The Avengers

Rated PG-13

Catholic-ometer: 4 of 5

Enjoyability: 5 of 5

Well, I think I should make it clear right off the bat; this film is basically a superhero action movie.  Its moral and religious remarks are only infrequent, although pretty much everything Captain America says in this film is spot-on.  It doesn't have what you could call a personal core, with the characters learning major lessons individually, nor does it really have a moral core, where any kind of big lesson is learned at the end.

However, this much I will say for the movie; what it does, it does -exceedingly- well.

This movie is about the superheroes from several previous films (Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Thor, primarily,) gathering together into one area and joining forces as a team in the face of an even bigger threat than ever before.  Better yet, all the actors return to reprise their roles from the previous films (except for the actor who played Bruce Banner, unfortunately.)

Even better than this, however, each character's unique personality is given its chance to shine.  They all have their own issues to deal with as the threat approaches, but in the end, they put those differences aside; working together against an enemy too big for any one of them.  It's a classic story of good against evil.  I was particularly impressed to hear someone uttering the words "there's only one God" onscreen.  A minor victory though it may be, it's nice to hear once in a while.

Still, if you like "the Avengers," it'll be for one of two reasons.  Either it's because you know and love these characters already, and want to see how they interact and deal with problems together, or it's because you're a big fan of intense superhero action.  These are the major strong points, at which this film utterly exceeds all expectations.

I admit that I actually found myself laughing in delight when certain characters began using their powers again, and showing what they could really do.  I honestly think that every human being wants an honest thrill once in a while, and this movie contains a great many such thrills, wrapped up in a minor war in the middle of New York City.  There's even a surprise at the end, for comic book fans.

Will this movie take the place of Spider-Man 2 as the best recent superhero movie?  No; it's too far removed from real, moral lessons for that.  However, it was loads of fun to watch, so I'm not going to complain any more than absolutely necessary.