The Avengers is impossible. It shouldn’t work. It has no business being good.
And yet, The Avengers is the greatest superhero movie ever made. It is the best comic book movie ever made. It will be damn close to the funniest movie you’ll see all year. It will also undoubtedly have the most thrilling action sequence, which tears through the New York City skyline for 30 minutes in what feels at times like one long tracking shot. It ranks among writer/director Joss Whedon’s best, who for my money still has a perfect track record (Alien: Resurrection excluded on a couple technicalities). It is better than every Marvel movie that feeds into it. It is better than Spider-Man 2. It is even better than that most sacred of cows, The Dark Knight. I should say up front that I’m not much for hyperbole.
