Arpeggi

I'm going to a midnight showing tonight. Too late to change my vote. The Avengers is probably going to be good, but Joss Whedon deserves a 0 for all the trash he has written and directed prior to this film.

Supermallet

Trollish troll is trollish.

RoboDad

Rats. I won't get to see the movie until tomorrow after all (my son has to work tonight), but at least it will still be in IMAX 3D. So I can't cast my vote yet, but unless there is something cataclysmically wrong, I am pretty confident that I'll be voting 5 stars, if for no other reason than to offset the lame 0 star vote.

Dr. DVD

Saw it. Loved it. More later.

Draven

Just as good the second time. Again, be sure to stay all the way to the end

anomynous

Easily best Marvel movie, including all the non Marvel studios movies.

CaptainMarvel

Caught the midnight show: spectacular. Hulk/Rufalo really stole the show... everybody was great though.

MasterofDVD

Just got in from the IMAX 3D show. I'm an Iron Man geek but it was a tie between Iron Man and Banner/Hulk stealing the show. Iron Man had some great lines but Hulk had 2 amazing little bits that had the crowd losing their minds. The bonus scenes during the credits were both amazing in their own ways.

alfredog1976

Such a great ride, Hulk definitely stole the show. No post credits scene, will have to see it again in 2D.

Supermallet

Agree. It holds up all the way through. I'm really amazed just how well it turned out. Considering how much I wanted it to be great, it should have been a disaster.

Although this does make me worry about Prometheus or The Dark Knight Rises. It's just not possible that all three of these movies could meet my absurdly high expectations. Two at the most.

Why So Blu?

Just got home a few minutes ago. Yep, it was pretty badass! Hulk rocked; I wanna give him a hug. It's pretty amazing how much personality he had (Ruffalo) that came through to big green guy. It was also cool to see some primal nuances - there were times where he would stand like a big ape with his knuckles dragging the ground and whatnot.

It's taken how many films now, to get these characters right? I think they succeeded in fleshing them out even more. Thor got to be the badass he always was and Loki really got to shine.

Anyways, I'll be seeing it again on Sunday. BTW, who was the new SHIELD babe in black with the short black hair? She made an impression *nerd boner*

The Bus

The Avengers should appear in IMDB's Top 250 shortly. Right now it would land firmly in the Top 10.

BambooLounge

My vote: 3 1/2 Stars

I enjoyed The Avengers, but my vote represents what I think of it as a film overall and not just as a comic book film. After spending the day watching Marvel films (Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, IM2, Thor, Capt. America, then Avengers), I was definitely in the right mindset for the film, but it felt somewhat too perfunctory for me.

Whedon was definitely playing it up for the fanboy crowd and there is nothing wrong with a little fan service, but at times I felt it was a bit much (as if the comic-con masses needed a LOTR reference thrown in). The story was good enough to get invested in (unlike Thor, which I saw for the 1st time yesterday and felt completely underwhelmed by), but didn't really elevate above the standard comic book narratives I've come to expect.

The good though is that while the film does not elevate above its genre, it colors quite well within the lines. Whedon's large scale action scenes were wonderfully coherent as they maintained Bay-like scale, but with non-Bay like respect for spatial relationships. Other than a few sloppy in tight hand to hand combat sequences, Whedon did a great job (moreso than Nolan) with the action sequences. And as others have said, Hulk steals the film as he provides the bulk of the humor (slapstick from Hulk and wit from Banner) that I went in expecting to come from Iron Man (wit). The expansion of the Loki character was a vast improvement on what was an under-utilization of talent in Thor as The Avengers ups both the menace and petulance of Loki to great effect.

Overall, a very good comic book movie and one of the best of the Marvel/Avengers series of films (I really look forward to the next Hulk movie) with two fun after credit sequences. I'm sure I will wind up expanding on my opinion of the film via in-thread discussion or if anything else comes to me (these are my initial impressions after 4 hours of sleep post-screening).

Also, does anyone know why Ralph Macchio got a Special Thanks credit?

Obi-Wanma

Ralph Macchio the longtime editor at Marvel Comics, not Ralph Macchio the Karate Kid.

TGM

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/05/08...-thor-credits/

same name, different guy.

The Infidel

That was Cobie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother, if I'm not mistaken.

Osiris3657

Will be seeing this today, looking forward to it.

BambooLounge

Ah, thanks. I'm weirdly let down by this. I was hoping they were thanking the other Ralph Macchio for being the best around.

kgrogers1979

Ralph Macchio has been an editor at Marvel since the early 1980s and people still think he is the Karate Kid actor.

Dr. DVD

I thought the scene at the end was the only bonus scene. What was the other? I intend to see this again ASAP, so don't worry too much about spoiling.

Also, did anyone else get the vibe that Black Widow and Hawkeye were more than teammates/friends at one point in their lives? I really liked Widow's scene with Loki (save for one too many butt shots of Scarlett, one was okay, but the second one almost had the men in my audience howling); nice to give a nod to the fact that /

Draven

You did what I did. I didn't know there were two the first time I saw it. Which is the main reason I went back last night

Dr. DVD

That actually sounds like it work as a teaser for the sequel.

Gunde

Thanks for the honest review without knee-jerk Whedon gushing and comic book nerdgasm

Greg MacGuffin

no one's ever gonna keep him down!

Save Ferris

That second bonus sequence was awesome, don't forget
I have to think the actors themselves ad libbed this scene and nailed it perfectly.