The Avengers
Reviewed May 3, 2012
Earth’s mightiest heroes battle Loki and an invading alien army in the film Marvel’s been building up to with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America.
The aforementioned films serve as origin stories for all the heroes and villains, allowing Whedon to skip the usual exposition and deliver one action sequence after another. The film is nothing if not relentless, but the status-quo ending feels dictated and drains any emotional resonance. That said, Ruffalo does an impressive job taking over the role of Bruce Banner from the departed Edward Norton, nearly stealing the film in the process.