That was certainly so in our last Avengers crossover, where Earth's mightiest heroes failed to stop the tirade of Thanos in the Infinity War, leading to cataclysmic losses. But they wouldn't be the Avengers if they didn't, y'know, avenge, and in the culmination of their epic 22-film journey, they're back for a gigantic, hilarious, exciting, and above all satisfying send-off, here in the Endgame.
But before getting into my thoughts...
SPOILER WARNING!: There's a lot I want to say about Endgame, but to do so will require me to drop potential and major spoilers, so for the purposes of this write-up, I won't even attempt to hold myself back. So if you haven't seen Endgame, stop reading and come back later.
When last we left our heroes, they failed to stop the mad titan Thanos from attaining the Infinity Stones, and he was successful in wiping out half of all life in the universe. What remains of the splintered Avengers - Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Thor, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, James Rhodes, and Rocket Raccoon, joined by Scott Lang, Nebula, and Carol Danvers - all plan a daring heist to retrieve the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos, so that they may restore all the life that was previously lost. But it will take all their strength if they're to defeat the titan, and save the universe.
And here's your last warning to exit out if you want to remain pure, because spoilers will be plenty. Let's begin.
First of all, when I say this is the grand culmination of everything Marvel has been building up, I mean it. Infinity War may have allowed you to skip a few movies, but Endgame has no such concessions made for the casual fan. This is a movie that requires you to be intently familiar with its stories to garner full context and impact, bringing a number of callbacks and thematic strands from prior films full circle, and every mainline entry thus far has at least one callback tossed its way no matter how minuscule. Endgame is so committed to bringing its strands full circle, even James D'Arcy's Jarvis from ABC's Agent Carter TV series makes a cameo. You can tell Endgame has been built from the ground up to satisfy fans who've followed these characters since the beginning, made by people who love them just as fondly, and doesn't fail to do them, or their interweaving stories justice.
A large reason for this is in the assured handling of directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who with the Captain America sequels and Infinity War already showed their chops to do justice to a multitude of characters across a lengthy running time, which doesn't escape them with Endgame, clocking in at a bulky three hours. That sounds more intimidating than it ends up feeling, because aside from the simple fact that every inch of the film feels important (really, what could we even cut?), the actual pacing is so airtight the length is virtually non-existent. That doesn't mean it feels rushed, mind you, because this movie wisely takes its time to let sequences breathe, therefore giving its characters equal importance in the spotlight, but it's a credit to how well judged the movement is that said time simply breezes by. Which is only one example in which this movie shows serious cojones.
It turns out, restoring the lives lost to Thanos isn't a quick fix, because despite whooping him easily, he's already destroyed the stones so that no one can undo his work. Tough break, but at least Thor goes for the head this time. And following this easy, but ultimately disappointing second bout, we're treated to our next little subversion: A five year time jump.
In the years following the mass vanishing, each of the Avengers have splintered into different directions. While Steve and Nat have kept to their usual operational patrols and regular affiliate check ins, others have been more drastically affected. Tony has finally settled down with Pepper to raise a daughter, and Bruce has embraced the Hulk and become one with him (the best of both worlds, as he puts it). On the other hand, Thor has become an out of shape alcoholic in Asgard's new safe haven, while Clint Barton has become a vengeful vigilante cruelly killing criminal gangs. The transition is rough, with the planet in some ways becoming a post-apocalypse. It's tough to look on the bright side when there seems to be so little. As Steve puts it, "Some people move on. We don't," and you truly feel the weight of those failures compound as these characters carry on with their lives post-snap.
But hope is reawakened when Scott Lang, long since lost to the Quantum Realm, is returned by literal chance (Strange's 1 in 14 million outcome depended on a rat). Finding his old battlemates from Berlin, he comes in with the most logical, but also far-fetched outcome: Time travel. Specifically, to bring back past versions of the stones, and use them to undo the snap.
With this mechanic taking up a majority of the second act, Endgame feels closer to the spirit of Ant-Man by becoming a heist movie, as the various teams spread out between different points in time to retrieve the stones. These sequences are not only incredibly entertaining in their own right, but a thoroughly satisfying trip down memory lane, showing you how far the series has come both in their scale, and in their storytelling. While the time travel mechanics could have made the film unnecessarily convoluted, Endgame's use of its feels much smoother (hilariously acknowledging Back to the Future's mechanics as bull). As a result, these sequences have an enjoyable sense of anything goes in their creation, especially with the number of references that the film makes use of, including a direct callback to The Winter Soldier's elevator scene (featuring one of the smartest actions a character has made in these movies).
However, fun these sequences may be, they also never let us forget the grave mortality behind those motives, or the consequences should they fail at any point during their plan. Just because their pasts can't be tampered, doesn't mean their futures can't be taken away, and even in defeat, the looming specter of Thanos still hangs over them, like a lingering shadow of death upon them. That even takes hold several times as well, with great sacrifice paving the way for their journeys, with sometimes heartbreaking results.
With that, the cast of the film turn in some of their finest work in the series so far. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans have the meatiest material with the most screentime, each dealing with and moving on from their own failures five years before. Having finally settled down, Tony is much too reluctant to give up his newfound happiness raising a family. Having experienced, and contributed to, so much trauma in the past, its understandable why he'd be so terrified of losing it all, but to not even try to mend the damage would make him a failure just as well, with Downey playing that complex range so well. Ditto for Chris Evans, whose stoic heroism and nobility has yet to waver, but whose own experience with failure and life lost has eaten away at him, and why he's so readily able to empathize with those who've lost everything after the snap.
