Avengers: Endgame movie review

Here's what you need to know; following their defeat at the hands of the Mad Titan, what remains of the Avengers are left to suffer as they struggle fruitlessly to keep what's left of the world from collapsing, some carrying on the fight as best as they can, others hanging up their capes and wishing to just be left alone. But a new opportunity one day erupts back out of the Quantum Realm, one that might be their only hope of undoing what Thanos did and stopping him once and for all, a mission that will be the hardest they've ever faced, and for some, it may be the last.

In all my years of going to the cinema, there has never been anything quite like Endgame; being one of, if not the biggest cinematic event in history; the culmination of a decade of films, one that heralds the end of an era in many ways, the hype has been remarkable, the memes have been spicy, and now it is finally here. I have never seen my local Odeon as busy as I did on opening weekend, never, in my life; it's never been so bad that the people behind the desk were having to turn people away because there weren't enough seats, in a ten-screen multiplex that had twenty-two showing of this and nine showings of anything else. It was madness, and I'm glad I got in early for the 11AM showing, but a little miffed that I didn't have the foresight to book for a later showing, but what can I say, it was the endgame, it was unprecedented. Avengers: Endgame is already the highest grossing film of 2019, knocking Captain Marvel off her very undeserved top stop after a just a few weeks, which is nice, and I've seen the film a couple of times now, so I can and will now tell you how I felt about the Marvel Cinematic Universe's defining chapter. One more thing as well, this review is going to contain spoilers, don't worry, I'm not going to tell you who dies and how, it'll be little things, but nonetheless, spoilers, consider yourself warned.

Endgame picks up right where Infinity War left off, but wisely takes the massive, universe shattering ending of Infinity War and shows it to us from a much smaller, more human perspective as Hawkeye's entire family is disintegrated. This is a great scene, one that, like the opening scene of Infinity War, establishes an ominous, dreadful tone as we watch in inevitable horror unfold. Then the film does something that I am genuinely stunned by, it gives us practically everything that was in the trailers in the first twenty minutes of the film. Seriously, the whole plan to take down Thanos and undo the Snap is in the first twenty minutes. Were this any other film, I'd be a bit nervous at this point that the film had blown its load, so to speak, but instead I was intrigued; curious as to just where the film would and how it would end, since Thanos didn't just snap half of life in the universe out of existence, he put the Avengers in a completely unwinnable situation. And that is how the film starts; it opens with the Avengers losing all hope, and from there, the only way to go is up as after a considerable time jump, in walks Scott Lang, fresh out of his purgatory in the Quantum Realm with a bonkers scheme to get the Stones. The first act of this film is dedicated almost entirely to the fallout of Infinity War, showing us where they all ended up after Thanos fucked them up. I am a little disappointed by what they did to Hulk, as the conflict he dealt with in infinity War is solved offscreen, but I do like how the change they made was executed. Tony Stark and Thor kind of steal it in this regard though, as Tony has given up being a hero all together and settled down with Pepper, while Thor has been reduced to a nervous wreck, a perpetually anxious, perpetually drunk mess of a person for whom the anger and loss of Infinity War too much.

I can see Thor in this film pissing off a few people, I can also see Thor being seen as a purely comedic presence in this film, but to me, Thor is one of the film's most compelling characters. I love how he is presented as a broken hero; a man who lost everything he ever loved, put all of his remaining faith in a Thanos-killing weapon that failed to kill Thanos, watched Thanos wipe out half of life, and now blames himself for all of it. I'm not surprised that the guilt Thor feels has driven him a little mad and reduced him to a shadow of his former self, one who is prone to panic attacks and has a serious alcohol problem. I do, however, take mild issue with how his story ends, specifically with the choice he makes about where to take his life; while it may be very entertaining, it lacks the emotional payoff that this story deserved, which is a bummer. Iron Man is equally fascinating, as he too was left broken by Thanos, something that is uncomfortably apparent when he confronts Rogers in the film's opening. But while Thor has hit rock bottom and said fuck it, Stark has taken the horror of Infinity War's ending and tried to make something good out of it, having since got married to Pepper and become a father. The film sells this aspect of Stark beautifully in his scenes with Pepper and Morgan, making his reluctance and eventual decision to go for one last try at saving the world an emotionally enthralling conflict, one that builds to the film's tear jerker of an ending. I love where Stark's story goes in this film, I also love where Rogers' story goes, as the man out of his time ark comes to a very sweet and very fitting end. With most of the phase two and three Avengers gone and Thanos surprisingly absent, this film serves as a send-off for the phase one Avengers, as each one gets some kind of payoff this film, some, like Iron Man's and Captain America's are better than others, but none of them drop the ball in any major, fanboy enraging way, at least that I see.

