The Avengers

Movie Title--  The Avengers

Release Year--  2012

Running Time--  2 Hours and 23 Minutes

Director--  Joss Whedon

Cast--  Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, Cobie Smulders, Stellan Skarsgard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany

To save Earth from Loki and his alien army, Earth's mightiest heroes must learn to work together as a team for one common goal.

Loki (Tom Hiddleson) is speaking with The Other, leader of the Chitauri, an extraterrestrial race.  The Other wants the Tesseract and in exchange for it, he promises to give Loki his army to take over Earth.  Meanwhile on Earth, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his right hand Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) are rushing to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility where Dr. Eric Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) is doing some testing on the Tesseract.  As the facility is being evacuated Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) explains to Fury and that the Tesseract is emitting some kind of strange energy.  Suddenly a small wormhole opens and Loki appears, he then uses the power of the Tesseract to take control of Dr. Selvig and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and steal the Tesseract.

Nick Fury then initiates the "Avengers Inniative".  He goes to see Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) while sending Agent Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to recruit Eric Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Agent Coulson to show Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr.) Dr. Selvig's research; each man is given a different mission.

Loki is using Barton and Dr. Selvig to get the necessary supplies to make the Tesseract open a wormhole big enough to send the Chitauri army through.  To cause a distraction for Barton to steal iridium that is needed to help achieve his goal, Loki cause a confrontation that ends with him surrendering to Rogers, Stark and Romanoff.  

While they are escorting Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor (Chris Hemsworth) shows up and frees Loki, then steals him away, landing the two of them in a quiet area so that he can try to persuade Loki to stop what he is doing and return home.  This leads to a confrontation with Rogers and Stark but in the end, Thor agrees to bring Loki to The Helicarrier, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier.  Loki is held prisoner there but the team soon starts to argue about how to handle Loki and other information about weapons that S.H.I.E.L.D. is helping to produce.  This division helps Loki and he is able to escape.  The Avengers then must learn to work together as a team for the greater good or stay divided and watch the world fall.

I thought this film was pretty awesome.  I was told that I would be able to follow along well enough if I had not seen any of the individual super hero films prior to this one (Iron Man, Iron Man2, Captain American: The First Avenger and Thor) but it really is so much better if you have seen this films first.  From the moment this film starts and you see familair faces like Loki and Dr. Selvig's or hear about the Tesseract, you know that something big is happening if you have previously seen Captain America and Thor where as if you had not already viewed these films it may take you a moment to realize how this is going to impact the rest of the film that follows.  Also, some of the jokes between Pepper Potts and Tony Stark are not quite as humorous if you have not viewed the two Iron Man films.  I am just saying, if you have some extra time, invest in those films before coming to this one, you will thank me.

This film is really funny as well, throwing out sharp one-liners and thinly veiled insults or complements in a way that keeps the viewer focused on the film and laughing along with it's humor.  Sometimes it does feel a little wordy but when they are building a story and using six different super heroes to do it, it will take a little bit of extra time to get the stories to line up.  The action is just simply awesome.  It breaks up some of the monotony of the sometimes lengthy dialogue and provides the viewer with some pretty spectacular fight scenes.

I would recommend this film to anyone that asks about it.  I say, get some friends together and get ready to an action packed time and Don't Forget the Popcorn!