The Avengers - 4 stars

The Avengers is the most entertaining superhero movie I have ever seen.  Not necessarily the best, but the most fun.  I'd have a hard time putting it up against Superman (1978), but then that's a special movie from my childhood, so I'm not sure it's fair to compare anything to that movie.

I enjoyed the first Iron Man, but I thought the second one was tedious.  I liked The Incredible Hulk and Thor, but I was bored by Captain America.  After those 5 movies, I was really curious to see what it would be like to have all 4 of those superheroes in a movie together.  The end result exceeded my wildest expectations.

The movie did get off to a slow start for me.  When Loki appears at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, steals the Tesseract, and brainwashes several people, it just didn't have the excitement that it should have had.  The blow up the base and there's a car chase, but it just didn't have much excitement for some reason.  Then we go into a half hour of assembling the different characters. 

Robert Downey, Jr. was fun as usual.  He is trying to have a nice, romantic evening with Pepper Potts and Agent Coulson shows up to spoil the evening.  Black Widow gets a fun introduction.  She is tied to a chair and being beaten by European mobsters, and it turns out they are just telling her all the information she needs.  Bruce Banner's introduction is also nice.  Mark Ruffalo plays Banner better than Eric Bana or Edward Norton.  I really hope they make another Hulk movie with Ruffalo.  Captain America's introduction is basically just picking up right where his movie left off.  Thor is the last to show up, and his is probably the weakest introduction. 

Once the group is together, then the fun begins.  I love how Tony Stark wants to see Banner turn into the Hulk.  He is constantly taunting him, even poking him with a stick to try to make him angry.  Stark and Rogers also have some fun verbal matches.  Stark and Rogers are total opposites, and it's great to hear them argue.  The first scene where all the heroes are together is where the movie really takes off.  Then Loki shows up and we get some good action.  The group is split apart, things look dark, they get together again for the final showdown / big action setpiece, just like you would expect.

There aren't a whole lot of surprises in the story, but that's ok.  Getting to see these characters together on screen is just so cool.  Considering the challenges of keeping a cast together and keeping egos of the actors in check, this movie is a real accomplishment.  Thank goodness Marvel Studios paid the actors what they needed.  Except for Hulk, all the actors from the previous 5 movies are here.  And Ruffalo is so good that I completely forgot that Edward Norton was Banner in the Hulk movie.

The final showdown is incredible.  It involves these giant metal space fish things attacking New York City.  Unlike a movie like Transformers, this never gets dull.  In the middle of all the carnage and mayhem, the characters are talking to each other.  We know and care about these characters, so we are invested in what happens to them.  Also, director Joss Whedon maintains a good sense of geography.  When crazy stuff is going on on screen, you can still tell where the characters are in relation to one another.  Michael Bay could learn a few things from Joss Whedon.

There is a great tracking shot that shows each character doing battle.  I think the shot lasted a good minute or two without cutting away.  That was really cool.  But my favorite part of the whole movie is when Hulk confronts Loki in Stark's apartment.  I think that was the most satisfying scene I have seen in a movie in years. 

There is no way anyone could go see Avengers and not leave the theater happy.