No one billed it as "well above average"; everyone said it was "amazing" and "awesome" and "fantastic" and "mind-blowing". It just got too hyped up. I just saw it and was expecting something as amazing as the first Batman, but what I got was "just" a cool movie with nice effects. Like you said, it wasn't just my friends but also the critics, so I had been waiting with baited breath for that movie to download and what I got was something on par with the first Iron Man. It's not bad by any means but the way everyone was raving over it led me to believe it was destined to be a classic. Sadly, that was not the case. The plot and story were rather bland, honestly, but the humor in it was great along with the action sequences.
I know it was an action movie and all, but after all the hype and money it made, I was expecting something like Terminator 2.
The thing is when people say a movie is "amazing" or "awesome" and they go back two and three times to see it, that tells me that it's an instant classic. What's more, all the critics were saying the same thing and people actually saw this movie two and three times in the theater. Really? I thought the third Transformers was better than The Avengers, honestly, and I never really liked the franchise that much.
All I'm saying is that people need to either understand what the words "amazing" or "awesome" or "mind-blowing" mean, or they need to raise their standards. Hell, I thought Whedon did a better job with Firefly and even Serenity. Don't get me wrong, however...The Avengers is a GREAT movie...but it's most definitely not "amazing". The Star Wars trilogy are amazing movies. The first three Indiana Jones movies are amazing movies. Top Gun is an amazing movie, as silly as it is. Terminator 1 and 2 are amazing movies. The Avengers is cool, not amazing. Avengers = cool, Terminator = amazing.
I'm just really disappointed and a little pissed off right now after having waited months to see it and expecting something totally different. Ah well, at least it was free. Now everyone's starting up again with The Expendables 2, saying how "awesome" and "amazing" it is. Most definitely will not pay money to see that one. I feel like I met one of my heroes and he turned out to be a total dick and punched me in the face.