The Avengers (2012) - A Review (Spoiler Free)

I went into this movie with high expectations, generated by all the hype and overwhelmingly positive reviews. While I've enjoyed the Marvel movies, they've always seemed a bit off to me in terms of the stories and characters. I've always tried to see the movies as existing in their own universe. To be fair, I can't imagine the herculean task of trying to sort through fifty years of continuity and storylines and distill a two hour movie from that.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Avengers. It was better than I had expected which was a pleasant surprise. The cast really came together well, with Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) being the glue that kept them together. Director Josh Wedon outdid himself. Seriously. I'm a huge fan of Firefly, but didn't enjoy as much of his post-Firefly efforts, so I was a bit concerned. Those concerns were put to rest rather quickly. Each member of the Avengers gets a solid amount of storytime and development, even the supporting characters, like Nick Fury, Agent Coulson, and Maria Hill.

The story is fast moving and paced very well. There were more than a number of moments in the film that had the audience yelling out and cheering. There's a scene near the end with Loki and Hulk that is simply epic and capture the feel of the film in 30 seconds.

If you had an reservations about seeing this movie, don't, go see it now! I can't give this movie higher praise for a comic book geek point of view. The density of the material covered by the film might leave non-comic book geeks a bit lost, but it is a sweet reward to any Avengers fans.