Film Review: Avengers Assemble

by Charlie Albuery

As a comic-book nerd, I’ve been anxiously awaiting this film for close to four years (since the first Iron Man movie), but don’t make the mistake of thinking this film is just for nerds. Admittedly, in my opening day showing there were people dressed as Iron Man, Thor, Captain America (and, bizarrely, Batman). But there were also parents with young children and couples clearly there for a bizarre date movie.

For those of you haven’t seen the film (which I imagine is most of you) I’ll give a quick rundown of the plot. Secret services agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Robin off How I Met Your Mother) assemble a team of superheroes aided by Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). The team is called The Avengers and consists of Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and their aim is to destroy the threat presented to Earth by Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and the alien race known as the Chitauri.

As you can see from the list above, there are some major acting props in this film and you get the feeling that all the actors really want to be there. There are excellent CGI effects throughout, particularly the Hulk and the giant-robot-alien-whale-things (long story). I hate 3D; I get a headache, my face is too big for the glasses and it dims down all the colours, but this is the first 3D I’ve managed to tolerate, it was of Avatar quality ---non-obtrusive but with excellent depth and scale, particularly to the giant-robot-alien-whale-things.

For me the biggest (pleasant) surprise in the film was the comedy, most of it stemming from Hulk and Downey Jr., there were genuine laugh-out-loud moments throughout the whole film, I personally have never heard an audience laugh as loud and for as long as they did when Loki’s ‘I’m now all powerful’ speech was interrupted by the films first HULK SMASH moment. The props for the unexpected comedy go to writer and director Joss Whedon and the excellent comic timing of Downey and Ruffalo.

Pros – Hilarious, great action scenes, fun for all ages, great acting

Cons – More entertainment for nerds, no development of enemy aliens

Nerd Rating – 10/10

Regular Rating – 9/10