Avenger fans assembled a few days ago at special screenings across the United States. Hypable friend Heidi Tandy, PR chair for Ascendio 2012, attended one screening and shared this spoiler-free review!

Sometimes you want to see a popcorn movie – you get a massive tub and bring it to your seat and put on those 3-D glasses and settle in for two hours of mindlessness and escapism.

Then there’s the time where you get the popcorn, put on the glasses, and end up eating less than a handful because you can’t take your eyes off the screen. The story, the characters, the action, the weaponry-porn and the film are so captivating that you can’t look away or think of anything but the movie, not even for a second.

Joss Whedon’s Avengers is that kind of movie from the first second of action and excitement to the quiet denouement – and as it’s a Marvel film, do stay through the credits! Every storyline for every member of the Avengers – and characters we’ve come to know and/or love like Phil Coulson, Pepper Potts and even Loki – meshes together almost perfectly, because this is the story of the inadvertent, unexpected and dynamic genesis of a team. And while there are some tiny plot holes – and one significant mystery – it almost doesn’t matter.

Not to say that everything director Joss Whedon does will please every fan, whether they are fans of the Marvel films or of the comic books. In many ways, this film belongs more to Natasha (Black Widow), Tony (Iron Man) and Steve (Captain America), and there is very little interaction between, say, Clint (Hawkeye) and Tony. While the interplay between Tony and Steve recalls Elphaba and Glinda in the beginning of Wicked, the metaphorical ghost of Howard Stark is hardly mentioned and if you hadn’t seen Captain America and Iron Man 2, you won’t even be aware of this aspect of the backstory.

In terms of the prior Marvel movies, you’ll miss a lot of the details in Avengers if you haven’t seen at least one of the Iron Man films, as well as Thor and Captain America. But if you’ve missed Incredible Hulk, as long as you’re aware of Bruce Banner, it shouldn’t impact your enjoyment of this film, in part because Mark Ruffalo is new to the role – and he’s fantastic as Bruce. Finally, for the first time since Iron Man‘s cave scenes, Tony has someone who speaks his language!

The most amazing thing – the magic of Avengers – is that Whedon has managed to tell nine characters’ stories in detail with love, creativity, and inventiveness. The fight sequences are exciting and while there are so many of them, every single one is different and they never feel repetitive. The Helicarrier is gorgeously detailed and the camera loves S.H.I.E.L.D.’s weaponry almost as much as it glorifies Tony’s suits, Steve’s shield, Thor’s hammer, Clint’s bow, Loki’s staff and Coulson’s trading cards. The alien army that invades New York – I can’t call it Loki’s army for plotting reasons, because it really isn’t – is creepy and terrifying, but they’re irrelevant until the last fight of the film. The story is not who will battle the creatures in the air and the streets of New York – the story is how the characters interact, work together, change, save each other, and become a team.

And in every single minute of Avengers, it is a fantastic, well-told, wonderfully acted story.

Grade: A

Rated: This film is not yet rated.

The Avengers opens worldwide April 27 and in the United States on May 4, 2012.

Follow Heidi Tandy here on Twitter, and click here to follow HPEF/Ascendio 2012!