The Avengers film really got things right and I am so pleased with it I knew I needed to write something (spoiler free) on it.

The film is smart, funny, fully of action, well written, delivers great one liners, delivers great visuals, and most importantly is true to it’s super hero roots, In fact I would go so far as to say that I felt The Avengers was also the only film to ever truly capture the feeling that you were actually watching a comic book on the big screen.

The characters each were able to get their own screen time and each were able to make their own time shine so that no one was left out. EVERY character was able to shine – including the Hulk. This would be the first film that I truly felt that the Hulk was done justice. Don’t get me wrong the Edward Norton film wasn’t bad.. but it wasn’t this. Iron Man was pulled off so well in his own first 2 films that you may wonder how he was here? I would have to say you see Tony Stark grow as a person even in this one. Captain America comes to terms with being a living legend and starts to deal with being a man out of time. Thor is shown as a God among men but still has his failings and a vulnerability that I wasn’t sure how they could pull of. Black Widow and Hawkeye both get more actual screen time and we get to learn a bit more about them though I feel if anything that while Black Widow felt more real in here than Iron Man 2 that Hawkeye is still a bit lacking. This isn’t something you will feel in the film but as a comic lover one of his main points is that he’s just a man and works constantly to go out of his way to be worthy of fitting in with a group of actual super heroes. Nick Fury is shown as the perfect spy master who orchestrates even more than you initially see and they give him added depth by showing that he isn’t happy on what he’s doing but it’s what must be done. Finally Loki is able to come off as a true villain and while his end goal isn’t on his usual agenda in the Marvel Universe it’s not that far off on how he acts in Ultimate Marvel where the ‘majority’ of how these movies draw their character’s actions from.

One of the best parts was that even if you are not a comic book fan – you have it in you to enjoy this movie. While it was full of clearly written for comic geek moments it was accessible to be enjoyed by anyone even if you didn’t get all of the small references that were peppered throughout the film.

I honestly had no idea the movie was 2 and a half hours long while watching it. The characters flow so well together that even though they have just met you can see the chemistary that they develop. You see them group as characters, a group, and even in some cases as friends. The chemistry that builds up gives us most of the film’s funnier moments and the humor I think is what really humanizes the film. It lets even non-comic fans get lost in the action and humor on screen as everything is timed and written just perfectly for it to happen.

Overall this is what Marvel has been working since the first Iron Man movie to build towards and between the combination of the groundwork they have already created and ending it what is the best (in my opinion) comic super hero film to date – they have succeeded.

(Side note: I would love to give credit where it’s due on the image but really have no idea where it came from.)