'The Avengers': Super Reviews for Superhero Ensemble (THR, VAR, IGN, PL)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Moore

Reviews have begun to pop for "The Avengers," and boy do they pop.

The Hollywood Reporter says director Joss Whedon "pulls off a stunning feat in bringing balance to this superhuman circus, engineered to charm the geek core and non-fans alike."

THR:

It's hard to imagine that anyone with an appetite for the trademark's patented brand of fantasy, effects, mayhem and strangely dressed he-men will be disappointed; not only does this eye-popping 3D display of visual effects fireworks feature an enormously high proportion of action scenes, but director Joss Whedon has adroitly balanced the celebrity circus to give every single one of the superstar characters his or her due. Worldwide box office returns will be, in a word, Marvelous.

THR:

This one will not only make the core geek audience feel like it's died and gone to Asgard but has so much going for it that many non-fans will be disarmed and charmed. This is effects-driven, mass appeal summer fare par excellence, that sought-after rare bird that hits all the quadrants, as marketing mavens like to say. As enormous as the production is, though, the appeal of the ensemble cast makes a crucial difference; you get enough but not too much of each of them and they all get multiple scenes to themselves to shine.

Here's Variety:

Marvel's cinematic master plan for its comicbook all-stars pays off in extravagant fashion with "The Avengers." Like a superior, state-of-the-art model built from reconstituted parts, Joss Whedon's buoyant, witty and robustly entertaining superhero smash-up is escapism of a sophisticated order, boasting a tonal assurance and rich reserves of humor that offset the potentially lumbering and unavoidably formulaic aspects of this 143-minute team-origin story. With fan-ticipation reaching Hulk pressure-cooker levels, Disney's domestic and international returns will be nothing short of stratospheric, ancillary streams close to eternal.

VAR:

Crucially, sequences that might have played as laborious buildup are handled in a brisk, straight-ahead manner that quickly focuses attention while methodically elevating the stakes, scene by scene. A new threat of global annihilation looms from the outset when Thor's megalomaniacal brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), arrives on Earth in a petulant huff and steals the Tesseract, the all-powerful energy cube found at the bottom of the ocean in "Captain America."

IGN says, "Guess what? It's awesome."

IGN:

The best part of hiring Whedon to tackle this movie is the character interaction. Anyone who's seen Buffy, Angel or Firefly knows Whedon is amazingly skilled at showing the dynamics of a team and the combustible elements that go with putting a group of people together with very different skills and viewpoints. From Steve Rogers' no-nonsense approach, to Tony Stark's humorous narcissism, to Thor's straight-laced, otherworldly focus, each character feels dead on, and it's almost as fun to see them in the midst of an argument aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier as it is to watch them actually take to the streets and fight either mutual enemies or one another - Yes, as is comic book tradition when superheroes first meet, there is more than one hero vs. hero battle along the way, most of them ridiculously fun.

The Playlist is the only one in the bunch here with a gripe, saying, "The first scene of 'The Avengers' is not very good...there's something off about the execution: it's stilted, awkward and humorless, and the action is pretty uninvolving, with a TV-level of scope."

However, the site allows, "that opening scene is by some distance the worst thing in the film. In fact, it's a complete anomaly, because for 95% of its running time, 'The Avengers' is thrilling, hilarious and brilliantly executed. It's not just the best Marvel movie to date (although it is that), and it's not just in the very top tier of superhero movies (although it is), but it's one of the most all-around satisfying summer blockbusters since God-knows-when."

Related Links

The Avengers: Film Review (THR)
Marvel's The Avengers (VAR, sub)
The Avengers Review (IGN)
Review: Marvel's 'The Avengers' Is Immensely Satisfying, Entirely Thrilling & Possibly The Best Superhero Movie Yet (PL)