Film review: Avengers Assemble (12A)

IS THIS the calm before the storm or a homage to The Artist, I wondered when the first three minutes of Avengers Assemble played in absolute silence.

Apparently it was a projection mistake, but not one deemed worthy of stopping and restarting my preview screening. So instead of exposition, there were only visual clues – an ominous scythe on a stick, a masked alien and a glowing blue square – until someone flicked the switch and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) announced he was scything up to invade Earth with some spiky extraterrestrial chums.

It turns out that all you need to know about the film’s blue kola kube McGuffin is that it’s called the Tesseract, and everyone wants it but nobody should be allowed to have it; like clompy, overpriced stripper shoes, durian fruit or hosting your own chat show.

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After a five-film set up, the real point of the Tesseract is to nudge S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) into scooping up a bunch of Marvel superhero franchises, and assembling their stars for one massive caffeinated two-and-a-half hour defence of civilisation as we know it.

Some of the heroes are more super than others. Strictly speaking, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is more of a spy, although she can flick somersaults in a very low-cut top without anything falling out, so maybe it’s her corsetry that has special powers. Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye was introduced tangentially in Chris Hemsworth’s vehicle Thor, and besides being brainwashed into assisting chief villain Loki, his main function here seems to be a reminder of what could happen if you gave Martin Freeman a bow and arrow and a course of steroids.

The biggest upgrade is the Hulk, who was little more than an incredible sulk in his own films. Mark Ruffalo is the third actor in ten years to attempt the unjolly green giant and the first to make you enjoy a wry Bruce Banner as well as animating his motion-capture Hulk with a sledgehammer punch to a punchline.

Josh Whedon has pulled together an action movie of real wit, fun and spectacle, with some remarkable setpieces for a director not previously noted for visual flair. So it may seem a bit churlish to ask for some resonance too; X-Men set that standard, and a bit of subtext would have made Avengers Assemble a chewier proposition.

It’s still a very satisfying movie thanks to the distinctive personalities fighting for justice, but also amongst themselves. Super-patriot Captain America (Chris Evans) disdains the cynicism of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), who rubbed a few of us the wrong way when Iron Man 2 confirmed that Stark’s snark can be wearing.

Here, however, when he grabs Hawkeye by the scruff of his clothes and advises him to “clench up, Legolas” before rocketing them both skywards, yeah, I laughed.

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Up against all these superheroes is one supervillain, albeit with a Greek chorus of alien warriors. Since Thor, Loki has become more ruthless, and his favourite modus operandi is to allow an Avenger to appeal to his better nature, appear to think it over, then – mwahahaha! – do something even worse. “I can’t believe you keep falling for this,” he says at one point. Neither can we, but Hiddleston’s gleeful performance makes him the most fun villain since Alan Rickman’s “cancel Christmas” Sheriff of Nottingham.

Hiddleston’s had a lot of exposure in the last 12 months but he’s shaping up as one of our brightest acting prospects, even when wearing a horned helmet that makes him look like an angry Wagnerian stag.

Director: Joss Whedon

Running time: 142 minutes

Rating: ****

• On general release from Thursday.