Avengers Assemble ☆☆☆☆☆

Warning, there may be mild spoilers in this review.

Synopsis: Loki, the mischievous brother of Thor who we last saw falling into the abyss, has spent his time in exile getting up to no good. He has found a way to Earth with the help of another group of beings who are intent upon ruling us puny humans. Loki is determined to be King, feeling he was displaced by his brother and is the rightful ruler of Asgard so must make the Earth that his brother cares for so much his own. He uses the Tesseract (a powerful blue cube of energy that SHIELD have been tinkering with since Howard Stark found it at the end of Captain America) to unleash an army from another world upon the Earth, and it is up to a disjointed group of superheroes brought together by Nick Fury to come to the rescue.

I will say now if you have not watched Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, or Captain America....just don't bother seeing The Avengers till you have okay?

Oh. My. Gods. This film was simply brilliant.
For an ensemble film of such magnitude it would have been easy for the characters to get lost or overwhelmed by stronger forces, however Joss Whedon is the King of the ensemble. Joss is responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and a plethora of other creations including comic books, and all are ensemble pieces. I was reassured when I heard he was directing The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble as the UK has to say) because I knew no character would be left behind, even the supporting cast have appropriate light shined upon them to make you care what happens. Joss also re-wrote the script previously written by Zak Penn, a wise move because Penn is responsible for the rushed effort that was X-Men: The Last Stand which left many characters behind in its wake.

Each character gets his (or her) screen time with ample opportunity to get to know them a little better, I especially loved the small moments with Agent Coulson where we got to know the man behind the sunglasses and how much he loved working with superheroes.
I also enjoyed Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow immensely, previously met in Iron Man 2 she has a lot more screen time in this movie, some extraordinary fight scenes, and is so badass it makes me want to learn martial arts.
Another new-ish character is Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, who we saw all too briefly in Thor, and now plays a compromised agent working with Loki and who makes Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) look like an amateur with a bow and arrow.

Loki is able to turn the good guys with the use of a staff which has some of the energy contained in the Tesseract, and he does so by touching their hearts. He obtains Hawkeye and Doctor Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard, also from Thor) who steal the Tesseract from Nick Fury, prompting our one-eyed wonder to bring together Bruce Banner (The Hulk), Tony Stark (Iron Man), Steve Rogers (Captain America) whilst obtaining Thor through his own quest to bring back his brother and the Tesseract to Asgard.

However the group are fairly loathe to team up and play nice, as displayed in some frankly awesome fight scenes between Thor and Iron Man. All the fights scenes were incredible, whether it was against each other or the alien invaders, and the special effects were pretty seamless.
The Hulk is played this time by Mark Ruffalo, having previously been Edward Norton and Eric Bana. It is also the first time the actor has gotten to play The Hulk through the wonders of motion capture, and it really makes a difference here. Ruffalo is fantastic in both Hulk and Bruce form, he appears so laid back but is incredibly quick to anger, quite the reverse of Ed Nortons Hulk who was constantly trying to stay calm.
Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jnr and Chris Hemsworth were all rather marvellous too, they have each captured their characters in previous films but here you get to see them try to out-do one another on muscle tone and funny quips.

The king of the sarcastic comment has to be Iron Man, but the physical comedy award goes to The Hulk, I almost cried with laughter at him banging Loki around like a rag doll after said enemy has just exclaimed he is a god and nothing can stop him. They are all very very funny, and this is thanks to Joss Whedon, who has won over so many fans because his work is serious, exciting, but also incredibly witty.

The turning point for the disjointed group to become The Avengers is the death of a central SHIELD team member, killed by Loki. Having previously fought one another they now stand united against the hole that has been ripped open in the sky and is pouring out enemy invaders with their rather fancy weaponry. Again the special effects are incredible, The Hulk rips his way through office buildings, Thor uses the Empire State Building as a huge lightning rod, and Iron Man takes on huge living battleships with the help of Hawkeye's strategic input.

The death of the SHIELD officer is so sad I actually welled up enough for a tear to spill over. However it was needed for the heroes to come together, it is textbook plot development and Joss knows it. It is not made to feel contrite though, again the genius of the Whedon. Death is pivotal and tragic, but it can be manipulated and Joss makes this very clear.

I have mentioned Loki frequently but not the actor as yet, and he is played with venom and charm by the wonderful Tom Hiddleston. With his slicked back hair and pale complexion he is the picture perfect villain, however it is the delivery that makes you swerve between hatred and pity for the out of place being. The son of a Frost Giant but raised by their enemy, wanting to rule but really would have no idea how to handle a small town let alone the world. He is funny and spiteful in equal measure, incredibly charismatic, and those are the most dangerous enemies. For Captain America he is the new Hitler that needs defeating.

The film ends with, quite literally, a bang. The battle is fought and won (sorry, but you didn't really imagine they would lose right?) and there is humour and tenderness. The characters go their separate ways, but make sure you don't leave the cinema when the lights come up, in typical Marvel style there is an extra scenje you will want to see.

From the spectacular battle scenes to the quieter moments between characters I had my hand on my mouth a LOT; I was on edge, I was engaged, so thoroughly absorbed in the story and the visuals. I laughed out loud frequently, and I was glad that the relatively full cinema laughed too. I was pleased to see Pepper Potts, glad they did not forget to notify Thor where Jane was, and intrigued by the friendship of Hawkeye and Black Widow.
None of the characters disappointed me, neither did the storyline or script. This was quite clearly made by a fan, but most importantly a fan who is a talented writer and director, and should direct every film in the future.