No, really. Don’t go any further if you have any intention to watch it.
Alright then, you really can't say that I didn't warn you…)
Avengers Endgame
Dir. Joe & Anthony Russo / Running Time. 181 mins
The culmination of nearly eleven years and twenty films-worth of characters and storylines. To say that there is a reasonable weight of expectation upon this one would be something of an understatement...
The Good:- Writing this the day after seeing on this on the big screen, there’s a lot to sift through. It’s a character piece and a big blockbuster-y spectacle. It’s rousing, it’s funny and it’s genuinely emotional at times (not something I ever really expected from a superhero movie*). It wisely decides to focus on a core group of the characters who we have come to know the most over the years but still manages to give everyone a moment of their own. And by everyone, I mean pretty much everyone - almost every supporting character from the previous twenty two films (and even one from one of the spin off shows) shows at some point. It's a move that should really be dreadful fan service but ends up being crowd pleasing. This is, after all, a film for those of us who have sat through most if not all of the previous films. It makes no concessions to the casual viewer and nor should it. That it manages to pull off this incredible achievement - a really fine balancing act between character, action and continuity - is nothing short of remarkable. There are some real stand out moments too - notable among them being Captain America taking up Thor’s hammer (which got a huge cheer at the cinema). I also don’t think I’ve ever sat through a three hour film that whizzed past that quickly.
The Bad:- I’m a big fan of time travel type stuff and I’m not sure that all of this works out from a time travel perspective when you stop to think about it. Fortunately, the film points out the difficulty of getting time travel films to work in an extremely amusing way and, really, the intricacies of time travel are not the point here.** Also, I was surprised at how little Captain Marvel was utilised given the big build up in the film just beforehand but she’s clearly going to be one of the main players of the next phase.
The Cinema Experience:- A quick note here about watching this at the cinema. I honestly don’t remember the last time I was at a cinema where a film was accompanied by so many spontaneous rounds of applause, huge cheers and loud unashamed sobbing. Also, the first time that I can remember outside of a film festival that a film has got a big round of applause at the end. I definitely recommend seeing this one in a communal setting - there’s nothing quite like it.
The Verdict:- It won't convert anyone new to the Marvel cinematic experience but that was absolutely not the point. This was both a love letter and a victory lap to everyone who has been watching for the last ten or so years and it was delivered with style and grace. A fitting capstone to this chapter and a tough act to follow!
Small Sad Note:- This film marks the last cameo by the late Stan Lee - it seems fitting that he last appears in a film that ends the first saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
* “What about the Christopher Nolan Batman movies?” asks my imaginary-reader-deployed-as-a-literary-technique. They’re good solid superhero films and I enjoyed them (in the way that often seems to happen for me with superhero trilogies - first film given a pass in places for being the origin, second film really enjoyable, third film tails off a bit) but I in no way had anything approaching the same sort of emotional response to it.
** A Side Note About The Time Travel (OK, really spoilery here so really don't read this bit if you've not watched it; also this will be the really ultra-nerdy bit - warning completed):- It really doesn't add up though. They make a big deal about returning all the stones to the right point in time so as not to disrupt things.... but they kill Nebula and Thanos from the past before the snap happens so how does that work? Also, Captain America then goes back and lives a life with Peggy which he didn't do before (you could say that they kept it secret but that doesn't tie up with the way Peggy behaves in the Agent Carter series or The Winter Soldier). Also, where does Loki go with the tesseract after The Avengers? And how do they give back the Soul Stone if Natasha died to get it? Sadly, this is the way my brain works when it comes to time travel stuff - I can't let it lie...
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