The Avengers [M]

The tessarect is an unfathomable source of power that is currently residing on Earth in the hands of Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. But disaster strikes when Loki, an exiled Norse god now armed with the Chitauri, an alien army, comes down and steals it to help him subjugate Earth in vengeance. Desperate to get it back, Nick Fury re-activates the Avengers Initiative: bringing together a team of special heroes including Tony Stark (Iron Man), Natasha Romanoff (The Black Widow), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Bruce Banner (The Hulk), and the Norse god Thor to find the tessarect before Loki can take over the world with it. 

This was no League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I have to say that there is something really appealing about bringing all these different heroes and characters together out of context and seeing what happens… a lot of egos flying around is what happens! Nevertheless, I found The Avengers to be a very good action film and a wonderful source of mindless brain candy. Seriously, the script may sound long-winded with a plot that really needs to be focused on, but it really just boils down to revenge; a bad guy not from our world planning to take it over and a bunch of superheroes fight against him. It’s as easy as that. 

The tessarect is an unfathomable source of power that is currently residing on Earth in the hands of Nick Fury, director of S.H.I.E.L.D. But disaster strikes when Loki, an exiled Norse god now armed with the Chitauri, an alien army, comes down and steals it to help him subjugate Earth in vengeance. Desperate to get it back, Nick Fury re-activates the Avengers Initiative: bringing together a team of special heroes including Tony Stark (Iron Man), Natasha Romanoff (The Black Widow), Steve Rogers (Captain America), Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Bruce Banner (The Hulk), and the Norse god Thor to find the tessarect before Loki can take over the world with it. 

So, essentially, this movie was your average action-packed Marvel comic superhero movie; it’s packed to bursting with nothing but explosions, fistfights, punch-ups, gadgets, war on several fronts, and practically every other form of action you can fathom. As a result, special applause must go to everyone who worked on the visual effects because they were pretty damned mind-blowing. 

The sound effects people too: they always seem to get neglected don’t they? The sound editing and sound effects on this movie were brilliant and not to be missed! 

And I have to give the costume design people a special round of applause because the costumes and armour that Thor and Loki wore were just beautiful! Really magnificent! 

And then we have the great big-name cast! Starring Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans. Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Gwenyth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, and featuring the voice talent of Paul Bettany, The Avengers was a great movie packed with action, explosions, gadgets, egos, revenge, science fiction, suspense, and comedy. I do particularly like the egotistical banter that goes back and forth between Captain American and Iron Man. Watch out for that!