Avengers, The 3D

"The Avengers" is a romp against an extraterrestrial invader to save the Earth starring Iron Man (Downey Jr.), Captain America (Evans), The Hulk (Ruffalo), Thor (Hemsworth), Black Widow (Johansson), Hawkeye (Renner), and Nick Fury (Jackson) as they assemble together for the first time. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary by Director Joss Whedon, the featurette "Marvel One-Shot: Item 47" (HD 11:20), a gag reel (HD 04:05), eight deleted and extended scenes (HD 14:59), the featurettes "A Visual Journey" (HD 06:28) and "Assembling The Ultimate Team" (HD 08:08), the Soundgarden music video "Live To Rise" (HD 04:49), upfront previews, and a digital copy.

The 1080p MVC 3D picture is colorfully rendered with a strong saturated color palette and excellent contrast, for solid blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Fleshtones appear perfectly natural throughout. Resolution and image detail exhibit impressive sharpness and clarity, especially during close-ups. The 3D picture was stereophonically converted by Stereo D and achieves a credible level of depth and dimensional perspective. There is an impressive barrage of 3D action shots that effectively energize the visual impact. In such segments, the negative parallax view is heightened for out-of-screen impact. With such intense and constant fast motion tracking, the challenge presented was impressively met by the creative and artistic skills of the artisans at Stereo D. Never mind that this is a conversion, the 3D presentation is absolutely stunningly spectacular! The sense of natural depth and perspective is impressively conveyed. Dimensional realism is perfectly scaled to portray a realistic proportional sense of size and shape. Never through the viewing was crosstalk ghosting evident, for a virtual artifact-free viewing experience. This is yet another remarkable 3D conversion that blurs any "real" difference between native and converted 3D production. This is a totally enjoyable and impressive visual experience, no doubt attributed to the awesome 3D elements. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 7.1-channel soundtrack is energized throughout with impressive Foley effects perfectly synchronized with the intense action. The soundfield vacillates between nuanced intimacy and full-blown immersive impact. Atmospherics and sound effects are effectively directionalized and enveloping. The .1 LFE is quite active and intensifies the fighting scenes and bolsters the deep bass region of sub-25 Hz frequencies. The music score drives the storytelling with a big orchestral scoring presence throughout. The sound is expansive across the soundstage and extends aggressively to the surrounds. Dialogue, though, is largely ADR and wanting in spatial integration. This is a terrific holosonic® soundtrack experience that impresses with excitement, dynamics, and aggressive surround. The added two channels are positioned as in the Dolby® Surround theatrical position at the rear. (Gary Reber)