The Avengers

Once Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen) starts kicking some ass about 11 minutes in, this superhero flick shifts gears and begins to get more awesome as it howls along. What we get next are a few origin stories, about the recruitment of the Avengers—Black Widow, Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk and eventually Thor and Hawkeye—as a team. As a stand-alone, it could be confusing. But if you kick back and go with the flow, that’s over soon enough and they band together to fight a common threat that has followed power-hungry god Loki to Earth. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is pretty much the center of the movie, but director Joss Whedon has also made the Hulk interesting. Helping to sell the package is Mark Ruffalo as Hulk’s alter-ego, turning in a performance that echoes Bill Bixby (the original live action Bruce Banner) while making the character comfortably his own. Cinemark 14, Feather River Cinemas and Paradise Cinema 7. Rated PG-13.