So now I know why I forked over my cash and my time to take in “Captain America: The First Avenger”, “Thor”, “Iron Man 2”, and “Planet Hulk” over the last few years. I must have known “The Avengers” would be worth it….and man it is completely worth it. Joss Whedon completely nailed it and in my opinion has set the new standard for super hero/action films. Definitely psyched I had the chance to check this one out early – you all should get out there this weekend. First of all, the casting is genius. Robert Downey Jr. brings out the immature wise-guy in Iron Man and Chris Evans shows that Captain America can be sort of a stiff. I don’t care how hot Scarlett Johansson is, she never blinks as Black Widow and I seriously would not cross her. Second, the characters are believable in a way that’s loyal to the original comic books and the dialogue is great. (It does not sound like Tosh.0 making fun of an action movie.) Some of the best scenes are when the heroes are just sitting around busting on each other. Some might say there is too much focus on Iron Man. True, Robert Downey Jr. gets some of the best dialogue and his character is probably the best written, but The Hulk really steals the show in my opinion. I give the flick serious props here because The Hulk has been hard to get right over the years, and sometimes I’m even tempted to make fun of The Hulk. But Mark Ruffalo plays it perfectly…that tension between wanting to “behave” when he’s Bruce Banner and then finally letting it rip when The Hulk just has to take over. I can say that the film takes a bit too long to get going. And while Loki is a very solid villain, the Chitauri-alien things aren’t that great. I don’t think anyone will remember them long-term. In these films I always like the hero-on-hero fights best anyway; that’s the only way you can compare their powers! (No matter how old you are, we all talk about who’s the toughest.) Even so, the final battle scene is completely epic. Whedon even pauses for a few laughs without losing any momentum/energy whatsoever. I think a good film school project would be to analyze what makes “The Avengers” so much better than the earlier Marvel comic movies. I definitely want to look into schools that allow independent study projects!

~Ike