Plenty of people are going to give their in-depth reviews about the Avengers, so instead of doing the same, telling you a synopsis and going through the usual routine, I figured I would make a more concise, shorter post to get my opinions out.
*Note: here's a link to the article I wrote beforehand about some predictions I had for the film: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Superceptive/news/?a=57603
WARNING!!! - Contains spoilers below. Do not read if you have yet to see the film and wish to avoid, well, being spoiled. GENERAL THOUGHTS You'll enjoy the film much more if you go into it approaching it from the angle of a sequel as opposed to being a standalone film. The previous films are pretty much required in order to get the full experience from this, as the film doesn't do much in terms of exposition.
THE GOOD TRINKETS: 1. The humor was great, was it not? Nearly every joke hit very well.
2. I always call for wanting more time to build up characters, but I went into this expecting there to be a significant amount of wanting to see X-person have more time and so forth. That being said, it left me wishing that I could see another few hours of it - a sign that I was enjoying what I was seeing.
3. By and large, the characterizations didn't flounder. Everyone stayed true (with only one real exception in my mind that I talk about below). Tony Stark in particular was handled very well and I'm fond of how Captain America took charge despite not actually being assigned as an official "leader" of the team.
4. The action might have been a little on the generic side, but the quantity of it made up for the quality and the quality in some spots made it even better. It really nailed it on the head in the sense of bringing the action from a comic book to life and really just giving us the fighting that we all wanted to see happen.
5. Coulson's death is something I could see happening and I'm quite glad that it was used as an anchor point to draw the team together. It speaks volumes to how well the character was received that they could use him as a catalyst when the character didn't exist at all in the comics beforehand. That goes to show you that proper storytelling, acting, and planning go a LONG way.
THE BAD NITPICKING: 1. Hawkeye's role in the film was a bit of a downer. I didn't expect him to have much, so it's not the size of it that bothered me, but that he was just mind-controlled and on the opposition for most of it. That seems better suited for a sequel where you can't find anything for the character to do as opposed to the premiere film.
2. Although I get the distinct suspicion that Black Widow's screen presence was still in fact shorter than originally planned, I'm of the belief that she was a little TOO important. The same goes for Selvig. Those two felt a little shoehorned a bit to me. Not SO much that it became an issue to dislike the film, just something that I found a bit odd.
3. As much as I can praise Hulk, did anyone feel as though Banner didn't quite feel like Banner? Ruffalo played it a little too charming and jokey for my tastes.
4. Lackluster score. Nothing that hurt my ears, just nothing that stands out. I can't hum anything from it yet I can do that for Thor and Incredible Hulk with ease.
5. Despite it working well in the movie, I'm sad to see Coulson go. That's not a criticism on the film, though, that's just a matter of me being disappointed that we won't get to see more from him in the MCU...I'm assuming.
FINAL VERDICT: Obviously, if you're a fan that qualifies for this sort of thing, this is a must see no matter what. Not a single critic, professional or not, should be able to dissuade you into seeing this film and making your own assessments. Some people are undoubtedly going to just love it for the spectacle, others are going to nitpick much more than I did and rip it to shreds. No matter what the outcome, it's both a comic book/movie EVENT that quite frankly should be experienced by all those that could potentially get goosebumps the way we did when we first saw Nick Fury talk about the Avenger Initiative.
NOTES ON THE MOVIE MARATHON ITSELF: I felt as though I should comment on the marathon in its entirety as well, seeing as how that was something I was looking forward to. In general I think it went off decently, though my particular movie theater started off with immediate problems running Iron Man, then spent a good half hour unable to show us Thor in 3D (eventually telling us they could only let us view it in 2D), then forcing us to move to a different auditorium to watch Cap and Avengers in 3D. Thankfully, they offered us free movie passes to compensate us for the inconvenience, so they handled that well. The crowd that showed up was both quite fun and a little disappointing at the same time to me. LOTS of people were dressed up - including an entire battalion of people dressed as every Avengers related character they could reasonably do (including one brave soul who sported Quicksilver tights that were quite frankly too tight for him to be wearing out in public, along with spray painted white hair). The enthusiasm in my auditorium itself was very up and down and oddly enough, the crowd became more fun with the technical difficulties than the straightforward showing. All in all, I would definitely do this type of experience again if the circumstances fit, despite the couple if mishaps along the way.
WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON AVENGERS AND THE MOVIE MARATHON EXPERIENCE?