Be forewarned, this is a spoiler free review from a middling Marvel fan. Meaning, I’ve seen all of the big movies, but I skipped that “Ant-Man” nonsense.
This grand conclusion MCU story sees the Russo brothers (Anthony and Joe,who directed this movie, “Infinity War”, “Captain America: Civil War” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) do a masterful juggling act in this superhero/heist film, juggling multiple plots in the most entertaining way possible, while also keeping it all thankfully coherent.
Synopsis: Since I will be keeping this relatively spoiler-free, I will only state that this movie sees the remaining Avengers, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) Captain America (Chris Evens) Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) Thor (Chris Hemsworth) Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) attempting to find a way to reverse what Thanos did in the last film (snapping the best Avengers out of existence. And when I say “best” I mean T’Challa). How they go about it may seem ridiculous at first, but through the power of good filmmaking, “Endgame” turns into an “Oceans Eleven” movie (only with superpowers) that had me leaning forward in my seat for most of it.
A well constructed finale should have you feeling a majority of emotions at some point. And most of the invested audience will run the gamut with this one. From the visually on-point action sequences, to the more dramatic multiple plot twists that will keep you guessing, to the spoiler bits near the end, the Russo brothers not only show what they can do in a superhero cinematic universe, but also show off their potential to branch out into other genres.
Side Note: My biggest issues with the past Avengers films almost had nothing to do with the stories themselves. I may be in the minority here, but while I enjoyed almost all of Marvel’s superhero films, these ensemble movies always came off as clunky. At the time I figured it came down to an abundance of characters and so I forgave the directors, as I figured it must be hard to have to take time to establish where everybody is before bringing them all together to defeat the bad guy. But it was still always an issue for me in terms of prolonged watchablility during these particular installments. So, if you’re like me at all, you’ll be happy to hear that “Avengers: Endgame” solves this issue quite nicely. It’s difficult to explain how, without giving away plot-points, but what I will say is that the first 15 minutes is crafted so masterfully (reminding me of the aspects of “The Leftovers” I loved the most”) audiences will be hard pressed to feel any kind of “dragging” exposition moments throughout.
Final Thought: Aside from a plot hole or two near the end which may have you asking “How does time travel work again?”, “Avengers: Endgame” not only stands as the best Avengers movie ever made and not only wraps things up with a nice little poetic justice bow, but more importantly it’s a three hour movie that doesn’t feel like one at all. I didn’t have to pee once.
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