REVIEW: Avengers: Endgame is the Perfect Love Letter to Audience Goers
Avengers: Infinity War left a permanent mark on Marvel fans across the world. As one of the most anticipated films of the year fans had high expectations and that film delivered in a big way. With as gut-wrenching and emotional as the first film was, it left audiences wondering how directors, Anthony and Joe Russo were going to wrap up over 10 years of Marvel cinematic history and top part one. Audiences can rest easy as the Russo brothers found the solution, Avengers: Endgame delivers in the most perfect way.
Endgame picks up just days after the snap. The remaining survivors are trying to pick up the pieces and move on, as well as deal with the crushing reality of their failure. When all hope seems to be lost, an ace in the hole seemingly appears out of nowhere: Scott Lang. With Lang comes knowledge of the Quantum Realm and the possibility of travelling through time to retrieve the stones. As with all Marvel films before Endgame, nothing is ever as it seems and best laid plans rarely go off without a hitch, especially when Thanos gets hip to the plan.
Endgame is a love letter to fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and to Marvel comic fans. The film finds a way to seamlessly blend moments from previous films and moments fans have been waiting to see since the very beginning. The mix is so effortless the slower moments in the movie are easily forgotten. Despite it’s mammoth run time, this film does not feel 3-hours long. When all is said and done, audiences will still be asking for more.
The core six Avengers, played by Chris Evans (Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) and a much-missed Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), take center stage in this movie. These six actors have created relationships among themselves that transcend the screen. It is difficult to imagine their characters played by anyone else and their real-life chemistry definitely resonates with the audience. When you throw Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) into the mix, you can’t help but have a winning combination.
As much as Endgame is the perfect wrap up of the last 10 years, the film has little to no setup for Phase Four of the MCU films. This can feel odd because the MCU films have always set up what’s to come, but for this movie it works. Endgame focuses on the now: the Avengers, the fight, the world they’re trying to create and not what is to come.
Avengers: Endgame is the beautiful culmination of 22 films into a perfectly wrapped present just waiting to be opened by viewers. There will be tears, both good and bad, and a number of scenes that will have fans jumping out of their seats in delight. Endgame is very much a farewell film filled with shocks, tears, and laughs. It’s hard to accept this may be a goodbye to some, but in the MCU is a goodbye ever really permanent?
Grade: A