Avengers: Endgame
is the engrossing final chapter in marvel’s lengthy infinity saga (22 films).
The infinity saga began 11 years ago with the superb Iron Man (2008) and never looked back. With Endgame we’re now at the end of it all and Tony Stark/Iron Man is
still as important as ever as the practical linchpin of the marvel universe.
No, Endgame did not make me cry at
all but there were moments which gave me chills and made me reflective. For Endgame to make me cry it would have to
be a serious dramatic film although it does have its moments. In acting terms
the real standout is Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man although I was
impressed with the story arcs of Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. For the first time I could watch Captain
America onscreen and not call him a “idiot” or “a naïve representative of
American interests”; I had to be respectful this time. Marvel must be commended for a job well done
with the infinity saga although I do have my issues with Endgame particularly the manipulative moments to elicit some
response from moviegoers. It still makes you question if this is a great film
or if there is just a great mix of characters onscreen. While there were
surprises in store I could see some moments coming from a mile away and that
goes back to the manipulative moments in the film. I’m a seasoned moviegoer; I
have watched all the marvel films and I know a thing or two about movie finales
such as The Return of the King
(2003) so I was not perturbed or overawed by Endgame in some respects. Despite this one must admit that this is
truly the end of an era and the time for new beginnings is long overdue. In
terms of MCU filmmaking quality Black
Panther is still the leader.
The Avengers, or what’s left of them, must do their best to
correct the fallout from the universal decimation which came about as a result
of the snap by Thanos in Infinity War.
With half of the living population in the universe gone do they just move on or
find a way to make things right. Obviously they choose to make things right and
led again by the brilliance of Tony Stark/IronMan (Robert Downey Jr.) and the
dogged Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), with an important contribution from Scott
Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), they do find a
way to make it work. This all leads to an epic confrontation with the almighty
Thanos and his armies.
Positives
The primary positive is that Endgame represents the end of the monumental infinity saga and so
character arcs finally come full circle. The main standouts are clearly Tony
Stark/ Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Thor and the Hulk. Clint Barton/Hawkeye
(Jeremy Renner) also goes through a tough time in this film. The cosmic appeal
of Captain Marvel also comes into play strongly in this film. If they stick to
her cosmic appeal she should have a fine series of films going forward. Everything comes full circle with Tony Stark
as the man who began it all and Robert Downey Jr. delivers a fantastic acting
performance in this film. The main surprise with Endgame was that for long stretches it was very reflective. I was
not moved to cry at any point during the film because I have long lamented that
the transition to the next generation of heroes is long overdue. I also thought
that the episodic quality of these films has actually drawn out the infinity
saga unnecessarily. Despite these concerns Endgame
did manage to make me reflect on all that has passed since 2008 and a lot
of it had to do with the character of Tony Stark/Iron-Man, the brains behind it
all. When I first went to watch Iron Man
no one expected that it would eventually lead to an Endgame scenario. The Endgame
scenario really began to take shape with the first Avengers film (2012) where
there was the epic Thanos reveal. These are ways that Endgame gets you to consider all that has passed; particularly as it
is in this film we finally get a sense of a transition to a new generation.
Characters that were young have now grown up and are ready to take up the
mantle of leadership; characters that were once sidekicks now have to make the important
calls. This is clearly not the end of Marvel following the acquisition of Fox
properties by Disney which include top franchises such as the X-Men and the
Fantastic Four.
Endgame means the
end of characters that have comprised the Infinity saga that deals a lot in infinity
stones. Endgame embodies the essence
of the infinity saga very well because everything has to do with the stones;
how they are acquired and used. In Infinity
War characters started to come to a realization of how important these
stones were when combined but in Endgame
everyone is fully aware of their importance. The time travel element is
important based on how the Avengers are able to collect all the stones in order
to undo the decimation caused by Thanos. It’s all about the stones and they
hold no more mysteries to us.
