Avengers: Endgame (Review)
A Spoiler Free Review of Avengers: Endgame.
For 10 years and 21 movies, Marvel has been working towards Avengers: Endgame. Even after building one of the largest film franchises in the history of cinema and perhaps the most well crafted shared universes ever, I wasn’t prepared for the amount of thought and details that went into planning this movie. I knew it was going to be a big deal. I knew it was going to be the end of an era. Even with all that in mind, I wasn’t prepared for it. Avengers: Endgame is one of the best comic book movies ever made. It might even flat out be the greatest superhero film of all time. That being said, it takes a heavy toll on the audience but offers just as much as it takes.
Avengers: Endgame starts pretty much exactly where Avengers: Infinity War ended, with half of the MCU reduced to ashes by the pragmatic intergalactic villain, Thanos (Josh Brolin). Of course, our heroes have been down and out before, and a little thing like half the Avengers roster isn’t going to stop them from finding a way to save the day. However, they’ve never faced a villain like this before. All their other adventures seem quaint compared to the decimation they’ve faced at the hands of this malevolent Titan. For once, The Avengers don’t have a problem they can just punch into submission. That though doesn’t stop them from giving up hope and fighting with everything they have to get back the ones they’ve lost.
I’ll come right out and admit that I full only ugly cried in Avengers: Endgame. I honestly, thought I had it together for the vast majority of the movie. However, that third act where everything from the last ten years comes together gloriously broke me. It was as though everything I had ever wanted from a superhero movie ever since I was a little kid, sitting in my room and doing fan castings of for my favorite characters long before comic book movies started to roll out in force was finally happening. Avengers changed things when they brought together the team for the first time. All those characters together. Seeing Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and all the others together on the big screen made me squeal in delight back. Since then, Marvel has been raising the stakes to the point where I didn’t think they had that kind of power over me anymore. I was dead wrong though and I had tears in my eyes for a lot of reason by the end, because I was so excited to see everything come together, and because I knew I was watching the end of something beautiful. Avengers: Endgame was everything I could have ever wanted, and by the end, it felt as though I was saying goodbye to a best friend.
A lot of people might be concerned with the daunting 3 hour run time in the film. After all, that’s a long time to hold anyone’s attention these days, and an even longer time to wait to use the bathroom. Avengers: Endgame doesn’t feel like 3 hours though. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo masterfully craft this epic so that it is exactly how Thanos would have wanted it, perfectly balanced. It never wastes a second of screentime, but at the same time never feels rushed. It’s filled with action sequences that will leave you in awe, jokes that will leave you in stitches, and emotional moments that will leave you searching for tissues. I honestly can’t think of a single thing that I would have changed when it comes to Avengers: Endgame. Everything serves a purpose and not a single moment feels self-indulgent. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of fan service over the course of the film, but then again that just shows the love that the studio has for us.
Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely make sure every character gets their moment to shine over the course of the film by showing a uncanny understanding of what they need in order to find redemption, whether in their own eyes or the eyes of the audience. Many of the characters are given new layers in the wake of their devastating loss in Infinity War. Some blame themselves for not being strong enough. Others mourn those who they’ve lost. A few even manage to find a fresh start in the wake of this tragedy. All of them though answer the heroes call when the moment comes. Avengers: Endgame is a film filled with beautiful themes and messages for the audience to take to heart. The Avengers are the world’s greatest heroes not because they’re all super-powered, but because when they get knocked down to the ground, they get back up and tell the bullies of the universe “I can do this all day.”
Even now I’m still struggling with my feelings over Avengers: Endgame. It’s a devastating film in the best possible way. It shows off everything we’ve come to love about the MCU over the years and is worth every second. It’s a movie that not only needs to be seen by comic fans and casual moviegoers alike but needs to be seen on the biggest possible screen. Don’t wait for this to come to video because you don’t like crowds. Go and see it, because there’s such an incredible sense of comradery that comes from seeing it shoulder to shoulder with people who are sharing the same emotions you are in the same moment. Avengers: Endgame is a movie that we fans have been waiting tirelessly for and after seeing it, I feel that we can finally rest. In my eyes, this film was perfect. However, I’ll have to let you know if that changes once I’ve seen it a few more times in theaters. Hopefully, you’ll be there watching it with me.
