Done!
So The Avengers. This movie shouldn’t be as good as it is, inheriting as it does so many heroes and through lines. Yet Whedon is a smart storyteller and one of the best in the business at forging believable group dynamics, as we saw in Buffy, Firefly, etc. He manages to juggle all these larger-than-life characters and funnel them into a tonally coherent narrative.
Now, because it’s so busy it can’t possibly be as agile or as dramatically efficient as a one-off like Iron Man or Winter Soldier but it’s still darn impressive. Every hero gets his or her day in the sun, so to speak, with Tony and especially Bruce getting the best stuff. In fact, and this is something I really noticed during this watch, whenever the banter ended and the fights began, I was a little disappointed. As well-organized and exciting as the action sequences in The Avengers are, I think I like the scenes of Tony and Bruce in the lab, or Tony and Pepper teasing each other, or Coulson geeking out over Cap, more.
In fact I’d say the climactic battle could shed about 5 minutes and be the better for it — although that panning shot of all the heroes is pure fanboy fuel :)
Overall, The Avengers does everything well or, at the very least, serviceably. It’s a great popcorn flick with fist-pumping action, a great sense of humor, and a collection of really nice character moments. It doesn’t hit the dramatic high notes of the best superhero movies and its plot is a little unwieldy but it’s still among the best the MCU has on offer.
7/10
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