The Avengers (2012) Reviews: What Critics Said

Editorial note: This is a roundup of published criticism of The Avengers. Celluloid has not screened the film for this piece, and it carries no Celluloid rating. The critics are named and linked under Sources.

Is The Avengers worth watching?

Most critics said yes on release: Joss Whedon juggles half a dozen heroes with wit and genuine attention to character, and the result is a fast, funny blockbuster. Reviewers singled out Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, and admired how evenly the ensemble is served. The main reservations were a flimsy plot, anonymous alien foes and, for a vocal minority, jokes that deflate every serious moment.

What is The Avengers about?

When an unexpected enemy threatens global security, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of the peacekeeping agency S.H.I.E.L.D., needs a team to pull the world back from the brink, and a recruitment drive begins. The heroes he gathers are Tony Stark’s Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers’ Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff’s Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Clint Barton’s Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). Tom Hiddleston plays Loki, with Clark Gregg and Cobie Smulders as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Joss Whedon wrote and directed. Released in 2012, and known in the UK as Avengers Assemble, The Avengers runs 143 minutes.

What critics praised

Writing for Time Out when the film opened, Tom Huddleston argued that Whedon’s real strength is as a writer, marshalling six heroes without losing their individuality and bringing an off-centre wit and attention to character that lifts the film above the usual blockbuster. He enjoyed the comic sparring between Downey and Hemsworth, found Ruffalo’s wary, battered Banner the emotional heart of the film, and thought Hiddleston had been handed a gift of a role. He compared it to a funfair ride, all gloss, din and exhilaration.

Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club was similarly impressed, describing a large-scale film that still moves with grace, carefully balancing small character moments with action. He felt every member of the team gets something meaningful to do, that Loki emerges as a complex villain with flashes of vulnerability, and that the climactic battle is visually striking. In his view, the film exceeded expectations and would satisfy devoted fans and casual audiences alike.

In Empire, James White called it a joyous mix of heroism and humour and compared Whedon’s handling of a large ensemble to his earlier work on Serenity. He praised Downey’s dry wit and magnetism, the subtlety and sweetness Ruffalo brings to Banner, and Hiddleston’s evident relish as Loki, and liked the way the set pieces blend comedy with drama.

Where critics were divided

Even the admirers had quibbles. Huddleston found the plot a bare frame, the antagonists underdeveloped and some of the effects shaky, and felt the film can seem a little busy. White thought the alien army bland and disposable, the story driven by a mundane device, and the pacing prone to brief sags. Phipps felt Whedon’s personal touches are muted by the scale of the production, and that Downey hogs many of the best lines.

The most pointed contemporary dissent came from Karina Longworth in The Village Voice. She found Ruffalo the most exciting presence, reinventing Banner as a bashful genius, and admired the spectacle of the final battle and Whedon’s skill at sketching a working universe. But she argued that Whedon’s instinct to please the crowd undercuts every hint of something richer with a punchline, that the first hour leans on tired bickering between the heroes, and that there is little real suspense because no one believes the team is in danger. She also regretted how little the women in the cast, beyond Johansson, are given to do.

Looking back ten years later for Den of Geek, David Crow called it a landmark that proved a shared film universe could work creatively as well as commercially. He also argued that its success set a formula the industry copied at the expense of risk, individual directorial vision and mid-budget filmmaking.

Who is it for?

On the critics’ evidence, The Avengers suits viewers who like their action with plenty of banter, and Phipps expected it to work for casual audiences as well as devoted fans. Those who prefer superhero films with high stakes and real menace may share Longworth’s reservations. It is rated PG-13 in the US and 12A in the UK. The team returns in later films including Avengers: Infinity War, and there is more on the action shelf.

The critical verdict

On release, critics broadly celebrated The Avengers as a smart, funny ensemble blockbuster that gives each of its heroes room to breathe, with Ruffalo and Hiddleston the standouts. Most acknowledged a thin plot and forgettable alien villains, and a minority felt the constant quips drain the drama. Looking back, Den of Geek treats it as a turning point for Hollywood, for better and for worse.