Saturday, April 27, 2019

Avengers: Endgame

By s. Saturday, April 27, 2019 , , , , , , , ,

(spoilers!)

Once upon a time comic book films were rare and mostly not very good. Once upon a time Robert Downey Jr. was unhirable. Once upon a time the idea that the movie based on a comic book will earn rave reviews and score nominations for major awards was unthinkable.

And then MCU happened.

22 movies. 11 years. Countless people involved in the making of the series. And now we have arrived at the big finale, where we had to say goodbye to this particular team defending the world.

The sheer scope of this film is hitherto unheard of (see what I did here?). The fact that Marvel pulled off making 22 films with only one disaster in there, which people quickly forgot about and the actor was recast, is amazing. To have a satisfying finale to such a huge storyline is challenging enough (just watch Game of Thrones totally fuck up in finale, I am sure of it) but to also manage to have all those nods and homages AND do so in a way that feels effortless WHILE introducing time travel element is truly an insane accomplishment. This film is a beautiful love letter not just to the fans but to the people who made it possible. And to the characters as well - Thor gets to see his mother, Tony his father, Cap gets to reunite with Peggy and finally gets that dance. Hawkeye gets his family back, Bruce is finally at peace with Hulk and Natasha finally wiped all that red in her ledger.
We get cameos from insane number of amazing actors, none more surprising than Robert Redford, who is allegedly retired and Natalie Portman, who we never expected to see in those movies again. It's like they called and these actors heard of this and agreed to do this with a smile on their face. Those cameos provide for this incredibly fun adventure where we get to travel with our heroes to the past - not only enjoying new scenes but reliving the past moments. It's so brilliant and so much fun, the amount of fan service here is delightful - we get to see Hulk embarrassed by previous Hulk, Cap fighting past Cap and of course - the comeback of myuh-myuh. There are even callbacks outside of MCU - with Tony's brilliant comment comparing Thor to The Dude and awesome visual homage to Aliens (when Clint sees the aliens approaching him in the tunnel).

The team ups are so much fun - Thor is joined by Jackson Maine Rocket, Tony, Cap and Scott team up with Bruce, Natasha is paired with Hawkeye and Nebula with War Machine. Captain Marvel isn't in the movie much but she is badass again and I loved the moment when she was trying to prevent Thanos from closing his fist. And I loved Scott Lang's more serious moments and the fact he was so motivated by the fact Hope was gone. He loves her so much!
Thor is the absolute MVP yet again. His arc makes perfect sense and I cannot believe some people have so many issues with it. Thor always had a reason to go on. In Infinity War it was his desire to defeat Thanos and make everything all right again. But in the beginning of Endgame it turns out that it is not possible so Thor loses himself. His family is gone, his hammer is gone, his home is gone. People drink for lesser reasons than this. Hemsworth delivers again especially in his dramatic moments and it's really affecting - when he breaks down when Rocket and Hulk visit him you really feel it. There's also a gorgeous character development moment for him with Frigga, And his new laid back attitude provides so many laughs. Hemsworth is such a delight and his are the film's funniest moments - when Thor attempts to explain the Aether to the others (Paul Rudd's delighted expression which mirrors my own whenever I watch interviews with Chris and Rocket's faceplam were hilarious) and when Rocket slaps him to get him to calm down.

And for all the complaints, Thor is the only one who will see again. Tony is gone, Natasha is gone, Professor Hulk isn't really Hulk, Clint is retired and so is Cap. And I for one, though I still find the rehiring of James Gunn disgusting, am very psyched for the next movie. And I'm fairly certain Hemsworth will be there to delight us for as long as Marvel lets him, because unfortunately for him, everything else he stars in flops.
There's a lot of talk about how Black Widow was treated unjustly because she wasn't in final battle, but I detest Scarlett Johansson, the lunching with Woody Allen, Marchesa wearing hag, so I have absolutely no problem with her not being there, in fact it made it better. I say take it further, have her solo be about another Widow and led by Florence Pugh. But to give the credit where its due, Johansson at least finally did something in this movie after years of sleepwalking as Widow. And as for complaints about the "forced" girl power scene I don't wanna hear any of this. Dudes led this thing for 21 out of 22 movies so shut the fuck up and let the women have their moment.

