Marvel's The Avengers

A movie that grosses internationally more than $1.4 billion (that’s billion with a “b”) and $575 million domestically in seven weeks has to be out-of-this-world amazing, right?  How about just really good?  Maybe a notch above mediocre?
I don’t want to be “that” guy and compare every superhero comic book movie to The Dark Knight, but like the Joker said, “You changed things … forever.”  These types of movies have to be more than just flawed hero with special powers fights evil force from space.  Audiences want more character development and intriguing writing.  I would like to believe moviegoers are willing to give up on over-the-top action and endless explosions for interesting stories and absorbing onscreen relationships, but the Transformers sequels making more than $750 million domestically combined doesn’t help my case.
Back to Marvel’s The Avengers though.  The idea of combining a team of superheroes in one movie is a fanboy’s wet dream come true.  And in Marvel’s defense, for the past half-decade they have been working toward the culmination of this film by building the story through the individual movies of each superhero team member: Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Captain America.
The visual effects in The Avengers are top-notch and the acting is hit and miss, with the main actors being at the top of their game portraying the comic book characters who are better than us common folk physically but just as flawed internally.  The dysfunctional dynamic between the team members prior to gelling into a singular working entity for the betterment of mankind was pulled off well, but individual storylines were weak and not hashed out enough for what a 150-minute movie would allow with that many characters at play.  I also think Robert Downey's Tony Stark is more enjoyable when he gets to carry the picture, instead of sharing the limelight with countless others.
What bothered me most about the picture was the final battle was 20 minutes of repetitious explosions and the fact that it seemed like an exact replica of the finale of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.  I also didn’t like that the hand-to-hand fight sequences were a blur of camera movement (which is becoming increasingly the norm since the Bourne films started the trend) and the performances that were weak (I’m looking at you ScarJo) were laughably bad.
Overall, it was worth my time to see what Marvel could do by combining some of its most high-profile heroes but I don’t think it broke new ground in the comic book movie genre.  It gets a 6 out of 10 in my book, which is a strange trend as three of the four movies I’ve seen in theaters this year have rated at a 6.