Who'd have thought way back when in 2008 that Iron Man would kick off a massive endeavor that would encompass twenty-two films and counting, in what makes up the world entitled the Marvel Cinematic Universe, aka the MCU? As such, it makes perfect sense that star Robert Downey, Jr. is front and center in the latest film, Avengers: Endgame, which also marks the "last" entry in this particular version of the MCU, though Spider-Man: Far From Home is actually the last film in the so-called "Phase 3" of the Marvel-verse.
In other words, this is the last time we'll see all of the original Avengers team in a film for the conceivable future in this incarnation of it, with this particular group of actors. Of course, we already know that various members of the extended universe are already in various stages of development for their next films, including, in addition to the forthcoming Spider-Man, new films in the Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Strange and Captain Marvel franchises and a Black Widow origin film.
In addition, with the sale of Fox to Disney, which already owns Marvel, the road will be paved to include the X-Men and Fantastic Four, among others, in future endeavors, so it's not as if the buck stops here. That said, there's an undeniable sense of finality to Endgame, and it's pretty clear it's meant as the final film for at least some of these characters. (Don't worry, I won't get into heavy spoiler territory, for those ten of you who haven't seen the movie yet, lol. 😉)
We pick up more or less where we left off- spoilers for the last entry, Infinity War, obviously, moving forward- with Thanos (Josh Brolin) having remarkably completed his effort to "save" the universe by effectively wiping out half of the life in it. The film starts with a recap of where the absent Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was during all of the events of the prior film: spending time with his family, as it turns out. As we see, in short order, they are among the victims of Thanos' actions, and Hawkeye is none too happy about it, obviously, later becoming a vigilante to deal with his issues of unresolved anger.
Indeed, the entire first hour or so of the film is spent dealing with the fallout of the events of the prior film, in gratifyingly dark fashion. Rather than immediately rallying the troops to find a solution to what happened, the team realizes in short order that there's no going back, and that what's done is done, especially after tracking Thanos down and confronting him, where they discover the Infinity Gauntlet has been destroyed by him to specifically prevent anyone undoing what he did.
The film then flashes forward five years, where we see that the people of Earth- and, by extension, our heroes- are still reeling from what has happened. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans) hosts a grief counseling group. Meanwhile, Tony Stark, who was among one of the lucky ones to survive with his family intact, has gone into hiding, refuses to engage with anyone else, and has, in effect, retired.
Enter Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), aka Ant-Man, quite literally, who has been stuck in the "Quantum Realm" since the events of Ant-Man and the Wasp. For him, it has only been about five minutes, but, as aforementioned, for the rest of the world, it has been five long years. After reuniting with his own family- shocked to discover his daughter is a teenager now, who thought he was dead- Lang realizes that perhaps his experiences could help rectify the situation.
He theorizes that they could conceivably use time travel to undo what Thanos did, traveling to a time before Thanos even had the stones in the first place, retrieving them and making sure he never got them, thus bringing everything and everyone back to "normal." One major problem: the science of it all is way beyond Scott's wheelhouse, and they need someone with a brain of Tony Stark's caliber to hammer out the details, and he understandably wants nothing to do with it. After all, if they do succeed, it could mean that his current life, with his wife and new daughter, might not exist anymore.
As such, the remaining team: Rogers, Hawkeye, Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), aka The Hulk; Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), aka the Black Widow and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), aka War Machine, assemble at Avengers HQ with Lang to try and figure it out on their own. Alas, their efforts are hitting a wall until Stark finally cracks the code on his own and reluctantly rejoins the team, after getting wife Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to give her seal of approval.
From there on out, the film becomes, as Lang puts it, a "time heist" flick, a la Back to the Future, which, along with many other such films, gets an extended shout-out because the writers know you've seen a lot of those movies, too, and they might as well acknowledge it. Quite frankly, thinking too hard about such stuff makes my head hurt, so I'll leave it to others smarter than me to figure out if all these time-traveling shenanigans add up, but, at least in the moment, they made sense within the context of the film, though I did catch a few loose ends here and there, chief among them being: what are the repercussions of what Loki (Tom Hiddleston) does? I expected that matter to be dealt with in a post-credits sequence, but heads-up: there isn't one. (I know!)
I won't go into much more detail from there, but suffice it to say, things get hairy along the way, chief among the issues Thanos getting wind of what the Avengers are up to and trying to stop it, to say nothing of getting a hold of the stones proving easier said than done. As you might guess, the time traveling thing leads to some fun scenarios, as the gang try their best to avoid their past selves, which could trigger future issues. As such, the film really picks up in the second hour, and never lets up for hardly a minute in the final hour.
