“Avengers: Endgame” Review (sort of)

You know that footage you saw in the Avengers: Endgame trailers? It’s all from the first 15 minutes of a 184 minute film that feels like an 18.4 minute film. You know how some movies have principal cast members names flash on screen before the proper credits scroll by? I counted 65 of those. You know how our normal review format has a premise, high point, low point, and then at least seven more paragraphs discussing the various aspects in detail? I cannot think of any way to discuss any moment of the film not present in the trailers without spoiling something major. Avengers: Infinity War was just the warm up for this one, and as far as I can tell, every single person involved knocked it out of the park. My expectations for quality were exceeded. My expectations for story points were not only completely off the mark, they were not nearly as good as what we actually got. Suffice it to say that I’m giving the movie a perfect 42/42, and encourage everyone with even the slightest interest to see this before any aspect of the film gets spoiled.

13 replies on ““Avengers: Endgame” Review (sort of)”

  1. This. A million times this. The resolution is so much better than anything I imagined going in.

    • I am less impressed than you are. It was good, but I think I might have liked Infinity War better.

      Not that they didn’t succeed! They did everything I could want, and the things I wanted that they couldn’t do would have made it an extra three hours, so I get that it had to be what it was. It was a great Avengers capstone movie, it just wasn’t a capstone to all 20+ movies.

      • I kind of do want to see what an extended cut would look like, and it will be interesting to see what they do with consequences going forward since there are some mind bending potential consequences.

        I should mention that I didn’t say I thought it was a “capstone” for all 20+ movies. (Neither did Blaine unless I missed something in his post.) I just meant the resolution to the finger snap was so much better than anything I imagined going in. I wasn’t paying attention to much of the hype leading up to it, but anyone who sold it as the ultimate culmination of 20 odd movies was clearly overselling.

        It obviously can’t be a grand finale of everything since the various characters are at different places in their character arcs. But for the ones whose arcs resolved in Endgame, it is an excellent finale for them. It’s also a good jumping off point narratively for those who want off the merry-go-round and will probably provide a fresh jumping on point for new viewers without requiring watching a dozen movies to have context on things.

  2. I found it a very well-made conclusion to the first wave of MCU movies. I can’t add much to the “sorta review.” However, it raises a number of questions:

    Are we just going to ignore the five-year jump and the snap/re-snap? Because that would have significant social consequences– although Peter Parker’s entirely supporting cast, apparently, were snapped away and thus remain in high school for Far From Home.

    While Tony gets an incredible funeral scene– it even includes that kid from the third Iron Man film– Black Widow gets under-mourned. Of course, she has a film coming out. Will it be an origin? Set during the five years? Or is she coming back, somehow?

    The fact that Captain America spent years living incognito creates a number of problems that will likely never be addressed.

    Still, so very much worked: as you note, character moments and epic spectacle. What particularly amazed me: the way the plot revisited most of the main points of the MCU’s history to date, while giving so many characters important resolution scenes with people in their lives. The story also juggles so many characters with finesse. Great film– though likely, largely incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t seen most of its predecessors. As someone said online, Marvel has been making the most expensive TV series in history. This was the grandest Season Finale ever. And, as lost said, it sets up a “jumping on” point for new viewers.

    The one spoiler everyone should know: There’s no mid-credit scene or end-credit scene. Unless you like reams of credits, just get up and use the washroom!

    • Widow: First, I heard her movie is a prequel, so her fate isn’t relevant to that movie. Second, the recent Tales of Suspense series was a buddy cop/odd couple story about Hawkeye and Bucky searching out the rumors that Natasha wasn’t actually dead. Pair that with Bruce’s comment about trying to bring her back, and we may have a great plot for the Disney+ series they are going to be doing.

      Cap: I was telling some other friends that I think it’s perfectly believable that Cap was able to go back and live a life, but not that he didn’t go get involved when he was needed.

      After-Credits: We were shooed out of the theater, but I am told that after everything, there is an audio stinger of metallic clanging, which most are suggesting is the sound of Tony building the first Iron Man suit. Next time I see it (home or otherwise) I am going to wait for that.

  3. I’m a bit confused by some of the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. So, 2014 Thanos, Nebula, and Gamora all drop into 2023, and two of them are killed there, which would seem to prevent them from doing all the different things they did after (specifically, all the stuff Thanos did that led to this in the first place). Given how concerned everyone is about causality – the Ancient One drawing glowing lines all over the place, and all the off-screen stuff with Cap returning the stones to their points of origin – how does this all add up?

    Yes, I’m overthinking it and should probably just say “lol comics”.

    • I think that the movie considers those past timelines split off, not being part of the main MCU’s history. This solves the “Cap hiding icognito for years” issue, as well as the Thanos/Nebula issues.

      As you mention, that’s somewhat contradicted by the Ancient One, but not entirely. She basically says that the universes that are changed will go on just fine with the changes. It’s only the lack of an infinity stone that she objects to. Specifically because not having them will result in those universes being lost to darkness. Once Bruce promises to return the stones, she’s willing to accept whatever other changes happen.

      • I think so too, but taking 2014 Thanos and his ship out of time means nothing from GotG happens.

        Honestly, the Russos are chatty enough, I bet that they answer these things within a month somewhere.

        • They won’t happen in the new timeline, but they already happened to the characters in the current timeline. Professor Hulk explicitly explains this.

          • I get that, the MCU we watched is fine, but now there’s a second branch of the MCU without a Thanos that branches off in 2014. (IE, there’s at least two timelines now.)

          • Sure, that’s how they explain the rules, but then they break the rules with Old Cap. He went back and spent a life with Peggy. Great. But how did he get to that bench? If he used the time gps to get back, he should have appeared in the device he left from. He did not, which implies he just showed up on his own; as in he’s been living in the main MCU universe this whole time, not in some forked universe.

Comments are closed.