Avengers: Endgame

Yikes, that was crazy. They really brought in all of the previous movies, didn’t they? I went into Endgame avoiding pretty much everything about it, apart from the first trailer. So the whole basic plot was unknown to me, and I quite enjoyed where they took it. It provided for some great look backs and fun interactions.

The somber tone really worked somehow. The opening scene seemed straight from The Leftovers, and there was quite a bit of post-apoc stuff going on. The stakes are taken pretty high here, but not just in a generic “the world is on the line” kind of a way, but in a way where you feel their sense of desperation.

I’m going to go into some full spoiler thoughts now (as the probability that anyone reading this post has probably already seen the movie), but just in case…

*SPOILERS past this point

I basically am just going to ramble about my thoughts here.  First, the general storyline.  I liked that they immediately went off on a mission to stop Thanos, only to kill him and discover that the gauntlet, and their hopes were gone.  It really made me think to myself “okay, now what??”  I liked not knowing where the story way going.  For a comic book blockbuster, that was a refreshing sensation.  And when the main plot did start coming together, and around Ant-man of all people, I was really excited.

Considering that they were pulling from 21 different movies, they did a surprisingly great job at pulling ideas from and paying homage to almost all of them.  They even gave Thor: Dark World its due.  They were unapologetic in making this movie for the fans of this franchise, and it works.  They brought in the emotional context of Captain America’s relationship with Penny Carter.  They brought up Tony’s need for his father’s approval.  They had a bunch of cosmic stuff from Guardians. There was still fallout from Civil War that could be felt. And ant-Man and the Wasp was surprisingly really important in the construction of this film.  It all came together.

In a movie this massive there were parts that didn’t work of course, or that were just weaker links.  The final battle for example was a bit of a letdown.  The more intimate parts, like when it was the “original three” vs Thanos were great, but otherwise it got a little “battle white noise” crazy.  I liked that they kept Captain Marvel at bay, but even so her inclusion did seem a little sticky.

The parts I really liked was the general tone of the beginning; dreary, yet not overly depressing.  The impact of the last movie was certainly felt though, and each character seemed to be dealing with the grief in different ways.  I liked the importance of Ant-man and seeing him reenter the world.  I liked that they committed to fat Thor through the entire movie.  There were some great character touches from surprising places, like Rocket and Nebula, and Hawkeye’s devastating opening.

Some of the characters have reached their end in this film.  I was not one of the fans trying to predict who would make it and who wouldn’t, but I did have an inkling one of the primary cast would be gone.  In fact, there were three.  I genuinely didn’t know whether Black Widow or Hawkeye was going to go in the Vormir scene.  Iron Man’s death was probably the most predictable, but it closes off his overall arc pretty well, and really packs an emotional punch as he is the heart of the franchise.  And I really liked how Cap’s story finished.  I like the idea that old Steve was hanging around in the background secretly the whole time.

Endgame has turned out to be quite an achievement. It did everything it set out to do. I will say that at the very end things get a little muddled in that battle sequence, but before that everything was pretty great. Well done Marvel, well done.

9.5/10