Avengers Assemble - A Film Review

Superhero films are great. You get a guy with some sort of obscure problem and they get turned into a crime-fighting machine, and all because of a radioactive puppy or something similar. Out of all superhero films, I most enjoy the Marvel-made movies, if only because their universe does not include the Mary-Sue that is Superman.

Perhaps because of this, I have been avidly following the more recent set of films that have been released - those following the creation of the separate members of the Avengers. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America - all films that have been precursors to something rather larger than any superhero saga attempted before. That larger something just happens to be the film that is the subject of this review - 'Avengers Assemble'.

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One of several movie posters for Avengers Assemble.

Avengers Assemble sees the conversion of all the latest movies in the Marvel franchise. Director Nick Fury initiates the Avengers Initiative after an attack on a secure research facility, where the Tesseract, a source of infinite energy, is stolen by rogue Asgardian Loki. Now, several extraordinary people must come together to defeat Loki, brother of Thor, and his army of aliens, before they can take the Tesseract for their own and take over the Earth.

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This movie was bound to be a hit from the start: What Marvel superhero fan doesn't like the idea of the best and brightest characters forming a team, especially in the face of imminent destruction? However, there are one or two problems with this idea, one of them being the apparent mixture of genres that occurs.

Take a superhero film. Now imagine aliens in it. Lots of them. And flying whales, too. That is basically what the last half hour of this film constitutes. And thoug it works rather well and makes for some very entertaining viewing, I came out of that cinema thinking "Hulk Vs. Halo". Lots of purple aliens in gold armour against our good old superhero team. This makes the plot somewhat shaky and more likely an amalgamation of typical alien invasion and superhero film ideas. Still, the effect's pretty awesome. In today's day and age, this film appeals to a wide range of audiences.

As far as characters and their construction goes, this film's already set with a full cast. Marvel's planned this one extensively, developing characters in earlier films. These characters, as it seems, can be further developed, and are, throughout the course of the film. They are usually very satisfying in the mot unrealistic ways possible. I mean, where do you find an assassin turned government agent anywhere but in the Avengers universe?

If there's one other thing that I'd like to mention, it's that the action scenes are pretty epic and the special effects are great. The aliens look reasonably realistic - something that's difficult to do when you're painfully aware that they don't really exist.

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So, what did all this achieve for Marvel studios? Well, an 8.5 out of ten from me. This was a very enjoyable film that I'd reccommend to anyone with a taste for action, adventure and superheroes. If you've seen any of the previous Avengers-related films, then I'd only reccommend it all the more to you.

In short, see this film if you enjoy your typical superhero action film - you won't be disappointed!