It’s been awhile since I last did a Flash Friday review, and what better way to bring it back than reviewing a series of films leading up to one of the year’s biggest releases, The Avengers.

With a movie that was years in the making — five separate installments building up to it — let’s take a look back at each of those film’s starting with 2008’s Iron Man after the break.

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Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow

The one that kicked it all off, the surprise hit Iron Man. If there was ever a perfect match between a character and actor, Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark would probably be among the names mentioned among an audience. Simply put, RDJ is brilliant as the narcissistic and brilliant genius coming off as charismatic, likable and just downright entertaining. As much as that is a bonus for the character, there was still a lack of heart in the film for me—no pun intended—as I never really connected with his character on a human level.

The film did start off rather strongly, but for me it petered out towards the end which resulted in a pretty underwhelming climax. Overall, though, Iron Man is still a solid comic book film with great performances from a great cast. 

GO Rating: 3.5/5

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Director: Louis Leterrier
Stars: Ed Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson

The second in the line of Avengers films, The Incredible Hulk actually remains as my favourite to this day. I love Ed Norton’s performance as Bruce Banner, while the rest of the cast is solid as well. The fun 3rd act cameo of Tim Blake Nelson really steals the show, which makes me hope they bring him back for any future Hulk films.

Also, the way in which it continues and branches off from Ang Lee’s Hulk while creating its own identity is something I found pretty creative. Louis Leterrier recreates Lee’s Hulk with his own vision, and he does so by turning making this a fun-paced action film—action’ being a keyword, as this still features the best hero and villain fight among all the tie-in films. It feels more than satisfactory in its conclusion.

Overall, The Incredible Hulk is a solid action-packed film.

GO Rating: 3.5/5

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Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell

The first sequel in these series of films is Jon Favreau’s second go around with the Iron Man character. Despite giving Iron Man a higher rating than Iron Man 2, I actually like this film a bit more simply for the fact that there’s a bit more to this movie that I find re-watchable. This time around I found they gave Tony Stark a more human side due to his debilitating disease caused by the palladium poisoning. That section of the movie I highly enjoyed, the rest of the movie though just doesn’t quite gel well with each other.

The involvement of S.H.I.E.L.D felt too intrusive while the inclusion of Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash and Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer felt extremely underplayed. Both were good with what is given to them, but overall they just feel like afterthoughts.

Adding to it was once again another underwhelming conclusion. Despite Iron Man and War Machine’s short battle against the Hammeroids, the actual battle with Whiplash himself was incredibly weak. Like I said earlier, I still liked parts of this film, but overall it’s too over the place.

GO Rating: 3/5

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Director: Kenneth Branagh
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgard, Ray Stevenson, Kat Dennings

Probably the biggest surprise for me was last year’s Thor. I honestly did not know what to expect due to my lack of familiarity with the character. All I knew about Thor was that he was a Norse god of Thunder who wielded the Hammer Mjolnir. Beyond that, I didn’t know much so I was highly entertained by the type of Shakespearean drama that Kenneth Brannagh presented me with the story of Odin and his two sons: Thor and Loki.

That presented itself with a great first act of the film followed by an equally entertaining fish out of water story in the second act. It’s only when the film enters its third act that the movie felt like it lost its steam as the battle between The Destroyer and Thor felt as underwhelming as the climactic battles in Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

Still, Thor surprised me with the relationship between the two brothers and ended up being highly entertaining for most of the movie. 

GO Rating: 3.5/5

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Director: Joe Johnston
Stars: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Stanley Tucci, Dominic Cooper 

Last, but not least, we have the final film that led up to The Avengers in Captain America: The First Avenger. As a character story and a period piece Joe Johnston does an amazing job with the iconic character. He presents Steve Rogers as a true and genuine American hero worth rooting for. It helps that we’re first shown just how much of an underdog Steve Rogers is and how he’s helped along his path to becoming a hero by the likes of Stanley Tucci and Hayley Atwell. It’s all culminated in his act of self-sacrifice that winds up preserving him for the future and of all the Avengers tie-in films which is by far the most emotional scene, his farewell to Peggy Carter.

All around there are great performances by everyone in this movie, but I must say that overall the film does lack in the action department and does feel a tad bit rushed towards the end. Still, it is a solid film overall. 

GO Rating: 3.5/5

[BoxOfficeMojo]