Avengers Assemble was the one everyone was waiting for and everything the Marvel Cinematic Universe had built up to now, was leading to this point. There is so much going on and by now there success of the movies before had built enough confidence that this should be a great movie. That coupled with Joss Whedon credited as director made for a recipe that was sure to be a success.

 

The movie follows on from the end of Thor where the after credits scene found Loki controlling Dr. Selvig. The events of Captain America: The First Avenger also allowed the Tesseract to be present in this movie to be used as a weapon by Loki, but not in the conventional sense.

 

Loki is introduced trying to acquire the tesseract in the pursuit of power and vengence and taking Hawkey (Jeremy Renner) in the process. Renner is well documented as resenting the fact that his character was subject to mind control for a significant portion of the movie, I however find that it makes it even more exciting for the viewer when Hawkeye eventually joins the team and makes the character more appealing and humanised. A movie of this size was always going to be a challenge. Effects and action sequences are one thing but the huge cast clearly was the biggest challenge to overcome. With so many characters to crow bar in there was a real threat that some would have fallen by the way side but with a running time of over two hours and fantastic writing by Joss Whedon and Zak Penn this simply is not the case. Each character had the luxury of being introduced in previous movies and their interaction with eachother becomes the focus of the movie. 

 

True to the name we find SHIELD assembling our heroes. Agent Coulson assigns himself to recruit Stark and Romanoff is tasked with bringing in 'the big guy' or Hulk as we already know him. Bruce Banner/Hulk is played by Mark Ruffalo in this movie having done away with Edward Norton (see The Incredible Hulk). It was a good decision as Ruffalo brings a passive aggressive portrayal that fits the character perfectly. As mentioned in my previous reviews Hulk doesn't work in a solo movie but here is perfect as the interaction between Banner and the other heroes and specifcally Stark becomes the soul of the movie. Some of the most memorable scenes involve Ruffalo and Hulk.

 

Skip forward to the Avengers having been Assembled and gathering on a SHIELD heli carrier attempting to locate Loki and the Tesseract. Loki is captured early by Iron Man, Thor, Romanoff and Captain America and it later transpires that it was all part of Loki's plan to remove the Avengers from the equation so that he could carry out his master plan to take over the world with the help of The Chitauri.

 

Hawkeye under Loki's control is left doing his bidding and eventually facilitates an assult on the SHIELD heli carrier hoping to release the Hulk and bring down the Avengers. This is the first time we see the titular heroes work together and it is satisfying due to the fact that immediately before Hawkeye's assault the Avengers have an argument over on the bridge over their differences and their involvement in protecting the Earth. The attack leads to Loki's escape and his attack on Agent Phil Coulson ultimately ending in his death having made one final attempt to stop Loki. Coulson played by Clark Gregg has been a minor part of previous MCU movies but is moved to a central role in this movie. The Avengers come together to avenge the death of their friend and ally in a poignant scene where Coulson passes understanding that the heroes needed something to fight for.

 

The Avengers chase Loki to Stark tower where he and Selvig (under Loki's control) open up a portal allowing the Chitauri to enter the Earth leading to the battle of all battles. The heroes put aside their diffences in the final act to fight Loki and his army in an epic battle. Here all of our heroes use their respective powers to full effect and it is here where Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, Romanoff and Hawkeye truly prove their worth. The character interactions are what makes this movie shine but to compliment this the action is spectacular. The New York battle is probably the best action sequence ever to grace our screens and it is fascinating to see the characters fight together to overcome the alien force. There are so many memorable scenes in the film and this is one of those movies that is just as good no matter how many times you view it.

 

This movie does a clever job of both being a sequel to Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and to some extent the Incredible Hulk and being it's own movie. At the same time there is enough here to set up future movies. Captain America and Tony Stark clearly have a rivalry stemming from a disagreement of principles. A concept that will prove to be important in the MCU with upcomming movies (see news).

 

This movie was every bit as good as hoped and exceeded expecations in every possible way. The action, the dialogue, the cast and the story culminate in a cinematic experience that will never be repeated, even in the MCU. There is also a lot of funny dialogue here and with the exception of one scene (helicarrier space invanders) it all feels relevant and realistic given the characters involved. This is really the apex of the franchise and it is hard to see how they can top this.

 

MMM score 9.9 almost a perfect movie.