Review: The Avengers

GRAEME TUCKETT

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE: This action flick is well above par.

A few years back I posted a very grumpy review of Iron Man. It was late, I was cold, the preview screening had been irritating as only a preview screening can be; oversold, late to start, and packed with slack-jawed knuckle-heads who only wanted to eat chips and talk loudly about every single moment of the film.

So I made my way home in a foul mood, slumped down at my laptop, and bashed out an unappreciative and ill-informed rant about exactly how much I loathed this film about an arms dealer who becomes a superhero, while the BBC intoned the latest from Fallujah and Abu Ghraib on the radio behind me.

A couple of weeks later, rested up and back to my usual cheery self, I went to take a second look at Iron Man, and, of course, loved it.  What I didn't know then, was that a grand scheme was afoot. Marvel, long time publishers of some of the most popular comic book titles ever, were planning the grand daddy of all franchises.

Any one who's read the comics knows that Iron Man doesn't exist as a solitary super-being. He has a whole gang of chums, all gifted in some odd and usually double-edged way, with whom he can make a tetchy alliance whenever the world needs saving.

And so, after Iron Man and its sequel, we had a Hulk relaunch, Thor, Captain America, and apparently very nearly a Black Widow as well, before some adenoidal oik in the film company office decided that not even Scarlett Johansen could sell a superhero movie with a woman lead character.

All of which has been leading up to this, this superhero summit meeting, and the unabashedly ambitious and sprawling two and half hour film that has to contain it.

Amazingly, really, when you consider how many characters  you can add Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, and Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury to the number of leads whose storylines need to be backfilled and moved on here  The Avengers works like a dream, on pretty much every level it cares to swing at.

There are great swathes of CGI action, extremely cool toys and gadgets  the flying aircraft carrier even got an appreciative ''wow'' from me - and a beauty and rigour to the film's design that speaks volumes of the passion and enthusiasm director Joss Whedon (Firefly) and his team have brought to the project.

Have a look at the way the gang's airplane lands; part Harrier Jump Jet, part praying mantis, and consider how much thought and artistry has gone into just that one detail. The Avengers is overflowing with moments like that.

But all the design and action in the world won't make a film interesting and entertaining if the writing is lacking, and it's in the writing that this one shines. The characters are well drawn, believable - within the daffy parameters of superhero yarns anyway - likeable, and quite credibly set in motion around and against each other.

A couple of early getting-to-know-you scraps between the various alpha-males might be a bit wearisome for the grown ups, but for a kid who's been wondering his whole life who might win if Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor ever had a fight, I'm guessing these scenes are pretty much a dream come true.

In fact the plot of The Avengers  the ''bad guy comes to Earth and must be stopped'' one that most superhero movies end up recycling  is just about the only let down of the film. The fact that the villainous Loki is Thor's younger brother  ''He's adopted... ''  lends a few moments of interest, but there is never any doubt exactly where the film is heading, and certainly no surprises or deviations in the narrative.

There is a climactic battle, the good guys win. This is the way of these things, and we come to judge these films not by where the get to, but on how they get there. The Avengers makes the journey with wit, pace, and real flair. Along with X Men: First Class, I don't ever think I've seen the genre done better.

The Avengers (143 min) (M)

Directed by Joss Whedon.

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L Jackson.