Avengers: Endgame Review
And now their watch has ended. And our watch. Everybodys watch is over! Sort of, anyway. What began ..
And now their watch has ended. And our watch. Everybodys watch is over! Sort of, anyway. What began 11 years ago as a crazy dream Jon Favreau (and a number of other people) had comes to something of a conclusion with Avengers: Endgame, the rumbling, maximalist culmination of what totals to a series that could run for three uninterrupted days, if played back to back. (The film opens April 26.) Its been a heck of a trip, both exciting and exhausting, which is just how Joe and Anthony Russos three-hour film plays out. Endgame is an epic march toward denouement that satisfies and surprises—and, Im a little loath to admit, stirs.
Though could you really blame anyone for falling prey to the undertow of the Avengers universe? Weve all aged over a decade since Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) first put on his Ironman suit; as he and his compatriots have evolved, blasted this way and that on various plucky adventures, so too have we changed. I found myself thinking about time as Endgame swelled to its climax, how anything that marks that passage so thoroughly, even by mere endurance, is bound to resonate. It also helps that the Marvel movies, Endgame very much included, are largely gleaming and witty successes, triumphs of mega-corporate enterprise that still have some human texture. The films have carefully traveled from Stark snark all the way to this serious and emotional (though still fun where it counts) final chapter, earning a dramatic weight bit by clever bit.
Whew. Im vamping here because Im not really sure how to talk about Endgame specifically without revealing any number of spoilers Im assuming most people dont want revealed. But heres a broad overview: We begin post-snap, after half of all living things in the universe have been snuffed out by the extremist extraterrestrial Thanos (Josh Brolin). Those left in the ashy aftermath—including original Avengers Tony, Captain America (Chris Evans, sans beard, quel dommage), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)—are bereft and mostly drained of hope that those lost will ever return to them. But these are six characters always in search of a mission, and so they find one—a crazy last-ditch scramble through time that might just reverse Thanoss terrible cleansing. What follows is a dense but nimble revisiting of Marvel movies past, a semi-indulgent tribute to whats come before as some of our brave heroes take their last stand.
Yes, some major characters die in Endgame, as we always knew they would. But the Russos, and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, arent ruthless. Theres so much death already hanging in the air post-Infinity War that Endgame neednt add too much to that heavy mood. Instead of a kill-a-thon, Endgame is a solemn and unexpectedly un-violent caper, a quest to undo the worst thing imaginable. Sure, there are action scenes peppered throughout—but Endgame is largely about stealth and internal reckoning. It presents the warming, moving idea that the strength and ingenuity of community can amply combat despair, even when all seems a frozen and lonely ruin.
Oops; Im getting maudlin again. But three hours in the dark will do that to a person, especially when theres so much to hook into during that sprawl. Endgame offers a rich assemblage of movement and detail, full of winning digressions and loyalty-rewarding callbacks. Theres a host of great performances too, from Evanss sad and weary nonagenarianism to Johanssons watery mettle to Brolins lumbering and alluring villainy. Watching Endgame, with its ribbons of poignancy and genuine artfulness, one gets the feeling that any series can get good when its had 22 chances to practice. That long runway doesnt make you appreciate the finery any less, though; in a maybe perverse way, the Avengers, their allies, and their enemies have earned our respect.
Ultimately, Endgame understands a simple human response: how nice it is, how reassuring, to see and feel something complete. To have all the pieces finally arrayed together, set before us like totems of some vague accomplishment we managed just by sitting Read More – Source
