The Avengers [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]

~"Humans. They are not the cowardly wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly and therefore cannot be ruled. To challenge them ... is to court Death."~

This has been a movie I've been waiting to come out literally since the rumors started back in 2008. That by 2012 there might be The Avenger live action flick. As Iron Man, then The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2 and Thor all released, with references, characters and little seeds planted in the after-credits, it only made me more pumped for what could be the best superhero movie made thus far. I love comic books, I love superheros, and last night The Avengers took over. As we open Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrive at SHIELD and get debriefed by Agent Coulson that the Tesseract Cube is "acting up." Not long after arriving, Loki, comes through the Tesseract and steals the cube and takes control of lead scientist Dr. Erik Selvig and Agent Clint Barton aka Hawkeye. Without approval from The Counsel, Fury reactivates The Avengers Initiative, sending Agent Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to get Dr. Bruce Banner aka The Hulk. Agent Coulson to get Tony Stark aka Iron Man. While Fury himself goes to recruit Steve Rodgers aka Captain America. With the initiative underway can The Avengers (yes including The Mighty Thor as well) band together, work together, put aside their differences to retrieve and stop the Tesseract and to save the earth from Loki and his evil plan of war with an alien race? Avengers assemble!

First off this is NOT a short movie. The run time is 143 minutes. For a superhero movie, I thought this would be a VERY long. But this movie never felt long to me at all, thank God. Joss Whedon did a very good job of introducing everybody in a way that worked if you never saw any of the other films. And if you haven't seen any of the other films, SHAME ON YOU, haha. The action in this film, while a lot is CGI, is done perfectly. The fight scenes between the members of the group at times were AWESOME. Had me thinking, wow this film is legit action-wise. The fights with Loki and the invading aliens were awesome as well. Even past the Michael Bay-esque explosions. Hell when Thor SMACKED Hulk with his hammer the crowd in the theater (including me) audibly said "Holy shit!" The humor in this film is great as well. If you've seen the Iron Man films you know they pull it off with Downey Jr. But they also do it well with Agent Coulson, the newly awakened Steve Rodgers, Fury, and The Hulk. Yes even the big green man elicited genuine laughs out of the audience in the theater with me. The sets and shots are all beautifully made and filmed. So it was never a stress on the eyes. Also, uncharacteristically this Marvel film has VERY good character development. Beyond the humor and the action, everyone acts out their parts fantastically, and I felt myself getting more and more into the characters as the movie steamrolls on. I do want to single out Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, as one of the BEST looking (character design wise) and acted out villains in a superhero movie EVER (I REALLY liked him in Thor as well). It did not think this movie would rival Nolan's Batman flicks, it does. Now DC finally has some competition in the well made superhero movie department. 

The theater cheered when the movie started up at midnight and roared and clapped (not exaggerating at all) once the credits started rolling as well. This is the best release, in my opinion, of 2012 so far and the best Marvel superhero film so far. This begs and warrants being seen. The action, humor, characters and story are all done perfectly. Not to mention you get to see Scarlett Johansson in spandex and skimpy clothing. This film has NOT disappointed me, nor will it you.