Review: Marvel’s The Avengers

 I have one word for the latest superhero flick to grace the big screen and it’s this: IMAX.

I am a superhero person (you know I have a natural affection for capes and all — oh yes, I do love me a good superhero or six), but honestly I’m not really a superhero movie type-a gal.

Marvel’s The Avengers, however, had me at the word,”portal.” (You know I love a good portal or vortex. Them some of my favorite words.)

Based on the 1963 classics by Marvel Comics, Marvel’s The Avengers (written and directed by Joss Whedon) sticks to the solid basics of a good superhero plot: the very existence of the world is in jeopardy and only a dream team can save it. The dream team in this case is made up of past favorites: The Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Thor, and Black Widow. Each of them on their own is powerful, but together, their power is unstoppable.

Or so you think. 

I’m going to get right to it this time: I loved this movie.

It was hilarious all throughout, often, and often unexpectedly.

I tend to laugh at everything but grown men everywhere in the theater were laughing out loud, including my husband, so my laughter was validated. But it’s not just about the funny (which it was).

It’s a great ride from beginning to end with twists that make an often overused storyline somehow miraculously different by adding things like an open portal to space, evil alien armies, an evil brother that you love to hate and a multi-layer power struggle with a scotch on ice and full-length leather trench coats (plural. And always cool).

The action starts right at the beginning and the plot changes as the characters change. Yes to me it actually even has the big three: character development, an actual plot and humor.

The assembly of a superhero cast probably had something to do with all that: Robert Downey, Jr.,(Iron Man) Samuel L. Jackson (S.H.I.E.L.D.), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Tom Hiddleston (Loki, the evil doer),  among some of them.

Fight scenes? Yes please. I love me a good female superhero like Black Widow. The fight scenes are exciting (when I transport myself outside my typical “mom” self), the special effects are pretty spectacular and you don’t have to worry about anything being believable or not because it’s, well, superheroes. So all of it makes sense. It does help that it was written well enough to make the unbelievable somewhat actually sort of believable. (Hey, it could happen! You never know!)

You can see Marvel’s The Avengers in a regular theater but I say see it in IMAX is because the IMAX screen and the 3D make it so that you are flying along with them, literally. You’re looking down toward the earth from the sky, you are launching into the sky from the earth, it doesn’t get much cooler than that except for say, at Epcot on Soarin, or something like that. I’m normally not all that impressed by 3D movies and can go either way on them, but this movie you could reach out and touch.

My only critique? If you’re going to update the characters and their outfits for a good superhero assembly, give poor Captain America some non-spandex. There’s gotta be a way to make tights look cooler in 2012. I almost felt bad for him.

In sum: I love it when I leave a movie feeling invincible myself. And that’s what it did. Pretty good timing, if I do say so myself.

Marvel’s The Avengers is PG-13. It opens up on Friday, May 4th everywhere.

Go see it. Better yet, SEE IT IN IMAX!

While you’re at it, enter to win my Marvel’s The Avengers Giveaway here!

Like Marvel’s The Avengers on Facebook. Follow @Avengers on Twitter.

Disclosure: I saw an advanced screening of Marvel’s The Avengers. Opinions expressed are my own.

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