There is a bit of an elephant in the room here, and if you know me at all, you already know what it is. Captain Marvel is in this film, having made her big debut about two months ago in a solo film that I thoroughly disliked, as did many others. There was, however, a rumour that behind the scenes there were two cuts of Avengers: Endgame, one with more Captain Marvel, and one with less. |That rumour probably wasn't true, but let's assume that it was, in that case, we got the one with less Captain Marvel, who only has about fifteen minutes of screen time in this three hour long epic. It gets better, as not only is she barely in it, but her contribution to the film is shockingly minor, to the point that were she written out of the film entirely, the film wouldn't be that different. Appearing at the very beginning of the film and only reappearing in the finale, it's easy to forget that she's even in it. That being said, I'm conflicted about her portrayal in this film, as it is at once an improvement from her own film, and an even bigger virtue signalling, pandering hunk of bullshit. There are scenes in this film where she emotes, which is a massive upgrade from her solo film, but it's a jump from zero to one, for most of the film, she's still a boring, blank faced robot with nothing to say outside of deadpan snark, plus she's now rocking a total Karen haircut, which is hilarious. Her arrival in the film's finale is also a cool scene, but it's rather ruined by what might be the most obnoxious case of feminist pandering I've ever seen in a film, as all the female Avengers assemble around her for a go-girl empowerment moment that's more eye-rolling and in your face than anything even her solo film mustered, it is, in fact, the only scene in the film I genuinely did not like. Do you know what I did like though, that bit when Thanos punches her in the face, but of course I would. Captain Marvel was not a show-stealer in this film though, and I like that, not just because I hate her, but because it would be taking the spotlight away from what really matters in this film; the conclusion to the stories of Stark and Rogers, and that would have been inexcusable, whether you love or hate her.

Marvel's marketing of this film was genius because the trailers never really told you anything about the plot. It was however a suspicion, a theory, if you will, that the film would involve time travel, and in that regard, I've been winding people up by telling them that the middle hour of this film is basically season sixteen of Red vs Blue, not a single person understands it, but it's true. In Endgame, the surviving Avengers build a Quantum tunnel that they use to travel into the past to 'borrow' the Infinity Stones, and from there the film is basically a solid hour of fan service as they bounce around time and conduct their time heist while events from a bunch of previous Marvel films happen in the background. The film uses this for comedy, obviously, but what's sweet is how the film manages to inject a bit of heart into these scenes as well, as Stark, Rogers and Thor get little character moments that foreshadow their fates. There's also something joyous about slightly different angles on previous events, like how the Ancient One defended the Sanctum during the New York invasion from The Avengers, plus, since Doctor Strange is one of my favourite MCU films, I loved seeing her again. And she isn't alone as Endgame's middle hour just has cameo after cameo after cameo, and one of them is Stan Lee, naturally. There is a catch to the whole time heist thing though, and that's simply that time travel doesn't make sense. Like all films that involve time travel, Endgame is very timey wimey, and can therefore be nit-picked into oblivion should you be pedantic enough. The film does its best to explain how time travel works, and to its credit, it really tries to make it make sense, and it almost succeeds. How much this bothers you is dependent on how much you let bother you, because as Hulk says "either it's all a joke or none of it is," it's better to just not think about it and enjoy the ride, which is very easy to do when said ride is a blast, especially if you're familiar with the films that this film pulls from. It's even easier when you get sucked up in this film's heart, which I admittedly was, as all the people crying in the cinema also were, clearly.

