release Date: April 11, 2012

Stars:
*****

Hands down the best film I’ve seen all year!! Not at all surprising as it was directed and written by Joss Wheadon (Creator of "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer & "Firefly").

Nick Fury, Director of S.H.E.I.L.D brings characters from the Marvel Universe together, to form The Avengers. Not to give too much away for those of you who haven't seen it, Loki, adopted brother of Thor (to get the back story of this film you need to watch "Thor") steals the Tesseract (an unlimited power source) from S.H.E.I.L.D. The Avengers must come together to stop Loki and reclaim the Tesseract. A very abridged plot outline. Joss Wheadon’s unique script writing style it very prominent in everything he does, and The Avengers is no exception. The witty humor and the awesome action sequences, which are all cleverly woven together by the gripping plot.

All the character portrayals in the Avengers were spot on. Extra credit goes to Robert Downey Jr. for his portrayal of Iron Man, definitely kept the necessary humor needed. The sequel will definitely be worth the wait.

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***Reader-Submitted Review***

By: Ciaran McElhinney
(Derry, Northern Ireland)

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Avengers Assemble: A Game Changer

If The Cabin in the Woods was set to be a game changer in the horror genre, well then Avengers Assemble was certainly one for the hero movies. It was clear within minutes after it began this was something special, and not just for the comic nerds out there. This movie had everything, from the big A list actors in the form of Robert Downey Jr., Scarlet Johansson and of course Samuel L Jackson as Nick fury himself to the staggering, more than impressive special effects.

Avengers Assemble begins as the long awaited climax event to the previous Marvel Movies; Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America. SHIELD has recovered the Tesseract and Dr. Selvig from Thor has been given the job of studying it, however within minutes Thor's estranged adopted brother Loki has retrieved it. Fearing the worst, it's up to Nick Fury to bring the heroes together to fight and prevent Loki from mastering world domination. No pressure on Dr. Fury then.

Josh Whedon definitely stepped up to the mark here. This movie could have fallen flat on its face, it could have easily strayed into the utterly ridiculous but it didn't. In my opinion, Whedon was key to this. Every scene worked together creating a nice pacy flow in which was left uninterrupted.

However, the characters were always going to be the most difficult aspect of this movie. One of my main fears was that great characters like the Hulk or Hawkeye would be sidelined to make way for the bigger characters but once again I was pleasantly surprised. Throughout the movie all characters were balanced out evenly and perfectly. In fact by the time the final battle comes, you find yourself in awe at Hawkeye's amazing precision with a bow and arrow.

Then it all came down to the relationships between the heroes themselves. The key to this simply came down to both the actors and the director once again. The dialogue between each character contained a variety of funny quick witty and clever combinations. Once again keeping perfectly with the flow of the movie while developing relationships making it more believable that The Avengers are indeed a team. I feel that there is three phases within the team's development; meeting, talking and then action.

Each character is different in their own right, another perfect judgement of Whedon's. You have the brilliant coolness and enterprising mind of Stark, the God-like Proudness with Thor to the soldier like loyalty and honor which Captain America is so eager to keep throughout. The Hulk was the greatest achievement in the movie I thought, Mark Ruffalo played Banner perfectly and when the Hulk was Hulk everyone knew about it. Again, his interaction with Thor and Iron Man particularly was simply fantastic and humorous.

However, for me Loki was a damn good bad guy. I mean trying to kill the human race was only half his objective for Thor's sake. The deranged half frost king/half Viking also wanted the demise of his God brother Thor. Tom Hiddleston as Loki was just simply breath taking, every scene he was in sent a shiver down my spine and I swear the air around me turned cold (on second thought, maybe that was just the air conditioning!). Nonetheless nothing should be taken away from his performance as Loki.

This by far was Marvel's A) biggest project and B) greatest achievement. From now on when a new hero movie comes out, for example the eagerly awaited new Dark Knight Rises movie, will be overshadowed by Avengers Assemble.

"Was it good?"
"Yes, it was."
"Bet you it was nowhere near as good as Avengers Assemble."

This movie was certainly the game changer for heroes now, no two questions about it. It was predicted to be one of the greatest movies of all time and for me it certainly was up there. SIMPLY EPIC!