WRAP IT UP. I’LL TAKE IT.
Movie Review – Avengers: Endgame
Review by Paul Preston
A film so nice, I had to see it twice. Let me re-phrase that…a film so MASSIVE, viewing it twice is required. Doesn’t rhyme, but that’s more accurate. There are so many surprises in Avengers: Endgame, I spent the first viewing being stunned over and over again (by both dramatic, outrageous and comedic moments). The second viewing, I could settle more into the scene-to-scene shocks and really enjoy the characters, dialogue and overall TRIP this movie sent me on. It’s like nothing you’ve seen before, a movie-going phenomenon we’re not likely to be a part of again in our lifetime.
Endgame picks up after the cosmos-changing events of Avengers: Infinity War. Galactic madman Thanos has collected all the Infinity stones and destroyed half the population of the universe. The remaining Avengers – Captain America, Thor, Bruce Banner, Black Widow and Rhodey try and formulate a plan that may include Captain Marvel, while Tony Stark floats in a declining spaceship with Nebula, accepting his fate. If you think you know what happens next – you’re wrong.
What writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely put together is a wholly unique superhero adventure that not only ties together twenty-two Marvel movies story-wise, but physically as well. Our heroes are suffering from depression and PTSD in the wake of their loss to Thanos (no surprise). An unexpected visit from Ant-Man gives them hope…and a plan, a plan that is absolutely insane in its creation and execution which means big-time fun for the audience.
This is one of the most emotional of the Marvel movies. The filmmakers wisely cash in on one of the best characteristics of a hero – vulnerability. We can see heroes smash, lead and risk, but Endgame gives all the Avengers a moment to soak up their loss, get weighed down by it, consider the stakes and really feel the odds against them. It makes their decisions all the more powerful.
Markus and McFeely (and directors Joe and Anthony Russo) somehow have also given us one of the funniest Marvel movies. Perhaps producer and Marvel mastermind Kevin Feige knew that hearts would be heavy after the intense finale of Infinity War, so it was time to cough up some laughs. Thor, for example, continues his Ragnarok tone and pretty much everything he does is funny. But there are moments, well framed, and well acted by Chris Hemsworth, where he really exposes his pain. It’s the vulnerability and the delicate balance weaving it into a heroic storyline that other film franchises could learn from.
By now, all the cast members are synonymous with their roles and the humor and heroics come as second nature. Stand outs include Robert Downey, Jr., who reaches new heights with the amount of feeling he brings to Tony Stark. Jeremy Renner’s welcome return as Hawkeye brings him back as a super-intense revenger. Paul Rudd and Don Cheadle provide the majority of one-liners and despite another solid turn by Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, leader of the team, Scarlett Johansson proves again that she’s really the heart of The Avengers.
One thing that’s impressed me through this entire MCU run is the franchise’s doubling down on their smallest properties. Ant-Man movies don’t rake in Iron Man-type numbers and yet it’s Scott Lang who holds the key ingredient in the plan to rescue the world. Only one of the Guardians of the Galaxy survived “The Snap” and is still around to help the core Avengers and ends up being a major part of the plot complications. Star-Lord? Nope. Nebula! Even Sec. of State Ross (William Hurt) shows up again in his third movie since he first appeared in the generally discounted The Incredible Hulk! Even Thor: The Dark World holds crucial components of the Endgame storyline. They’re making their lesser movies retroactively awesome! Marvel is quite simply, amazing.
Like Infinity War before it, Endgame is a drinking game. When a character you love shows up – drink! Valkyrie? DRINK! Happy Hogan? DRINK! And on and on with a myriad of surprises. And the hero moments are off the chart. I remember seeing 2012’s The Avengers and being impressed with how Joss Whedon framed scenes that captured heroic moments like few films before it. There must’ve been a half-dozen of those moments and I was happy. In Endgame, there are probably forty.
Marvel does everything right. I’ve said it plenty of times on the pages of TheMovieGuys.net. There’s been talk about how this might be the swan song for Downey and Evans. Who could possibly replace them? Marvel has slowly turned Thor, star of a couple of the least-grossing MCU flicks, and turned him into one of the franchise’s biggest strengths. And there’s also Black Panther, star of the film series highest grossing movie and Spider-Man, one of the top five most popular comic book characters of all time, waiting in the wings. Not to mention Captain Marvel returning in bigger fashion than she shows in Endgame, and she’s just out-gunned Wonder Woman at the box office. They do everything right.
Well…you could argue some things. The plot of Endgame involves so much crazy time and space-jumping that I was giddy with every wacky plan The Avengers attempted to pull off, but you could argue their rules for multi-verses like the ones we saw in Doctor Strange. I’m of the belief that they did a fine job establishing rules and having fun within them. And don’t think they’re done. The fallout of this movie will be explained in the next…and the next…and the next. They’re too good to leave a mess behind.
The only mess was me, caught up in the grand finale of an extraordinary cinematic achievement. And something tells me they’re just getting started…
Directed by: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo
Release Date: April 26, 2019
Run Time: 182 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Distributor: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures
