In Which There Are Super Heros!

I tend not to go to the cinema very often - not because I dislike it, but because I tend to think of seeing a film as something you do on the spur of the moment, rather than on a pre-planned, pre-booked basis, and as my nearest cinema is about half an hour away, this tend to mean that by the time I've thought of going, it's too late to get there before the film starts. All of which is a round about way of saying it's been a while since I last went to the cinema -I think the last twice I've been it was to see National Theatre Live broadcasts, which have been booked in advance.. before that, the last film I saw may well have been 'Coraline', which was 2009...
Anyway - I've been seeing lots of my friends tweeting about the new Avengers film and sounding very enthusiastic about it, so I decided to see whether it was showing locally, and the upshot was that my friend Cheryl and I headed over to Frome for the 6p.m. showing.

The cinema in Frome is small, and old -it only has one screen, it sells little, old fashioned bus-ticket type tickets and has a licenced bar, and after the adverts and before the start of the film the lights go up and  buy sweets or ice cream from a girl in a booth. (but does  awful lot of rustling in the early part of the film!) It is definitely a more interesting option than the local multiplex (and much cheaper)

I don't read a lot of comics, and my knowledge of The Avengers, and the Marvel universe generally is fairly limited - I read Neil Gaiman's '1602', and have seen the two 'Iron Man' films, but that's about it.

I really enjoyed the film. It's got lots of action and stuff blowing up, and it's also got great dialogue, and the characters, for the most part, do have actual character, which is not always the case for action- or super-hero films. I liked that Dr Banner was portrayed as being (at least as) smart as Tony Stark, and that Captain America's 1930s background was there in some of his comments and attitudes, without being too heavy-handed.

The fact that I wasn't familiar with Clint Barton/Hawkeye or his backstory, or Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow or hers didn't stand in the way of understanding or enjoying the film.

I shouls have liked to see a little more balance with both male and female super-heroes, but taken as a whole, I think the film is excellent - it was a lot of fun, and if (as seems inevitable) there is a sequal, I shall be going to see that, too.