I'm warning you now, you should see the movie BEFORE reading this review, as I'm going to talk about every part of the film that I liked/disliked. If I mention something you didn't want spoiled, you only have yourself to blame ;)
What worked best for me was how each character was given enough of a role that they didn't feel useless (minus one exception) or like they were the absolute focus on the film. Iron Man, for me, had the best arc in the film. I particularly liked how Cap challenged his way of thinking. There is something to be said in that Cap and Iron Man fight for different reasons and ideologies; and you could safely assume that unless Tony is dumb as a sac of bricks, he'd have something to learn from the famous super soldier. I really enjoyed the emotional payoff at the end. I knew Iron Man would survive sending that Nuke into the wormhole. There is an Iron Man 3 in case you didn't hear! Even without the suspense, I was cheering for Tony, he was following Caps advice of fighting for something greater then himself. On that note, Cap says in the film that he sees how Tony fights and that he fights for himself, even though in both Iron Man 1 AND 2, Tony saves quite a few civilians with his armour. I just thought that it was a weird side comment by Cap. We know he objects to Tony in the comics and that;s what leads to Civil War, but they did not execute it well enough for me to believe that Tony was a reckless selfish bastard, he appears to be, but as movie goers and comic book fans in general, I think we all know that Tony is a pretty self-less individual.
While I enjoyed the Iron Man stuff, the next best stuff was that of The Hulk. Man did that CGI look good; and they had everything about The Hulk that I know, From Caps "Hulk Smash!" line, to The Hulk SPEAKING! Yes! The Hulk spoke, how cool was that. Even as Bruce Banner, Mark Ruffalo killed it, showing a man who's world weary and ready to accept his nature while accepting responsibility for what kind of destruction he may cause. I loved when he fell from the sky and landed in that warehouse, he's immediately wondering if anyone was hurt.
Cap was mainly used as a way to introduce a lot of these concepts and ideas to the audience, still he had great chemistry with everyone on the team; and you definitely see him as a man who supports SHIELD, which might be interesting in future installments.
As for the villains, I was hesitant for Marvel to use Loki again after he was a villain in last summers Thor; but with the Chitauri in tow with help from Thanos. We really saw a Loki who had grew into a far more hateful and destructive mindset. Sure, his motives are simple in that he wants to rule Earth (Midgard). He seemed more unhinged, more willing to do things that were just despicable. Loki does a great job of acting as a catalyst for the heroes to rally around, and his killing of Agent Coulson was a great moment. That whole scene with Loki dropping Thor from the Helicarrier was intense, loved it!
Here's where I describe what didn't work. The most obvious is Thor. To me, he was a rehash of last Summers Thor. He didn't get that much time to grow as a character, and to me just felt like he was making an appearance. I did like the line where Fury, Thor, and co are discussing Loki and Thor says "He's Adopted". That was great, but I'm not sure I just felt like Thor was not that fleshed out as a character. Same goes for Hawkeye, who again, just seems to be in the movie simply so they can fill out the roster a bit.
Some final little thoughts:
- Whedon is a great writer of dialogue and women, and I did like how Black Widow and Pepper Potts were as witty as the rest
- Thanos is going to be great in Avengers 2
- Tony repairing the Helicarrier with Cap was cool, like how they show them bonding over something other than destruction
- Coulson is The Vision?
Overall, this is a great comic book movie. I was thinking the other day, The Avengers us a comic book movie that acknowledges what it is, while a film like TDKR will try to be a film first and a comic book adaption second. Seeing this unabashed love for the characters and such was just phenomenal. I know I'll love TDKR, but for different reasons entirely.
Score: 8/10