AVENGERS: ENDGAME:
CAPPING OFF OVER TEN YEARS OF MARVEL MOVIE MAGIC WITH AN ACTION-PACKED AND EMOTIONALLY IMPACTFUL CONCLUSION!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
MARVEL STUDIOS
Thanos, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor, Nebula, War Machine, Ant-Man, Captain America, Okoye, Hawkeye, Rocket Raccoon, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner in the fight of their lives in Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers take their last stand against the powerful Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and follow-up to last year’s Avengers: Infinity War where we all watched in sadness and horror dozens of our favorite Marvel heroes turn to dust. Endgame is more than just another Avengers movie, it’s a celebration of over ten years of the franchise and like Infinity War an event so huge it could give Star Wars a run for their money…Good luck with Rise of Skywalker, Disney!
How best can I describe Avengers: Endgame? Well, some people have described Infinity War as the Empire Strikes Back of superhero movies and if that’s the case then this is the Return of the King (Not Jedi, King!) of superhero movies and just as exciting and emotional throughout its three hour runtime all leading up to the ultimate of superhero movie battles (Though, if you ask me they could have used a talking cartoon Spider-Pig in there, but oh well you can’t have it all).
Half the universe has been wiped out by Thanos (Josh Brolin-True Grit (2010), Men in Black 3, Deadpool 2) and his Infinity Gauntlet leaving only a handful of Avengers left from the aftermath of Infinity War. With so many lives lost and options running out, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.-Chaplin, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes 1 and 2), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans-Sunshine, Scott Pilgrim VS The World, Snowpiercer), Thor (Chris Hemsworth-The Cabin in the Woods, Rush, Men in Black: International), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Spotlight), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson-Lost in Translation, Her, Under the Skin), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle-Hotel Rwanda, Crash, Flight), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner-Mission: Impossible 4 and 5, Arrival, Wind River), Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd-Clueless, Knocked Up, Anchorman 1 and 2), Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper-The Hangover trilogy, Silver Linings Playbook, A Star is Born (2018)), Nebula (Karen Gillan-Doctor Who, Oculus, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle), Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson-21 Jump Street, Short Term 12, Room), and Okoye (Danai Gurira-The Visitor, Treme, The Walking Dead) must figure out a way to re-obtain the Infinity Stones from Thanos to bring everyone back and take a final stand in one glorious showdown.
Overall, Avengers: Endgame delivers a satisfying finale to the Avengers saga and after the trauma we all faced after Infinity War is exactly the conclusion we need. The film is filled to the brim with all the Marvel superhero action we’ve come to expect but also plenty of emotional moments to keep you invested in what these characters are going through.
The movie clocks in at a 182-minute runtime and going into it I was worried that it would be too long for a superhero movie and that even MCU enthusiasts need to pee once in a while. The good news is as long as you remember to use the bathroom before the movie you’ll be just fine and trust me, you won’t want to miss a minute of this comic book movie epic.
I was never bored watching Endgame and aside from a little bit of the first act nothing really drags, most of it is to the point and there’s plenty of time given for everyone to shine on-screen. Yeah, we don’t get much screen-time with the “Fallen” Avengers in this movie but the characters we follow throughout most of the film work off each other very well and lead to some great character team-up moments such as Iron Man and Ant-Man, War Machine and Nebula, and everyone’s favorite, Thor and the “Rabbit”, it took me back to when I saw Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Thor interacting with each other for the first time back in The Avengers.
However, I was a little disappointed that Captain Marvel didn’t really do much in the movie despite being built up big time at the end of Infinity War and her solo movie grossing over a billion dollars a month ago. She appears in a good chunk of the first act but throughout most of the film she isn’t with the rest of the Avengers until the climax, luckily, she gets to kick plenty of butt whenever she shows up.
Remember in my review of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World earlier on this year and how I said the “Final Adventure Will Make You Cry”? Same thing applies to Avengers: Endgame and while it isn’t something like half the characters die and turn to dust, things that happen to some of these characters are so poignant and/or beautifully done tears will be shed, I’m not kidding I heard sniffling in the audience and I was crying along with them.
Avengers: Endgame is the movie event of the year not just for comic book movies but films in general. It caps off a franchise that started all the way back in 2008 with Iron Man and brought characters to the screen that we all grew attached to and came back to see time and time again and to see it all come together in this was completely worth every moment of “Assembly”.
In fact, I’ll go on record and consider this not only as my favorite Avengers movie but my favorite MCU film PERIOD! At least from a storytelling and emotional perspective. It could even follow in the footsteps of Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight, Logan, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as one of the best comic book movies of all time.
If you’re a Marvel fan, then…you’re already watching it and you don’t really need me to recommend it to you. But for anyone who has followed the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2008 will not want to miss this epic conclusion…at least until Spider-Man: Far From Home comes out in a couple months to officially wrap up Phase 3 of the MCU. What more can I say but “Avenge the Fallen”?
