I smiled reading the review as it reflects the high after I left the theater. I agreed with you; I just want the gang to move on towards The Avengers 2!

Another thing: I missed the after-credit scene. (I thought there was only the mid-credit one) Can anyone spoiler-tag tell me please?

I stayed right until the very end during my UK viewing. I saw the "mid credits" sequence, but there was no other sequence.

What was the extra "funny" sequence that you saw, James?

I think once this summer is over, the movies on everyone's lips will be The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Sony has done a horrible job of marketing this reboot... one trailer they're trying to ape The Dark Knight and the other makes it feel like a Tobey Maguire-less Spider-Man 4. I like Andrew Garfield and he looks more age-appropriate for the role than Maguire did -- but The Amazing Spider-Man feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be.

If The Amazing Spider-Man is successful, it will be due to the film's quality and not due to the lackluster marketing. But I don't have big hopes for it.

Word is this was filmed a mere two weeks ago as a last-minute "add on" and it may not be on any of the overseas copies (only U.S. copies). Also, those who saw the movie early wouldn't have seen this even if they stayed.

I did not see that last scene (spoiler) in Australia and we stayed until the credits stopped only the half way credits one so what James suspects is true

Well as a science fiction rather than comic book fan, I found the first section of the film ponderous. I think it would have been far better to focus on trying to get the McGuffin back rather than sitting around on the helicarrier waiting for the start of the end of the world. Black Widow comes out of it quite well but Hawkeye just looks broody when not looking where he's firing one of his inexhaustible supply of arrows. Banner is suitably humble and Thor reached my pain threshold. I would like Downey better if the suit was less impervious to damage. He and the Hulk seem to be able to smash through anything. The fight at the end makes up for all the tedium but it's not the great film I was hoping for.

It is understandable that some people would not like very much or very little The Avengers, specially if they are not really comic book fans, after all up to this point, some indicators below

Rotten Tomattoes Critics 93 % (193 reviews) -> 7% did not liked it
Rotten Tomattoes Audience 95% (185516 ratings) -> 5% did not liked it
IMDB : 8.8/10 (65676 votes) -> score is not perfect

but why I liked very much?

I found the first part of the film interesting and entertaining. Interesting the first scene with Black Widow and then seeing the major Superheroes (Thor, Iron Man, Hulk and captain America) getting acquaintance by fighting and/or banter among them rather entertaining. I laughed with them every funny moment. Then the final 45 minutes in the battle royale when they finally pulled together against Loki and minions were very heroic and epic. The movie lasted 2 hours 22 minutes and I did not notice it that long and left the Cinema wanting for more

In brief, The most entertaining movie that I have seen this year so far!

and I have seen quite a few already

A question to James, as well as the other contributors to this thread who have seen the film. Is it recommended that I see all of the previous "origin" films for the individual superheroes before watching the Avengers?

I've already seen Iron Man & Iron Man 2, plus I've seen both Hulk films (the first directed by Ang Lee and starring Eric Bana as Bruce Banner, the second starring Edward Norton), but I have not seen either Thor or Captain America. To what extent would I be lost if I hadn't seen these movies?

Since the primary antagonists in the film come from Thor's world, it definitely would help to see that film. Captain America isn't really necessary though(just as well, since it's the weakest origin film)

Now I am DEFINITELY going....

http://now.msn.com/entertainment/0426-s ... -weed.aspx

Totally agree, I would consider it rathering jarring to have these 'aliens' attacking without watching Thor since the other films while outlandish in premise have maintained mostly Earthly based villains. Loki is developed well in this film but it only helps to have seen Hiddleston's work in Thor, espcially for an in-joke or 2.

I would say Iron Man 2 is the weakest of the origin films followed by Captain America which I didn't mind in moderation I just wish it used more stunt work as a throw back to the type of films it was clearly using for homage. Should have been more Rocketerr tha Crystal Skull.

The movie is excellent, but the 3D is bad. I have seen Avatar, Tron and a couple of Disney computer generated 3D movies, and they were all better than this. This might be the best live action 3D conversion, but it should still be avoided. I don't care about the brightness or the blurriness(which is noticably bad on some of the flying ship scenes). What I am most upset about is the "forced" perspective. Things are not in proportion or seem natural. Objects are sometimes too big or too far behind or worst of all, just a flat image "pushed" up. What I felt like throughout the movie, was that I am watching pop up movie. One layer on top of another, but never meshing. This is nothing like Avatar, it's not even close to Tron. I thought some of the Disney animated conversions were tolerable, but this is worse.

I plan to see it again in 2D, because it's still an impressive movie. I enjoyed the Shield carrier attack scenes more than the NYC destruction scene. In the Shield carrier scenes, they were fighting against a person, while in the NYC scenes they were just fighting alien robots. I prefer it better when they are fighting an actual person.

Holy crap. That punch-line is the hardest I've laughed in a theater in a long time. What a ridiculously fun time at the movies. I now understand why the review was so giddy--it captures exactly how I felt leaving the theater (and still feel 2.5 hours later, honestly).

Also a question.

So nobody here saw The Incredible Hulk? It was easily the weakest of the establishing movies (mostly because of how Tim Roth could have literally just walked off the set of Pulp Fiction!)

Thor is the most important one to have seen however I feel they all contribute something (CA explains how the humans gained the Teseract etc).

I enjoyed The Incredible Hulk quite a bit, it was a much better treatment of the character then the Ang Lee version, which did not work at all. I'm dissapointed that Edward Norton didn't get to reprise his role for whatever reason, but i'm sure Ruffalo is good as well, it'll be an interesting to see an actor whose mosty known for rom-coms playing a superhero.

Wow, I must have missed something. I hated this movie. It's gonna be on my bottom ten list.

Not only that, it was a complete copy of Transformers Dark of the moon

To answer StatGuy's question, I don't think Captain America (the movie) is particularly important to understanding The Avengers, but I was impressed at how Joss Whedon weaved each prequel movie into the dialog. These characters haven't forgotten that they've had their own adventures. But really, for The Avengers all you need to know about Captain America (the movie) is that Captain America (the dude) fought an organization called Hydra that was using some blue power cube from outer space to try to take over the world.

As for The Incredible Hulk, no--I thought that was an awful movie. Not the plot, which was all right; the acting, which was decent (except for William Hurt and Tim Blake Nelson); but good Lord the dialog. Man--not good. And yes, Tim Roth--he's supposed to be in the Army? With that haircut and beard? Um... suuuure.

Holy crap--that's amazing.