Movie Review – Avengers: Endgame

Okay, so no spoilers for Avengers: Endgame (2019) so let’s juggle some words. When last we met our intrepid heroes, the team had been decimated, the universe had been reduced by half, and the survivors were left to try to go on. Thanos snapped his fingers and vanished believing he’d solved everyone’s problems.

Except we know that’s not the case. Only sociopaths believe that out of sight, out of mind is how problems get solved. You can’t just excise a part of you without perennially grieving its loss. The remaining Avengers attempt to pick up the pieces of their broken world. For some, it’s successful with support groups. For others, it’s acceptance and a merging of personalities into something new. Some carve their way into the world with love and move on and some see survival as is a destructive reminder that their lives will never be the same, and they take that destructive pain out on others.

If not for a rat, the most filthy and reviled creatures, that could have been how things just went on.

So, thank you, Brother Rat. Your service to humanity will never be forgotten.

Let me just say the Avengers reassemble and save the world, at a palpable loss. That’s all I can say, but here’s another 500 words anyway.
For everything this movie is (incredible, amazing, complete) it’s still a 3-hour affair, and you’re going to want to plan accordingly. You’re also not going to want to leave your seat, not for nothing – not pee, not refreshments, because every minute means something, every line of dialog is chosen and executed with precision. It may not be perfect to some bro dudes, ESPECIALLY when everything wraps up (you’ll know the points when you see them and you’ll hear the collective howls on Thursday night), but for me, I couldn’t have asked for a better wrap up. I didn’t wonder “but what about” and “how” and “why” and maybe that’s because I’m a casual fan.

Okay, I’m a casual fan who’s seen all of the movies, but I’m not entrenched to the eyeballs in the mythology or comics. I’m a person who enjoys a rousing good flick, and this fit the bill, like Captain Marvel (2019) before it, like Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018) before that, like Avengers: Infinity War (2018) before that, like Black Panther (2018) before that, and so-on.
I’m a sucker for a fun story and engrossing arc, even it if is 22 movies long.

This is the ultimate end to Phase 3 (yes, I know that technically Spider-Man: Far From Home [2019] is the end of Phase 3, but it’s more of an epilogue and I’ll die on this hill.) and if you haven’t caught Captain Marvel (2019), well, maybe you should catch an early matinee before settling into Avengers: Endgame, because it’s important. The stinger at the end of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) set it up and Captain Marvel hammered it home.  It’s kind of critical. I’m not saying you can’t enjoy End Game without having seen it (or any of the other 20 movies) but it’s a far more satisfying experience.

The Russo Brothers pulled out all of the stops for Avengers: Endgame. This is not a movie you can go into lightly when the groundwork has been carefully laid over 11 years. The movies connect and intertwine so tightly, and if you’ve missed one or two (and be honest, some of you deliberately skipped Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp because you saw no point), let’s face it, it was a mistake. I’ll let you in on a little secret: you can catch Ant-Man and the Wasp on Netflix and no one would be the wiser. *stage wink*

The music, like the music in all Marvel films, fits the theme of the moment and propels the scenes. You bop and sway to the hits while Alan Silvestri provides the incidental rumbles and tear-jerking emotional background for your tears.

Tears, you’ll shed them. There is literally no way around this.  We’re all heavily invested in these characters and the decisions they have to make will crack the veneer of the hardest of cynics.

Oh – and folks, you can stick around for the end credits because it’s the polite thing to do, but there’s nothing there and we’re left to grieve about what we’ve lost (like kick-ass stingers). This is the fork in [no spoilers]. It’s done. Let the Internet brawling begin.

It was perfect for me. And I’m sad to see this end.

Avengers: Endgame is rated PG-13 for swears, lots of punching, cosmic destruction, the five stages of grief, deception, betrayal, and tear-soaked redemption.