Avenging My Hopes - The (Short/Spoiler-free) Avenger's Movie Review

I have to admit it.  I was a little worried.  Marvel has been doing a great job with the lead up to The Avengers with almost all of the related movies that have come before being good.  Often, really good.  Iron Man was great, The Incredible Hulk was pretty good, Iron Man 2 was better than the sum of it's parts, and then Thor and Captain America were really awesome last summer.  The ground work had been laid and with so many of the principle characters coming back for the big team-up movie with an incredible director, it honestly made me nervous.  Sometimes too much of a good thing doesn't work out the way you want it to.  But, they showed me that my apprehension was not warranted.  What they gave us all was something incredible.  Joss Whedon has never done as well with his work as he should.  He is an amazing creator, but so much of it has flown under the mainstream radar, that I have always been worried that he would never get to put his stamp on something big that would garner him tons of money and notoriety.  I think he has achieved it here.  His ability to get such great performances out of so many good actors is only going get him bigger and bigger offers in the future.  His fingerprints are all over the dialogue and his ability to put so much character within what each person says really brings out the human-ness (or godly-ness) of each person on screen.  It reminded me of the best parts of Buffy or Firefly in that way.  The actors themselves did wonderful with not really a bad performance to speak of, though Banner was a little off at times and Maria Hill was very stiff.  The action...well, the action was incredible.  I saw it in 3D and there were some breathtaking moments though I think that 2D will be amazing too.  The story is tight and easy enough to follow and though it is not overly complicated, it is a lot of fun with lots of nods to things we have seen before in the comics, but also bringing a unique tale to the screen.  In the end, it lead to a great movie and easily one of the best super hero movies ever made.  I want to see it again.  No...I have to see it again.  Oh and wait until all the credits are over for the one of the best scenes in the movie.  There is a within the credits coda, but I think only die hard Marvel Comics fans will really appreciate it.  Anyway, go see The Avengers.  You will be very glad you did.