One thing that might throw you off is the first hour or so's lack of action, as the team reassembles and begins putting together their time heist plan. There is Hawkeye's awesome one-take samurai duel, but shit doesn't really get going until the time heist, where, naturally, things go a little nuts because time travel. This is a very, very character heavy film, and is unapologetic in how dependent it is on its foundation. That's a fancy way of saying that if you're not a big MCU fan, you're going to be lost and bored until the finale; whereas Infinity War was more straightforward and accessible, Endgame doesn't care if you don't know anything about the MCU, which is a minority anyway because this is the MCU, the most successful film franchise in history. But that finale though, holy shit. The final act of this film is absolutely insane; it's a finale that can't even be described, it simply must be seen, and it has so many crowd pleasing moments that were wonderful to watch, as was the reaction from the audience, there were a lot of gasps, a few claps, and a significant amount of sniffles and whimpers. I'm only really familiar with phase three of this franchise, but it doesn't matter if you got on this wagon for phase three, two, or have been here since the beginning, this finale is the culmination of the entire MCU and as such, has something for everyone. It also just keeps going and going, delivering something similar to what Infinity War delivered; a massive battle against faceless bug monsters, as well as an intense throw down with Thanos, once again spearheaded by Iron Man. This is obviously the highlight of the film, as the Titan fight was the highlight of Infinity War, though ignoring the sheer size of this finale, ignoring that it's nothing but fan service, I did find Infinity War's finale more enjoyable in some respects.

That is something I, as someone who isn't completely entranced by the fan service, can honestly say about this film; Infinity War was a better film. Endgame wraps up ten years of films and therefore has a lot of stories and character arks to conclude, whereas Infinity War was merely the build-up to this conclusion, yet I personally feel that Infinity War does more with its two and a half hour runtime than Endgame does with its three hour runtime, it was tighter, better paced, delivered more satisfying action, and since it didn't have to wrap up a bunch of story arks, it felt less bloated. As a complete package however, Infinity War and Endgame make great companions, and I look forward to the day that I will inevitably watch the two of them back to back. It'll probably come at the end of an MCU binge, which I will eventually get round to doing, I think I owe Endgame that much at this point, and even now, there are several MCU films that I haven't watched, so I should get round to that. What's quite cool too is that both of them feel complete as films, or at least they do from a structural standpoint, Infinity War is more casually enjoyable than Endgame, which is unapologetically for the die-hards. That's hardly a negative when you really think about it though, because I doubt Endgame's appeal to people who aren't already aboard the wagon is very strong. But whether you are or aren't on this wagon doesn't affect the sense of finality this film has, there's just a feeling to it, a notion that this is the end of something huge. There's a sentiment going round that the MCU's glory days are over now and that Endgame really is the endgame of this series, and to be honest, if the future of the MCU looks anything like Captain Marvel, I'm inclined to agree with that, but this series is special, it's an important moment in film history, and I, being mad into films, will appreciate that about Endgame for a very long time.


Let's Kill Him Properly This Time
Avengers: Endgame is exactly what you expect it would be, for better or worse. It's the endgame, the finale of a decade of films, one that brings several arks and stories to an impactful and effective end, mostly. There are things I don't like about the film, but they're really only limited to Captain Marvel, Thor's ending and the detail that in general, this is a less cohesive film than its predecessor. Its time travel aspect is as much of a mind fuck as it is mind blowing, but that melts away in the film's final act, which delivers an awesome final battle between Thanos and the Avengers, one that'll probably make any MCU die-hard that sees it melt in their seat. Avengers: Endgame is a fitting finale and an entertaining film, and I'd very happily watch it again, probably two more weeks from now when the line for tickets isn't stretching out the door, it's definitely worth watching.