Joss Whedon was faced with what appeared to be a near-on impossible task when he signed on to helm The Avengers, a movie whose purpose was to act as the culmination of several movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, as the likes of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and The Incredible Hulk came together to kick some alien butt. What could have been an unmitigated disaster, however, proved an absolute triumph - probably the best movie we could have hoped for, too, given the complex nature of such a task. So the plot here isn't much, as Tom Hiddleston's villainous demi-God Loki teams up with an alien race in an attempt to invade and destroy planet Earth - the only way to prevent this catastrophe, of course, is for Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury to follow through on "The Avengers Initiative" he's always talking about. The action scenes here are undoubtably the best in the MCU thus far, whilst Whedon's deft and witty script manages to juggle multiple characters to glorious effect. In short, The Avengers pretty much made our dreams come true.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