Yep, in case you missed the memo, this sucker's a whopping three hours long, and some change. Granted, the credits are pretty endless- and once again, there's NO mid-credits sequences, much less an after-credits one, so consider yourself warned- but still, that's a hella long movie. Remarkably, though, in spite of the first hour being a bit on the moody, slow side- perfectly understandable, given what happened at the end of the previous movie- the film doesn't feel long at all. I don't think I checked my phone for the time even once after that first hour, and even that was pretty engaging, in spite of the dour tone.
What really saves it is the strong writing, which does a great job of keeping things moving along at a brisk pace, especially after a certain point, and perhaps just as importantly, keeping up a great sense of humor throughout. Wait until you see Thor, for instance, who has not taken the events of the previous film well, to say the least. Hemsworth is at the top of his game here, even if Thor is at the low-end of his. I consistently laughed at his sad sack oft-drunken antics, and generally disheveled appearance, which the filmmakers bravely allow to continue throughout the entire movie.
That said, it's not as if the film isn't filled with touching, heartfelt moments, either. The melancholic opening, with Hawkeye, is heart-wrenching, and there are tear-inducing moments throughout, not the least of which involve some major characters, which I won't spoil here. But, if you were thinking that, this being the last of the current series, that not everyone gets a happy ending, you are not wrong, so prepare yourself for that inevitability. If you're even remotely invested in this stuff, expect to get a bit teary-eyed here and there.
Overall, I can't recommend this one enough. Not only is it one of the best Marvel movies ever, it's one of the best superhero movies, period. It's already broken a bunch of box office records, and seems poised to break some more. It's the second highest-grossing domestic film of all time, behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which isn't likely to change- currently, Endgame has grossed $771 million in the US, compared to Force's whopping $937 million.
However, globally, it has grossed $2.62 billion (!), second only to Avatar, which grossed $2.78 billion, which Endgame could easily surpass in the weeks to come, with the film still firmly entrenched in the Top 5 at the moment. Does it deserve to be the highest grossing film of all time globally? I'd say it was a damn sight better than Avatar, at least- though, lest we forget, several sequels to that one are coming soon.
It will be interesting to see if those films build on their predecessors as well, like the Marvel films did over time. A lot will depend on the quality. Director James Cameron has yet to truly have a big bomb, The Abyss notwithstanding (which I actually enjoyed way more than Avatar, personally), so we'll see, but he's spending an awful lot on these new films, so it could all blow up in his face.
I also prefer Endgame to Force, which was fine, but basically just a redux of the first film in the series. (A New Hope, not The Phantom Menace, obvi.) But you should take that with a grain of salt, as I am not a huge Star Wars person- yeah, I said it. Give me Marvel movies over Star Wars any day. Hell, I even prefer DC's stuff as of late.
Rogue One was the only current SW film that really did anything for me, and at least a sizable chunk of that had more to do with Felicity Jones, rather than the plot machinations. I could say the same for the other films in the current trilogy and Daisy Ridley. I haven't seen Solo as of yet, but I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually- but I haven't heard great things.
So, yeah, if you are a fan of this stuff and you haven't seen Endgame yet, what are you waiting for? If it's a crowd factor, the crowds should be thinning out by now, what with the latest installment of John Wick having finally de-throned it at the box office. If it's a matter of sitting in a theater for nearly three-and-a-half hours, including previews, I kind of get that, but I'm used to marathon movie sessions, so that didn't bother me that much. I certainly wouldn't worry about getting bored, unless you're not into this sort of thing, in which case, you probably wouldn't be reading this in the first place.
Overall, this is first-rate blockbuster filmmaking. I don't know if I'd consider it one of my all-time favorite movies ever or anything, but, by blockbuster standards, it's up there for sure. It will almost certainly make my Best of 2019 list, though. How high it ranks depends on the quality of movies to come, but there's some pretty good stuff coming up soon, including Quentin Tarantino's latest, which I may even be more excited to see than I was this film, honestly.
It has all the earmarks of a return to form for the director. Or a return to the form that first made me a fan, at least- I didn't mind his last few films, but I like his more modern-era stuff better than his period pieces. This one's technically set in the late 60's, I believe, but it still looks more in line with the likes of Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown than Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.
I'm also looking forward to Rocketman (the Elton John biopic), Men in Black: International, Dark Phoenix, The Dead Don't Die (big Jim Jarmusch fan), Toy Story 4, Annabelle Comes Home, Yesterday, Crawl, The Lion King, The New Mutants, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, IT: Chapter 2, Joker, Zombieland 2, The Addams Family, Terminator: Dark Fate, Doctor Sleep, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (aka the "Mr. Rogers" movie) and, of course, the new Spider-Man. So, yeah, there's lot of competition on the horizon, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Endgame ends up in the Top Ten of 2019, nonetheless. It's that good.
It's got action, laughs, drama, a solid script and performances- basically everything you want in a big-screen blockbuster. By all means, check this one out! 😃
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