The Avengers

The President's visit to my work site really goofed things up so we were encouraged to work from home.  However, they shut down the network to the fab for most of the day so there wasn't much work to be done so I hit the theater to catch The Avengers.  Longtime readers know I'm a big action fan, a big comic book fan and a huge fan of The Incredible Hulk.

Let me reassure you that this movie does not disappoint.  The beginning is a little slow from an action perspective, but I would say the movie is well-paced.  The acting is excellent and the dialogue is funny without being cheesy.  I think Downey, Jr was born to play Tony Stark and he doesn't mail it in like he did with Iron Man 2.  I was worried about Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, but I think he gave the most credible performance yet.  Scarlett Johansson looks great as always and her character is not just there for eye candy.  The guy who played Loki, Tom Hiddleston, was an excellent villain.  He was powerful yet flawed which is one of the themes of the movie.

This movie also perfectly captured the essence of the Hulk and his action scenes were my favorites.  The previous movies slightly depowered him, but the angrier he gets, the stronger he gets so there is no theoretical limit to his strength.  He wasn't so powerful though that the movie was boring.

I highly recommend you see this movie as it's not just a great action movie, but a great comic book movie.  I liked it as much as I did X-Men: First Class and it shows how to do an ensemble comic book movie without watering down any of the characters.  I think it helps that previous movies were made to introduce the characters and their backstories.