REVIEW: Avengers: Endgame

Courtesy of Disney

A note before we begin: I realize the element of surprise is paramount to experiencing Avengers: Endgame. Although I hint at a few minor plot points, there’s nothing in these paragraphs that I would consider a spoiler. Still, everyone’s definition of that term is different. If you plan to go into the movie completely cold, I’d recommend waiting to read this until after you’ve seen it.

Everyone still here? Okay. This review is going to be weird for a couple of reasons. First, people interested in seeing Endgame – the culmination of an epic 22-film narrative known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe that spanned more than a decade – probably don’t care what I have to say, at least until they’ve seen it for themselves. Second, people who haven’t seen any of these films probably aren’t going to start their journey here.

In other words, until after opening weekend (when the film is almost certain to shatter several box office records), this is an article for pretty much no one. It’s a strange position to be in while trying to figure out what to write. What I can safely say is this…

Y’all aren’t ready.

I laughed, I cried, I cheered, and every other emotional cliché that you typically read in a blurb on a DVD cover. I honestly have no idea how the creative team – led by executive producer Kevin Feige, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo – managed it, but they don’t just live up to the hype. They somehow exceed even the most ridiculous expectations.

There’s been a lot of theorizing and conjecture surrounding Endgame (shrouded in secrecy since preproduction), specifically how the remaining heroes plan to undo the finale of last year’s Avengers: Infinity War. That’s when the genocidal Thanos (Josh Brolin) collected all six Infinity Stones – the MacGuffins that help tie the various MCU films together – and wiped out half the universe’s population with a snap of his fingers, including popular new characters like Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland).

Almost all the speculation I’ve heard gets one major aspect of the big plan correct, but the little details make it a blast to watch unfold. It’s as if the creative team knew fans were too smart to keep totally in the dark, so they figured out a way to maintain some surprises with clever misdirects and nods to previous films that allow for a trip down memory lane while also strengthening the primary story.

Not only does Endgame give fans the closure they’re seeking after Infinity War ripped their hearts out, it’s also a direct sequel to pretty much every other MCU installment. It stresses me out to think of the behind-the-scenes logistics of casting, let alone crafting a narrative that does right by dozens of characters and deftly wraps everything up.

Don’t get me wrong, Marvel films are going to be around for decades to come (there’s far too much money at stake to quit), but Endgame is a perfect jumping off point for exhausted viewers who need to disengage for a while. Important characters get beautiful sendoffs, others depart in more emotionally devastating ways (people who complain that the MCU doesn’t have real stakes can’t say that now) and newer heroes see the torch passed to them, but none of these scenes feel trite or perfunctory.

Even the bladder-bursting, three-hour runtime doesn’t feel indulgent. Sure, there are a few scenes that could use some trimming, but almost everything feels necessary. I’d imagine most fans are going to appreciate the story’s scope and volume; plus, these movies have earned a victory lap.

Endgame meets the literal definition of epic, yet it somehow still feels intimate thanks to its intentional focus on the original six Avengers. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) haven’t been at the forefront in recent years as the MCU shifted its focus to newer characters (played by cheaper actors), but it’s a joy to see them take center stage again one last time.

That doesn’t mean there’s not room for other fan favorites. Obviously, I won’t name names since seeing them pop up is part of the film’s emotional power. But the last half-hour of Endgame contains – no exaggeration – one of the most ambitious, brain-melting spectacles I’ve ever seen on a movie screen.

As I left the theater, I wondered what 8-year-old me, whose experience with comic book movies was basically limited to Richard Donner’s Superman and Tim Burton’s Batman, would think if I could somehow describe this sequence he’d eventually watch with a daughter his age sitting next to him. He’d probably drop dead from information overload.

So, in closing, is Endgame a perfect movie? The logical part of my brain says probably not. I just saw it a few hours ago (as of this writing), so I’m sure I’m still riding a high of adrenaline and endorphins. I plan to revisit it a couple of times: once with a general audience on opening weekend and again in a few weeks to see how it plays outside of the hype and excitement.

But it sure does feel like a perfect movie to end this astonishing, seemingly impossible experiment that started way back in 2008. I’m thrilled I got to be a part of it from the beginning.

Avengers: Endgame is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and some language.

Grade: A