Less a film and more of a commercial superevent, 2012 The Avengers represented first major triumph of new Hollywood paradigm embodied in Marvel Cinematic Universe. Idea to sow single superheros in separate movie franchises only to reap rewards in the form of the characters' spectacular gatherings is well-realised by Joss Whedon, director or co-writer known for his geekish credentials, as well as good strorytelling and character creation in TV shows like Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse. The plot tells about evil alien race of Chitauri threatening world with invasion with the help of Norse god Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston), after which Captain America (played by Chris Evans), Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.), dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo) and Natascha Romanoff (played by Scarlett Johansson) join forces with Loki's brother Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) to prevent catastrophe, which would culminate in an epic Battle of New York. With major characters already established and unburdened with time-consuming origin stories (with Hulk conveniently being introduced without "proper" film series of his own), Whedon concentrates on action, providing good interplay among rival superheros and some interesting action scenes. The ending, although spectacular, shows limits of Whedon's creative abilities, because in those scenes CGI mayhem proves more important than real drama and the final battle, similar to the ending of Transformers 3, is at time almost tedious. Although a good film, The Avengers is reminder to such great franchises can get better, but also can get much worse.
RATING: 6/10