The other legacy Avengers get their own great bit of material, with Chris Hemsworth's Thor garnering some of the most hilarious changes, with his Big Lebowski fashion and flabby beer gut, the once proud king working through his own lost glory. After missing the Infinity War, Jeremy Renner makes up significantly for it with his harder edged Barton, literally turned into a man with nothing left to lose, and having developed a merciless sense of justice, showcased terrifically in an extended Tokyo sequence wielding a custom katana. If anyone knows what he's going through, it's Natasha, as she's been forced to act as the glue holding the team together, with Scarlett Johansson doing well to play how her murky past still haunts her to this day. Finally, in comparison to Infinity War sidelining the Hulk for its entirety, Endgame makes up for it by having him through the whole movie, albeit retaining incredible intelligence recalling Professor Hulk, with Mark Ruffalo's nonchalant attitude a hilarious juxtaposition for his stature.
Newcomers also have some great standout moments, from Paul Rudd's Scott Lang providing the lion's share of big laughs, to Bradley Cooper's Rocket coping with the loss of his old family and finding his place in a new one. Don Cheadle and Karen Gillan also have standout parts to play, along with Brie Larson in a couple of rousing reappearances as Captain Marvel. That's not to mention any number of other players and cameos peppered along the way. But again, it's Josh Brolin who steals the show anytime he shows up, once again serving as an intimidating obstacle to the Avengers. But great as Brolin is, I will say this newer appearance from Thanos does feel slightly impersonal, edging him away from nuance and making him feel more overtly villainous in his intentions, which does rob him a bit of his character.
This movie really does feel like a true three-act feature, with its first hour serving as a soft-epilogue come set-up, its second hour the main heist, while its final hour lends much of its time to the epic climax. Despite the usual high quality of the action, what's striking about Endgame is how minimal or subdued it is for the first two hours. Even the heist, which dominates a hefty chunk of the film, is not as grand in scale as you might be expecting. That's because not only are the filmmakers placing much more emphasis on character over spectacle, to the point that this felt like the MCU answer to Logan, but because the film is clearly building up to an enormous showdown in the last act. And that build to the big guns really pays off, because not only does it allow these characters we love to find new depth in their late life, but in doing so, it'll greatly enhance our investment when the big punches and explosions start up.
And that's precisely what comes to be, as both our surviving heroes and the newly resurrected enter the fray, teaming up to battle Thanos and his forces, in what could be argued as the best action scene in the MCU to date. This entire climax is such an incredible exercise in spectacle, like Civil War's Airport brawl on the scale of The Lord of the Rings. Not only does it feature a wealth of rich character interplay and is so thoroughly investing and engaging, but is so unbridled in its sense of fun and wide-eyed excitement, almost becoming like a kid bashing his favorite toys together at times, especially in how each of the Avengers use their powers in creative ways and in unique pairings. It all conspires to create one of the most fanboy-pleasing sequences in film history, where every hero is given at least one crowd-pleasing moment (nothing will prepare you for the deafening cheers of an opening night crowd), with more than its fair share of great and pleasant surprises along the way.
But a wind up is nothing without a wind down, and after the dust has settled (sorry), the aftermath addressing what comes next, and the send off to the legacy characters that have been with us since the beginning, ends the picture on an incredible note of satisfaction. It's a long ending, but thoroughly justified to give us, and them, the finality that they deserve, while also paving the way for new characters to take up their mantle. I can certainly say I'm excited and ready for an Anthony Mackie led Captain America. Incidentally, you can leave as soon as the credits start rolling, because there are no post credits clips. Quite appropriately I say, given how much is wrapped up in this film, but even so, it's still worth sticking around for the "curtain call" cast listings, which themselves are nostalgic and emotional in their own right.
On some other superficial notes, it's like Alan Silvestri heard my complaints about his prior score to Infinity War, as not only is it a lot more melodic and distinct this go around, but he finally makes greater use of outside compositions. Aside from his own works for Avengers and Cap worming their way all through the music (as well as earlier material for Black Widow and Peggy Carter), there's also several instances of other hero themes peppered through, like Michael Giacchino's Doctor Strange, Christophe Beck's Ant-Man, and Pinar Toprak's Captain Marvel. Some of these may have been tracked, but it's impressive and wonderful to hear regardless.
I saw the film in both IMAX 2D and 3D, and I highly recommend you go for this format, not only because of the wider image that'll give you greater scope, but because this really justifies the most immersive, crystal-clear image quality you can manage, especially for the epic climax with so much happening at every second. I'd say you're better off seeing the film flat, because despite some effective uses of 3D, I largely noticed any difference or enhancement to the film, and I mainly felt the only difference was that I had to wear glasses, but go for IMAX regardless.
During the climax, Doctor Strange asks if everyone fighting for the Avengers has made it, to which Wong replies "What? You wanted more?" That really sums up this whole experience for me, in that this movie is so packed with excitement and emotional heft, it feels impossible to imagine it could be any bigger or better.
Avengers: Endgame is a promise kept. When launching 11 years ago, it promised to be an event series the likes had never been seen before, that gradually evolved as its pieces took form. But never could we have imagined that promise would not only be fulfilled, but be so literally earth-shattering in its impact, and that's largely because of how long we've gotten to know and love these characters. Even as the series moves on, and more intimate follow-ups take the stage after it (such as July's Spider-Man: Far From Home), the care and love for this world and its people will always be the heart of these movies. This is all put in stark perspective with Endgame, which may well be the most epic movie you will see all year, and easily stands among the very, very best films Marvel has released to date.
Assemble!
****1/2 / *****
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