When you think about it, Avengers Assemble could have gone very wrong, very wrong indeed. A combination of being a successful comic book franchise as well as a culmination of several different film franchises means you have a large fan base waiting eager to judge, where any form of cock-up will result in heavy criticism and an almost unrecoverable backlash (remember Spider Man 3?).
So thank God that this film manages to avoid that. It's good. It's very good. In fact, I'd go so far to call it a masterpiece in its own right. Everything you come to expect from a film with this much hype is there - it delivers and then some.
For those of you who have been living in a cave for the past few years, Avengers Assemble (formerly known as simply The Avengers) is the combination of the major Marvel comic book characters into a major world-saving squad. This involves (from their respective films) Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as somewhat lesser characters of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). The concern was to whether characters from such different franchises would mix well in a collaborative film effort, in a project which must tie together a great deal of strands and still resemble a good, coherent film. Yet the Avengers pass this test with flying colours.
A great deal of the success of this film may be due to director Joss Whedon, a geek icon/hero/deity. The shows he created, such as Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, were praised for their great scriptwriting and characters. These qualities are certainly present in this, as the banter between characters truly gives the film its spark.
However, credit must also go to the tremendous cast as well. Downey Jr. is perhaps the highlight as quick-witted Tony Stark, but everyone has their moment to shine - including Mark Ruffalo, the third actor to play the Hulk, who fits Edward Norton's shoes very comfortably. Fans will no doubt be glad to see their favourite characters brought to life with such vigour and enthusiasm.
It really is hard to find flaw with Avengers Assemble. While the film doesn't truly come alive until its major players are introduced, and some characters are a bit hard to take seriously sometimes (come on Scarlett, how much damage are you really going to do with a pistol?), it still feels like a true cinematic treat, one of the sorts which come along rarely. Popcorn entertainment at its most enjoyable and intelligent level, I recommend you watch this as quickly as possible.
