Avengers: Endgame is a film about a group of superheroes who attempt to retcon the deaths of billions of people from the previous film.
2018’s Infinity War was one of the more bold moves that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken. The film ended on a major cliffhanger, in incredibly dark and depressing fashion whilst having the balls to do something that few films of the genre do – it let the bad guy win. So naturally, there were a lot of questions open for the sequel. Even though we saw half of everyone die out, it was pretty obvious to any movie-goer that the effects would only be temporary. Like Marvel are going to kill off Black Panther right after it made all the money in the world.
Endgame picks up right where Infinity War left off. Things start of grim and dark as our heroes struggle to adapt to living in a “post-snap” world. The first act is almost a dystopian film with little hope. But then along comes Ant-Man (of all heroes) and suddenly there’s a glimmer of hope. There is a jump in time here and we get to see some big changes in certain heroes as they’ve all adjusted to their new lives a little bit differently. Act two comes along and we suddenly have a plan – a time heist – to go back in time and retrieve the infinity stones to restore everything that had been lost. And then act three is your obligatory big CGI smackdown.
This is the 22nd movie in the MCU. After 11-years of movies, Disney’s greatest cash cow shows no signs of slowing down. The nice thing about Endgame is that it doesn’t ignore the past. It’s full of throwbacks and payoffs to things that a lot of viewers may well have forgotten about from previous entries in the franchise. But that’s the thing with Endgame, it rewards the die-hards who have marathoned the series and watched every movie at least once or twice. Endgame is not a film for the casual movie-goer who isn’t up on their Marvel knowledge, they will be completely lost if they walk into Endgame expecting an easily accessible movie for everyone. Endgame is great if you can remember thinks that happened in say, Thor: The Dark World or Captain America: The First Avenger. I can’t imagine it would be as satisfying otherwise.
It’s called Endgame for a reason. We’re wrapping up the first three phases of the franchise and looking forward to the future. And in doing so, we’re saying farewell to a couple of cherished characters. Without going into detail, the send-offs are (mostly) excellent, worthy of each character and complete their longstanding character arcs in a meaningful way.
As with any film that uses time travel as a key story element, Endgame does get a little bit lost in itself. The movie lays out specific rules for what you can and can’t do in time travel, and then it proceeds to frustratingly break its own rules. Everything is a little bit confusing. It’s like watching a heist film, except you only have a very vague idea on what they’re trying to accomplish – get the stones. As the characters are discussing what to do and are going to their next destinations, it feels as though the audience is a third wheel, not allowed to know or understand what’s meant to happen until it happens, which makes for a slightly less fun time than if we knew what’s meant to happen. If Ocean’s 11 were purely a heist movie without the set up and build, it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable. But this movie is already clocking in at 3-hours, so we have to make do with what we get.
At times the plot does become completely contrived and overly convenient. It’s the type of movie that if your brain is completely switched on for, you’ll find yourself shaking your head at the big coincidences and deus ex machina of it all. But if you switch your brain off, it’s an incredibly fun movie and rewarding landmark event in the MCU. It has great action, it has the light-hearted fun we’re accustomed to and it has high stakes and drama. The performances are all on point. It’s also neat to see that Chris Hemsworth has really developed into a great comedy performer.
The future of the MCU is going to be interesting. It is also exhausting that the machine is going to keep churning out the films with virtually no break, but that’s the way it goes. We’ll keep seeing multiple big Marvel movies per year until they stop making money. We’ve been waiting for comic book fatigue to set in, yet it never seems to. And with Endgame being the highest grossing film of all time, it feels like we’re destined to see another 20+ films in the franchise.
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Zero Stars 