The Russos delivered on what was promised in that the characters who weren't there (Hawkeye) and weren't featured that much in Infinity War (Captain America) got to shine here. Hawkeye gets to be badasss and Captain America has so many amazing moments. The shot of him standing in front of the entire army is the film's most amazing moment. Well, most amazing until the portals opened up. And the crowds everywhere are going nuts at the moment when he grabs the hammer.
People have problems with Steve staying in the past. The ones who are being the most annoying about it are those who wanted him to rescue Bucky or bang him or whatever their underlining reason for all that rage is. We don't know if he didn't save Bucky in alternate timeline. Because this is what happened here - Cap didn't erase Peggy's husband. Him staying created another timeline and we simply don't know what else, besides finally reuniting with Peggy, he did there. Cap is a good person. And myuh-myuh deemed him worthy. Do some people think they know better than myuh-myuh? Please.

Also it's a comic book movie about time travel. Why are we overthinking this, people? Let's just  enjoy it and be spoiled because Marvel is certainly spoiling us time and time again. The last development with Steve was brilliant not only because it was earned (he deserved that dance and that life) but also because it was shocking. MCU is notorious for not killing off characters so it's surprising anyone died. But we all assumed if someone is going to go, it's gonna be Steve. He didn't have a family or a living love interest, while Tony had Pepper and now a child (an adorable child to make things even worse, goddammit it hurt so much). And yet it is Tony, who could never let go, who was the one who always knew they need to be prepared and who I believe was the first to use the phrase "Endgame" (in Age of Ultron) who is gone.
This is an extremely ballsy move for Marvel - Tony was the first hero and the franchise relayed on Robert Downey Jr.'s wit and charisma so often, and even very recently - they even put him in Homecoming to boost the box office. And now he is gone. Tony's death scene, with him being barely able to speak and Tom Holland outacting Paltrow's stiff ass was really brutal to watch and the feelings didn't stop there - there's a truly magnificent moment with all the heroes assembled at the funeral. This is the first Marvel movie that made me cry, in fact it was hard to stop crying.

The film other than bringing laughs and emotions did what Infinity War didn't deliver - the epic factor here is insane and it is greatly added by Silvestri's score which brings back a lot of familiar motifs from the franchise. The most incredible moment of course is when Captain America gets to say the long awaited "Avengers! Assemble," and the iconic main theme starts playing. It's the single most epic thing you will likely ever see. It's not an empty spectacle. It's 11 years of your life experiencing those movies, getting to know these characters and falling in love with them unfolding before your eyes.

Thank you 3000.

95/100
Avengers: Endgame (USA, 181 min, 2019)
Plot: After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe.
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson

21 comments:

  1. Awesome review! I just recently watched this movie and I loved it! I thought it was a great finale to the Avengers side of the story! I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the MCU in the future!

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  2. Ugh Paltrow. When gifs of that girl power scene start ending up on the web, I look forward to cutting out a few frames of her.

    The only thing that bothers me with Cap going in the past is wtf happened to Peggy's family? Like, did she hide him in the basement the entire time? lol Was she two timing her husband? I need answers.

    100% agree with you about Thor, people overreacted HARD to that. Sure, him being fat is tragic but he still got to be badass and his arc made absolute sense.

    And my girl Wanda! She wrecked Thanos so hard that he had to call in an aerial assault. That added 10 years to my life.

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    1. Peggy has no husband in the timeline Cap staying there created. It's a splinter timeline, he went back and she never married anyone else in it

      Thor is still hot as fuck, I don't care how much he weights my love is true :D

      I knew you will like that moment!

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  3. I thought in terms of character and story they used the time travel element fantastically! Hail Hydra, Cap fighting himself and how they worked the Nebula thing were so well done. Thor getting to see Frigga again (I loved that it was her he needed and not Loki or Jane) that broke my heart. Rocket comforting Nebula was well done as well.

    I agree with your excellent review! I don't need a treatise on how the time travel was wrong I feel like they successfully paid off all the time I put into the franchise while staying true to its characters and history and was entertaining as hell on top of it :)

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    1. Thank you! Yeah, it was so brilliantly done it was like taking a trip through entire MCU so far. Such a unique finale to a storyline

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  4. Good review! It's not my favorite MCU movie, but what The Russos, writers, cast and crew delivered here in beyond special. Of course, I loved Cap's ending, so no complaints from me.

