Here is the deal with spoilers. The first few paragraphs are spoiler-free, and then I will write SPOILER ALERT. Somebody once asked me if that meant that I’m about to start writing spoilers. That guy is an idiot. Don’t be like that guy.
I saw Iron Man in a theater when it came out back in 2008 and, like mostly everyone else, I didn’t realize that I was watching the beginning of something this big. I smiled like a jackass during the post-credit scene of that film (post-credit scenes being uncommon at the time) and wondered if we would actually see “the Avenger initiative” realized on screen or if the idea would end up in development hell. Even if it did happen, I couldn’t have predicted the magnitude of it. While not the conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame is the culmination of the story that was promised by Nick Fury eleven years ago. Endgame is also a very good superhero movie in its own right, but its true accomplishment is as a satisfying conclusion to a story and a project that is arguably unparalleled in terms of cinematic scope. It is also in that larger context that its flaws become the most apparent, but those range from legitimate to personal nitpicking.
Walking into this, we all know what the basic plot will be. But, generally speaking, Thanos wiped out half the world’s population, including half of its heroes (fuck off, I don’t need spoiler alerts for year-old movies). We know that the Avengers must somehow reassemble, bring back their fallen members and defeat Thanos. I mean, the next Spiderman movie comes out in July, so he was probably going to be okay. So the broad strokes aren’t really what matter here. More than anything, it’s the details of the journey that matter.
The biggest issue is the length of that journey. I recognize that this movie is tasked with wrapping up plot threads from 21 movies spread across the last decade and that would necessitate a long running time. But this is just too damn long (I’ll get into specifics in the spoiler section). I would likely grade this as an A as a two-hour movie, but at three hours, it gets knocked down to a B+.
However, those three hours are filled with some great moments. The original six Avengers all (mostly)get their much-deserved time in the spotlight, but the film also juggles moments for the massive character roster that has developed around them. The opening scene and the final 20 minutes are pretty much perfect, and I give the filmmakers credit for both opening and closing the film on quiet, dramatic, gut-punch character moments instead of big action scenes. There was a lot of crying in my theater. I would normally mock that, but this series earned those moments by developing these characters for so long (I only cry during Jaws: The Revenge because the Brody family has just been through so much). And, although those quieter moments are what I will remember most about this movie, the action scenes are also as epic as one would expect. When the final battle begins, as we all knew it would, it’s fucking big. It reminded me of the closing battle of Ready Player One, as I was just trying to pick out all of the characters that were flying back and forth. It can be a bit hard to follow, not surprising considering the sheer amount of shit going on, but not distractingly so. I will, however, subtract a point for that incredibly forced, pandering moment when all of the female heroes happen to be lined up next to each other. Minor point, though.
SPOILER ALERT
So, what would I cut out of it? About an hour from the middle section. The section with the Avengers going back in time to find all of the Infinity Stones drags on for-frigging-ever. The scene with Black Widow and Hawkeye retrieving the soul stone is perfect. It’s to the point, quick and important. In contrast, the section that goes back to New York in 2012 is far longer than it needs to be and grinds the entire film to a halt. If you are going to release a three-hour movie, you better be damn sure that it needs to be a three-hour movie. This doesn’t. When you see the words “New York 2012” appear on screen, that’s the time to take a piss or have a smoke or start on your taxes for next year. You probably won’t miss anything. The whole time-travel element does also create a whole lot of continuity issues, but I’m honestly just going to ignore them. It just isn’t worth getting into the weeds with stuff like that in a film like this, especially since the movie was good enough that I can overlook it.
The true stars of the film are, fittingly Iron Man and Captain America and its their elements that elevated the whole movie for me. The final shot of the film is a perfect ending note for the Captain and the funeral for Iron Man is a more poignant moment than one would have expected when this all started (though it would have been nice if they had a funeral for Vision. Remember him? He fucking died too, you know). The arc of Thor redeeming himself is also done well enough, but often dives more into comedy than I would have liked. I do have some complaints about other characters, though. Hulk is surprisingly unimportant, especially given the intended focus on the original six members, and I was left disappointed waiting for him to go into full-on Hulk smashing mode in the final battle. Not really sure what he’s holding back for at that point. He’s an absolute star of the film compared to the anti-climax that is Captain Marvel, though. After all of that buildup, she’s barely in this frigging thing and it makes her debut film seem even more meaningless. I was actually wondering in the middle of the movie if she had died and I had forgotten about it. Finally, I was discussing this movie with some fellow nerds last Thanksgiving and someone asked me what moment I would like to see it in. I answered that I want to see Star Lord redeem himself for his fucking buffoonery in the last movie. That never happens, he is barely in the movie at all and that disappointed me.
Aside from the film’s length, those complaints are largely minor quibbles born of personal preference. There are so many characters and plotlines here that it would be impossible to satisfy everyone with everything. It’s also pointless to try to review this as an individual film; It is too dependent on what has come before it. As the culmination of something much larger than itself, Endgame is an admirable conclusion and probably about as comprehensive as could be done in the film medium. I haven’t liked all of the Marvel movies, but one must admire the sheer level of planning and effort that has gone into creating a story that spans 22 films. So, cheers Marvel. Now give me my goddam Howard the Duck movie.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avengers:_Endgame#/media/File:Avengers_Endgame_poster.jpg
