Avengers: Endgame Review

April 26, 2019 at 3:16am
By Jason Stettner

Part of the journey, is the end. The Infinity Saga wraps up with Avengers: Endgame. This is a monumental moment in film history as nothing else matches this level of complexity, world building or generally quantity of characters. It manages to balance this almost perfectly, as all things should be. This film is a direct continuation of Avengers: Infinity War and follows the group in their failure. It’s about loss, dealing with that and then trying whatever it takes to reverse what has been done.

While I’ll generally keep things spoiler free, some elements will need to be touched upon. There’s a certain element of the franchise’s history that’s explored here, and with that you get a fresh perspective of what’s already happened. This was a neat way to both celebrate the history of these well loved movies, but to also act a conclusive point for them. There’s certainly going to be more entries going forward, but this really does feel like a proper send off for the core crew.

It largely focuses on the biggest characters, while using the rest of the roster at key moments. It feels like there’s a sense of desperation, and regret as the remaining undusted heroes attempt to deal with their ultimate failures.

This was a very well shot, and presented movie. The CGI was mostly excellent throughout and it had a perfect quality to the worlds that were presented. Usually there are stand out moments in terms of poor quality visual scenes, but they really went all out here. Occasionally the Hulk was a bit off in terms of the CGI. The performances were amazing, with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark being very sorrowing, Chris Evans’ Steve Rodgers becoming fed up of things and even Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow being a stand out of her time with the team due to personal sorrows.

Everyone was different. The fresh take on the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) was fantastic, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has never been so intense and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor was completely different than anything I could have ever anticipated. You even have side characters such as Don Cheadle stepping fully up as War Machine, or Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang being more serious than ever before which stole a lot of the show. I’d have to say that there was perhaps less depth for Thanos (Josh Brolin) though that was due to the character being more menacing and direct in conflict.

There are so many actors you could mention, as there were moments for everyone to shine. You really couldn’t have predicted where this narrative would head, yet at the same time you almost knew what moments would happen. Definitely a large sense of fan fulfillment here and just piles of call backs. These were enjoyable from a fan perspective, but at the same time they did stick out upon reflection. This brought the epic moments, the battles you expect and if you overlook some minor things you may consider this a perfect conclusion.

I don’t think they could have done this better, unless it was split across additional films and the directors balanced the impossible. You really have to give it to Anthony and Joe Russo, it’s hard to manage something with expectations like this, and they delivered. It’s going to be a sad time if you’ve invested the last decade of your life with these characters, so be prepared for that. People aren’t going to make it, but they’ll go out in a way that you’d expect them to.

That being said, there are many surprises to be had and the structuring of the narrative was creative. You’ll be surprised at what’s happening, and perhaps cheer depending on your investment in these characters. It leaves some rather interesting lingering questions by the end of it, but you’ll feel satisfied with the characters’ arcs and they set up the next generation that’s to come. There’s a lot of depth here and the density in content explored is rather crazy.

There are so many characters, so many smaller stories and just a ton of special appearances. The heroes have changed, their attitudes are different and you feel this glimmer of hope against the darkened universe. Things are seriously grim, but they balance the comedic elements well enough to still have some fun and laugh across the long journey.

The Conclusion

Avengers: Endgame is a successful and perhaps perfect way to conclude the legendary Infinity Saga. You’ll see the conclusive points you expect for the core crew, as the movie acts as a way to move forward towards the next generation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s dramatic, quite dark and it has moments of sorrow.

You’re not really sure what might happen next, yet at the same time it definitely services those desires that you’ve been wanting to see. It shifts many dynamics, and alters the universe forever. There really is no coming back from what’s been done and nothing will be the same. This could potentially set up some exciting new expansions, with fresh heroes and a couple returning ones. Some stories have been concluded, others rage on and it’s just special to see this universe come to somewhat of a conclusive point.

They definitely did better with this than could have ever been expected. Still, by the end I was left wanting something more. It had weight to the moments, epic times yet still didn’t have that extra bit of surprise I was hoping for. Something to completely go against my expectations as the moments felt like they were finishing key segments while not doing anything too surprising.

Avengers: Endgame Review at Theater with 3D Dbox Viewing

Rating Overall: 9.2