Avengers

82/100 (142 min, 2012)
Plot: Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.
Director: Joss Whedon
Writers: Zak Penn (story), Joss Whedon (story)
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson

I still believe in heroes

In the last 10 years or so there was a surge of movies based on comic books. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, you name it - it probably find its way on the big screen. But what casual movie goers or people who aren't familiar with the comic books don't know is that there are two universes - one of DC Comics where we have Superman and Batman and another one of Marvel - where we have the heroes of Avengers.

The film is the final stage of bringing in beloved heroes from one medium to another. We had two movies about eccentric billionaire and genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who saves the world as Iron Man, two films about Bruce Banner aka Hulk - though in this version played by the newcomer to the series Mark Ruffalo, a film about Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and introduction to the characters of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye (Jeremy  Renner) in Thor. All of them plus Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) the man who runs the show, are the Avengers.

We saw Fury's attempts to recruit the heroes in previous movies, either by himself or by loyal and adorable agent Coulson. Here, the heroes must join forces to save the world when Thor's mischievous brother Loki comes to our planet and plans to bring in a whole space army with him and rule the Earth. For the first half of hour of the film we see heroes being brought in - Tony Stark's date with Pepper gets interrupted, Captain America must find himself in a strange new world, Banner is vary of coming back to work with Fury.

This is one of these movies that when you just sit down and watch it, you will have a good time. But you have to buy it. You have to buy the fact there is a gigantic hole in the sky through which a whole lot of space crap is pouring in. You have to buy the fact there is a dude with gigantic hammer, a dude who turns green when he is angry and a guy who is being kept alive by the thing stuck in his chest filled with energy.

And once you do that you will have a great time - Avengers is fun and entertaining and it's one of those movies where you see where the money went - the action sequences are amazing, the visuals of Iron Man flying around, Bruce Banner turning into Hulk and fights between the heroes and the enemies all look realistic in the context of the world Avengers take place in. And all the elements that built this universe - the impressive aircraft Avengers travel in, all the cool gadgets and weapons only add to the sensation of pure escapism.

The film has a fair share of humorous scenes and dialogues, mostly delivered by two of the funniest actors in the cast - Robert Downey Jr., who is simply the master of entrances and witty responses would be able to carry the film on his own, but he doesn't really have to. Most of the hilarious lines come from his mouth but Chris Hemsworth who has much different style - deadpan delivery of funny and at times ridiculous lines - is just as effective, just as he was in Thor.

I think people can enjoy Avengers even without watching movies about separate superheroes, however those are the films that gave the characters much needed depth and the back stories explaining how they became the men they are today. Avengers doesn't focus on the issues established in previous films and spends some time dwelling in the past of relatively new characters, especially Black Widow played by Scarlett Johansson.

Johansson delivers one of her best performances in years here - she really gives agent Romanoff depth and a lot of humanity, which is particularly noticeable in her confrontation with Loki where she looks like she truly regrets mistakes of her past and in her struggle to keep Banner from turning into Hulk. Johansson does really well with action sequences which was a treat to watch - along with Gina Carano in Haywire, here is an actual woman with curves kicking ass.

Avengers puts its heroes in difficult situations and with so many powerful characters who carried their own films and have a lot of issues and responsibilities it is inevitable for them to collide. The most obvious collision, but very entertaining to watch nonetheless, was the one between the soldier who follows orders - Captain America - and perpetual rebel Tony Stark. The actors have really fantastic chemistry, not just Downey Jr. who usually has great chemistry with anyone but pretty much all of the actors. There are no weak links here, really.

I was very happy that Clark Gregg who plays lovely agent Coulson in the series got his chance to shine in the film - he appeared in Iron Man films and Thor and he was always a source of humour and kindness. Gwyneth Paltrow who plays Tony Stark's love interest also made an appearance. I was disappointed Natalie Portman who plays Thor's mortal love wasn't in the film - Portman and Hemsworth's chemistry is my favorite out of all comic book films and makes Thor more enjoyable for me, even than Avengers.

Avengers is pure fun - it has tons of great action sequences, wonderful actors who are clearly enjoying themselves playing superheroes and a lot of humour. It's not a groundbreaking film but it's everything you would expect to see in a summer blockbuster.