The Avengers

Asgardian trickster god Loki (Tom Hiddleston) comes to Earth to steal the Tesseract, a powerful energy source of mystical origin. He plans to use it to open a dimensional portal to allow an alien army to assist him in conquering the planet. To stop him, SHIELD director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) calls together recently re-animated super soldier Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), genius industrialist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), and reclusive gamma radiation expert Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). But will these heroes be able to see past their differences to stop Loki’s plan?

The 2003-04 Los Angeles Lakers proved that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. That team featured four Hall of Fame-caliber players and a Hall of Fame coach, yet it could never fully gel and fell short in the finals. Thankfully, The Avengers does not suffer the same fate. The film comes with some lofty expectations. Years in the making, it builds on the individual successes of Marvel’s Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America franchises. It brings together the talents of A-listers Downey Jr., Jackson, and Scarlett Johansson as well as Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Renner, and several other names. Hell, it even led Soundgarden to record its first new song in more than a decade for the soundtrack.

With such promise, it is all too easy to disappoint, and a lot of the credit for not falling short goes to writer/director Joss Whedon. Whedon is known for putting is own distinctive stamp on projects, and while some of his conventions (don’t get too attatched to all of the characters) are present here, he is also appropriately defferential to the source material. His top-notch script includes plenty of humor, expected in the case of Iron Man but pleasantly surprising coming from deadpan Captain America and Thor. There is also a strong emphasis on character development as each of the heroes has his or her own inner struggle to contend with. These trials and tribulations range from adapting to the modern world to atoning for past sins to literally containing a monster within. Even the villain’s scheme is given some depth as Loki is looking to escape older brother Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) tall shadow.

The cast takes these roles and runs with them. Hiddleston’s Loki is infinitely more menacing than he was in his last appearance, Downey Jr.’s stark/Iron Man threatens to steal every scene, and Ruffalo effortlessly slips into the Banner character (previously played by Edward Norton). For such an action-driven movie, it’s somewhat surprising that this is also a showcase for Johansson, who brings a trace of vulnerability and guilt to Black Widow, a hyper-competent SHIELD spy. Even Jackson gets something to do here besides give brief inspirational speeches. He plays Fury (a character modeled after his likeness in the comics) as manipulative, unflappable, and resolute.

Visually, The Avengers acquits itself well. Despite bringing together characters from very different settings, the integration is seamless. Thor’s command of lightning here is awe-inspiring rather than cartoonish (as was the case in his solo film), and Iron Man’s flying sequences offer typically splendid aerial views. Only the alien Chitauri – perhaps due to their sheer number – seemed generic and uninspired, a video game enemy run amok in an otherwise realistic-looking film.

There is something undeniably old-fashioned about a group of heroes coming together to fight the good fight. The film itself remarks on this, and perhaps there are a few who will be let down by this bowing to convention. But when the execution is this outstanding and when the expectations are this ably met, is being a throwback such a bad thing?

9/10