The time travel element does lead to new possibilities or
alternate realities for the MCU. It occurred to me that Endgame might actually be one of the great time travel films
alongside Back to the Future and the
rest. Endgame seeks to address some of the deficiencies of time travel
films before. One cannot really blame the Avengers for using time travel
especially as Thanos, in Infinity War,
used it shamelessly to bring back Vision in order to retrieve the mind stone
from his head.
There were a lot of crowd pleasing moments in this film and
for the last hour it felt like I was at a concert based on the amount of
cheering in the cinema. Although in some sense a lot of it can be labeled as
fan service one must bear in mind the negative feelings that came with Infinity
War. The cheering from the audience felt more like a positive catharsis; a
massive sense of relief. There are some moments in the last hour that did give
me chills and the power of characters such as Captain Marvel was on full
display.
Thanos also demonstrated, yet again, why he is the ultimate villain
of the MCU so far and going forward it is clear that his actions will not be forgotten
for some time to come with his name becoming a part of the daily lexicon. Those
who remembered the snap certainly will not forget and the final battle just
goes to show that the Earth has finally assumed a certain stature in the
universe whereas before it was perceived as a very backward planet, a shithole.
Thanos has found a way to become a major part of pop culture outside of the
comic book world and that is a major achievement for the MCU. Regardless of his
actions one cannot deny that he was the best test faced by the Avengers on
earth and the universe in question. His very strong challenge was crucial
especially as many movie goers were clearly looking forward to see how he would
be defeated. He played a crucial role in the MCU as the major villain and going
forward it should be interesting to see who will take his place. Thanos has set
a very high standard.
The film moves pretty quickly for a 3 hour runtime.
Negatives
The primary negative of this film is that as a standalone it
is not necessarily as great without contemplating the entire infinity saga.
Would it have been as resonant if it wasn’t for the 21 films which came
before? There is a clear structure to
the film itself and some of the surprises in store were not as effective as
thought originally based on the no spoiler campaign. In one or 2 instances
marvel looked cheap despite amassing billions at the box office. If it wasn’t
cheap then it was tongue in cheek. The final
battle was clearly a major moment but it was a massive 21 film call up as
promised in the trailers and there are clearly some manipulative moments that
were seen coming from a mile away and this moment was clearly a marvel event. Once you’ve watched most of the marvel films then
you shouldn’t be truly surprised. Also the time travel factor was a bit
expected although it wasn’t exactly clear how they would do it. It came across
as a simple response to the challenges involved although it did serve its
purpose in the long run to set up some interesting sequences. The dramatic moments involve more the arcs of
some major characters which began years ago but not necessarily the MCU as a
whole. If one takes into consideration the episodic quality of the MCU then it’s
more about the characters as opposed to the individual film under review.
The climactic battle also lost some steam towards the end particularly
when there were several moments deliberately designed to elicit cheers. In this
sense fan service can be seen as a drawback because the moments tend to lose their
impact.
I was not moved to tears primarily because this end to the
infinity saga was long overdue. Marvel tried to give itself too much to do in
the end and so the impact of the 21 films before was lost hence why we had to
be reminded via time travel. It’s also not clear how the timeline created new
alternatives that would have undone what came before. So for me the impact was
not felt to such a great deal because of my misgiving about the episodic nature
of the MCU. Marvel never set up the infinity saga effectively from the
beginning and if it wasn’t for the Thanos snap in Infinity War there would have been no real stakes in this film. Only
now are we being made aware that there was supposed to be an infinity saga from
the beginning. So for me the MCU has
itself to blame if some people are not necessarily able to get up to speed with
the stakes involved or if people like myself are weary of it all. In one
instance the final hour can seem like too much but yet not enough to capture
all that has been done 21 films before.
Overall I was impressed by the effort to get so much done in
this one film to end the infinity saga. The snap has still altered for the long
term the direction taken by the MCU but we will have to wait for phase 4 to
learn more. I still have reservations about the film’s quality as a standalone
feature but it did put me in a reflective mood when considering the 21 films
before. Without the 21 films before it could be viewed as yet another episode
but we do have our farewells to make to some characters but not necessarily the
MCU.
