Culture

Several years in the making, The Avengers concludes a long journey that Marvel began with the hit Iron Man in 2008. With such a well-orchestrated tease through the previous movies, the question remained whether the hype of The Avengers could be met. The answer to that is a gamma radiated, super serum-filled “hell yes!”

The greatest army of Marvel superheroes ever assembled under “The Avengers Initiative” are gathered to save the world from impending doom when the demi-god Loki (the perfectly scornful, sinister, yet at times hilarious and mysterious baddie) looks to wreak havoc on Earth and Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) of S.H.I.E.L.D has no choice but to bring these fiery and egocentric personalities together. Fury, along with Agent Coulson, find the biggest challenge threatening the world may not be Loki and his pursuit of this almighty power of the Tesserect, but the issues within the team itself.

With these characters already established in their own films, director Joss Whedon focuses on other character elements, namely the trust issues these superheroes have with one another. The cast complies with strong performances and each and every character gets their moment to shine; however Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor prove once again their mettle as the power trio. Special mention must go to Mark Ruffalo who brings wit, intelligence and pain to the hot potato role of Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk).

That said, the biggest star is Whedon, who brings a great balance to all the different on-screen personalities whilst adding drama, wit and some serious action without losing popcorn-munching escapism.

Overall, a kick-ass true-blue Marvel film. It will make both diehard Marvel fans salivate and regular punters feel emotionally invested in a feel-good action film.

4.5 / 5 Stars

– Nick Hornstein