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  5. I am so 100% on this review!!! I noticed some of my friends who didn't like Steve's conclusion are Bucky/Steve shippers and UGH LET IT GO. Men can be friends without it having to be romantic FFS. And I agree, he lived in an alternate timeline where (IMO) he and Peggy kicked ass together and saved Bucky before he became the Winter Soldier. Before WS killed Tony's parents, etc. He seemed to have lived a happy life, and he didn't erase his journey, Bucky's or Peggy's in the main MCU timeline either.

    Agreed on Thor as well. I loved his character development. He's a heck of a lot more interesting now than he was in The Dark World. Chris and Taika took him to a whole new level and I'm so psyched (hoping) that he'll be in GOTG3.

    I loved that Hawkeye finally got to show his depth and ability and f*ck anyone complaining about the women leading Marvel in the final battle... that was a MOMENT and I still get chills thinking about it. I've never had experiences in a theater like I have with Infinity War and End Game (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes close though) and these movies have been a part of my life for 11 years. I feel like I'm in mourning, but still so very satisfied with how it all ended.

    Really great review!

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    1. Yes! Thor is so much more interesting now and Chris clearly has a lot of fun playing him the way Thor was in Ragnarok, IW and Endgame.

      Girl power moment was fantastic, it was kinda like MCU's No Man's Land since they still have a way to go to get something this profound but this and CM's solo were a very good beginning, I'm glad they are finally featuring the women more

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  6. Great review! I agree pretty much agree with everything you said, and I loved, absolutely loved what they did with Thor. I’m still not a fan of the belly though 😅

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  7. Fine review. In some ways we kinda knew where things were heading. We just didn't know how they would play out. Downey, Jr. had talked about being done with the character and Evans' six-film contract ran out with Infinity War. Still they couldn't have handled it any better. I especially love Cap's finale. It is the absolute perfect ending for a character who 1) never got over his love for Peggy and 2) always felt out of time in this current world. So good.

    And I actually loved Paltrow in that final scene with Tony. She was calm and at ease while Tony was hanging on. She was letting him know she and their daughter would be fine. But once he died she let go and fell apart. It really got to me.

    I was gonna save this for my upcoming spoiler post, but Nick Fury only gets one 5 second shot on a porch? No dialogue, no interaction with other characters. The guy who first came to Tony about the Avengers Initiative. Who worked side-by-side with Natasha for so many movies. I REALLY think he deserved just a little more time.

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    1. Eh I thought her acting would be suited for saying goodbye to a distant aunt or something not love of her life and the father of her kid

      I didn't mind that, he got the biggest/last entrance at the funeral and we just saw plenty of him in CM

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  8. I'll jokingly say that fat, drunk Thor was the only bad thing about this movie because I'm selfish and wanted to stare at his perfect body for 3 hours - but you're so right, it's an amazing character arc and actually makes perfect sense. Plus - he brings all the laughs, what more do people want?

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    1. You still got to stare at his beautiful face :D He can weight tons I don't care Hemsworth is just so handsome :)

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  9. I mean.. so much to say I don't think I have the energy to do it. But I agree with most of the things. Thor was amazing, fck those who say otherwise. To have Cap go live his life and not die was THE moment for me, because for months, a year even, I was being told he will die. And I kept saying, well if you're so certain of it, and if everyone keeps saying it, wouldn't you think the Russo brothers will do the opposite and kill Iron Man? I was met with a rumble of laughter and the word "No" by a huge Iron Man fan. He mocked my hope and for that, I'm sort of glad things ended the way they did. Iron Man was never THE hero for me, he had his flaws, which I had a hard time seeing past, his death was sad (mostly because poor Tom Holland delivered ALL THE EMOTIONS), and I was sad, I did not cry as much as I would have cried for Cap. RDJ will most likely come back as new type of Jarvis, right? Like RDJ will still voice for Marvel, because he could do that forever-

    When cap got that hammer... dick me dead, and bury me pregnant.

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    1. omg is that Iron Man fan OK? :D I cannot imagine how hard that scene must have hit for someone whose favorite was Tony and who wasn't expecting it

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  10. always love your reviews. when iron man died, I couldn't stop the tears. to me it was nothing logical or sad, I WAS JUST THERE IN THAT MOMENT. gosh. the way you compared it to got almost made me cry as well, endgame was so pleasing!!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, Endgame is finale done right while GoT is....the opposite of that :)

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