The Avengers

I'm going to say upfront that while I promise to do my best to avoid spoilers as I review the movie in case anyone reading this hasn't seen it... although, considering the amount of money this movie made, i find that unlikely. However, if you haven't seen the movie and want to avoid spoilers, I'll tell you to skip my review and just say I've seen the movie three times already, and that should tell you everything you need to know.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I've been a comic book fan all my life. I learned to read on comic books. I can still remember some of the first comics I ever owned, and how they were part of some truly great stories that any comic book geek will know (Kraven's Last Hunt, The Trial of Magneto, The Incredible Hulk at the Crossroads, Death in the Family, etc...). So I've also always loved and been excited by... and, occasionally, massively disappointed by... comic book movies. It's only natural, then, that when Nick Fury popped up in the post-credits scene of Iron Man and mentioned the Avengers Initiative, I went positively apeshit at the possibilities.

Four years later, those possibilities were realized to amazing results. The Avengers is an awesome movie that is easily at the top of any list of the greatest comic book movies. In my opinion, it might be the greatest of them all, edging out Iron Man for the top spot (I'm leaving The Dark Knight off the list because I can't find a way to really compare the realism of Nolan's Batman with the way Whedon's Avengers was really like watching a comic book on screen). It's full of action and, unlike many action movies of recent years (including Transformers, which Avengers is being unfairly compared to in some circles for no reason that I can see except they both have climactic battles set in Manhattan), you can actually tell exactly what is going on in the action scenes. It's also full of humor, thanks to a sharp, witty script by Joss Whedon, who is not only my master but ALL our master now, as he has helmed possibly the biggest movie ever.

All the characters are given the chance to shine, from the way Stark's one-liners zip along at breakneck speed, to the way Banner's twitchiness makes you feel for him, to the Black Widow's combination of bad-assitude and vulnerability. Thor's sheer power, mixed with his inner struggle over his love for his brother versus what that douchenozzle brother is doing is great (although a little woodenly-acted), and the way Captain America steps up into leadership when it counts is just thrilling. The only character, it can be argued, who gets short-shrifted is Hawkeye, but even he gets some real bad-ass moments.

The real star, though, is the Hulk. While his appearances are kept limited to the end of the movie, they are well and truly worth the wait.

Just like The Avengers was worth the wait. It's not a perfect movie, of course, but for me at least, it came as close as I could have wanted. And if the mid-credit scene is any indication, there's a lot more coming down the pipe that will be worth the wait as well. As long as the wait doesn't kill me first.

UPDATE: I realize I forgot to really discuss the insane box office haul, so just to cover that base, I'm going to let this picture speak far more eloquently than I ever could.