MOVIE REVIEW: Marvel's The Avengers - Contains Spoilers

Here's a raw review for Marvel's The Avengers which might contain minor spoilers. The film comes from Walt Disney Pictures Philippines and is now showing in theaters everywhere.

And no your "oh my god you spoiled the movie for me" angry rants aren't welcome here because I've had enough of that from the social networking sites the past few days.

So on to the review itself. The film is firstly directed by Joss Whedon who also wrote the script together with writer Zak Penn. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlet Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg, Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

OVERALL: It's a good solid action movie with a lot of fan-service moments and even funnier scenes. It's got a tinge of drama thrown into the mix and offers tons of Avengers level action moments for each and every member of the team. There's a new powerful mystery villain that this newly minted superhero group must face down the road or in a few years which was totally excellent. The film has some nice visuals that will make you go "wow" and the final battle looks awesome. The cast definitely got their characters down right including newcomer Mark Ruffalo who replaces Ed Norton as Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk. The down side about this is that there are some plot points in the film that are not fully resolved or given any semblance of closure. Believe it or not, the 3D in this movie works well as compared to what we've seen in the film "Thor".

Now that ends the "safe" part of the review. If you feel like not getting any form of spoilers I suggest you turn back now.



Let's elaborate more on the good points of this film shall we?

Not sure if the Filipino IMAX watchers got this limited edition poster during the midnight screening...

Each character had a chance to shine in this movie. Scarlet Johannson in particular played a great Black Widow, which was a far cry from what she went through in Iron Man 2. Together with Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye who was for the first half of the film one of the bad guys, the two showed not just their team mates but the rest of the viewers that you don't have to have super powers to become awesome, a life lesson that people seem to forget these days.

The film's humor is definitely present. one can even say that they managed to transfer the humor from the first "Iron Man" movie and neatly integrate it into the film. I can even say that the funny bits were done with such comedic timing that everything can appreciate it; such as Hulk punching Thor after taking out a leviathan or Agent Coulson going all fanboy at the mere sight of Captain America.

Special props needs to be mentioned. If you're the type of viewer that has the compulsion to look out for interesting characters the the Hulk is the character to look forward to seeing. Second is of course Iron Man. While thats being said it doesn't mean that your favorite characters are still actively participating throughout the movie.

Fans of the previous Marvel Studios movies should also expect the same all-out action that they've all known and loved. This time though, you should magnify your expectations to the highest level because the film definitely packs a punch.

The screening I attended was held in Greenbelt 3 and I certainly enjoyed the 3D version of the film. As I've mentioned earlier it would be a great idea to catch the film in 3D format and it can totally add spice into the whole movie's visuals. 3D really worked well for me in the scenes involving Hawkeye's arrows as well as when the Chitauri's cruisers chase down Iron Man in mid-air.

Storywise, it felt complete but at the same time it also felt lacking or in our local language "bitin". Don't get me wrong its an awesome movie but because of its sheer awesomeness 2 hours and 30 minutes of pure adrenaline pumping mayhem seems to not be enough.  But then again, this is only our first real bite into "super hero team movies". Since were still on the subject of movies, its also nice to know that director Joss Whedon managed to tie up threads from older movies nicely such as the tesseract, Loki's nefarious plans and even teases a bit of what's to come for the team.

The dialogues and monologues are also "quotable quotes" waiting to happen. I can also smell a meme from this movie down the line. It's there but I can't figure which one. Just get ready for it.

One witty banter that definite stuck in my head was Tony Stark's jeering at Thor upon their first encounter. "Does mother know you borrowed her drapes" which leads to the hammer coming down on the playboy, philanthropist, billionaire.

There's a million other reasons why Marvel's The Avengers rocked but the bottom line is that YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING THIS.

"Thanks to Ayala Malls Cinemas! Log on to www.sureseats.com and speed-click your way to the movies at Glorietta4, Greenbelt3, Greenbelt1, Alabang Town Center, Trinoma, Market!Market!, Ayala Center Cebu, Marquee Mall and Abreeza Davao."

Also special thanks to our buddy Azrael for some insights. Finally a big kudos to our friends from Walt Disney Studios.