To think we were stuck with all those David Koepp adaptations over the years when Joss Whedon was around to bring comic book adaptations to life. It's one of the best big screen versions of a comic book I can think of - smart, funny, and it mostly spanks along. It does drag for a bit around the two thirds mark - there was a lot of hanging around on that big ship, and in common with many of these spectacles I found the destruction and action wearying after a while because it didn't seem wedded to anything real.
One of the unwritten rules about blockbusters is a friend of the hero needs to die around the two-thirds mark - since we know none of the Avengers are going to cark it, I figured it would either be Clark Gregg or that woman from How I Met Your Mother (who I didn't spot straight away - I had to google her afterwards), and I was right. They don't do much with the concept of Captain America being in the modern era, which one would have thought was rich fodder, but maybe they're holding that off for his own sequel. Thor is good for a few laughs, but he's a foreigner so doesn't have that much stake in Earth.
The meatiest roles go to Iron Man (which is the best part really because it's got the best lines - he also gets a romance plot with Gwyneth Paltrow), Hulk and Black Widow. The Black Widow stuff with Hawk seemed a little under developed but then I haven't seen Iron Man 2.
Scarlett Johansson is sexy but not terribly convincing as a woman of action. Mark Ruffalo is superb at the Hulk, and gets to take part in the best action sequence - despatching Loki. Great to see on the big screen. Hopefully Whedon will make several blockbusters, as I feel he's more needed in the movies than TV as there are plenty of good TV shows still out there but few films.
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