Genre:
Action, Adventure, Superhero, Fantasy
Produced by:
Kevin Feige
Directed by:
Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Written by:
Christopher
Markus, Stephen McFeely
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Marvel Studios
Starring: Robert
Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson,
Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Bradley
Cooper, Josh Brolin
Runtime: 181 minutes
SYNOPSIS:
Following the events in Avengers Infinity War (2018), half of
all living things have been wiped out of existence, with a number of the
Avengers and its allies amongst the casualties. In such a desperate time, the
fate of the universe rests in the hands of the few surviving heroes to defeat
Thanos (Josh Brolin) and in turn,
undo what he did. And in their toughest fight yet, sacrifices might just be
necessary to stand even the slightest of chance against the Mad Titan.
REVIEW:
The
Avengers
franchise represents the pinnacle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s
interconnected storytelling. Superhero team-up movies aren’t exactly rare, but
not many have done it with the same level of ambition. The Avengers (2012) managed to achieve the impossible by uniting
superheroes from different Marvel franchises into one movie. It’s a risky
experiment without a doubt, but it’s one that’s worth taking in conjunction to
Marvel’s ascending reputation as this generation’s most influential box office
and pop culture juggernaut.
Typical of any sequel, the Avengers
family gets bigger and bigger every year. By the time the third Avengers movie comes along, excluding
Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and
Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner),
almost everyone who had appeared in previous MCU movies appeared in its most
epic installment so far: Infinity War.
Surely, it couldn’t get anymore epic than seeing the Avengers and the Guardians
of the Galaxy onscreen together for the very first time.
But here’s the truth: Infinity War is the jumping off point
for possibly the most epic Avengers
movie yet: Endgame. Saying that Avengers Endgame is the most epic Avengers
movie is an understatement. This is, in a way, hyped up to be the movie that
beats all movies. After all, Infinity War
was the cliffhanger episode, and Endgame
is the series finale. Endgame serves
not only as the chapter that’s going to tie up all the loose ends in the MCU’s
Phase Three overarching narrative that began with Captain America: Civil War (2016), but also tie up all the loose
ends in a 22-movie long chapter now dubbed “the Infinity Saga” that dates even
way back to the first movie in Phase One Iron
Man (2008). In keeping with the finale theme, Endgame could literally mean the endgame for some of the long-serving
actors who might not be returning to the MCU after this movie. In a decade-long
cinematic franchise that keeps on consistently churning modern superhero
classics, is Endgame about to join the
pantheon of MCU greats?
And the simplest, most unsurprising answer
to that is: heck yeah, it is. There was never really any doubt that Avengers Endgame is going to live up to
its stratospheric expectations. But perhaps the real surprise with Endgame is how the movie itself actually
manages to exceed even its most stratospheric of expectations. That alone is a startling achievement for the
22nd installment of a franchise.
Though, at the same time, with the
exception of the James Bond franchise, not a whole lot of
franchises have 22 movies in their locker. Still, a new installment to a
franchise that has reached the point of Endgame
is often a movie that is either a copy of the original or one that mistakes
jumping the shark for innovation. And the reason why the MCU stayed strong
while other franchises wither quickly is the fact that each and every movie always
feels different from the other and innovative in its own natural way. Endgame is the latest example of that, the
rare tent pole movie that flatly refuses to accept the condescending notion that
the bigger the movie in terms of scale, the smaller risk it takes. Almost every
creative decisions the Russo Brothers
made for this movie is as risky as even the smallest, most artsy of movies,
without being too alienating. Endgame
beautifully straddles the middle ground between safe and risky, a movie built
to satisfy the masses’ blockbuster thirst as well as subvert the superhero
genre tropes at every turn.
Starting off with Christopher Markus and Stephen
McFeely’s wholly ambitious script, Avengers
Endgame redefines the way people perceive a part two in a two-part finale.
Let’s be real, as much as Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige doesn’t want to admit it, Endgame is Infinity War: Part 2. The rules don’t always apply to
all the second part of a two-part finale, but generally speaking, the first
part of the finale is usually reserved for the character moments, while the
second part of the finale is where the non-stop action is at. Endgame
is slightly the polar opposite.
This is by no means saying that Endgame lack action, but as far as story
goes, it is the certainly the most character-driven if compared to the
action-packed first part that is Infinity
War. What Markus and McFeely are trying to say with this
superhero story is that what’s at stake internally for each of the surviving
heroes matters as much (or even to a certain extent, more than) as what’s at
stake externally, something that kind of takes the backseat in Infinity War. And so yes, the beginning
of Endgame is a bit of a slow burn.
Without spoiling too much, almost the
entirety of its first act plays out like a character study about the few
surviving heroes. What have they been up to with their lives post-Thanos snap? The
idea of a world where people gets randomly turned into dust might sound like a stuff
of comic book folklore, but the characters’ emotional response here is so
humanly real. Endgame takes the few
superheroes left and grounds them through its nuanced exploration of loss. The
meaning of loss here can be as surface-level as the superheroes losing to a
super villain or even as deep as someone losing the people they care so much.
How do they respond to those losses? Different
heroes respond in different ways. Steve Rodgers/Captain America (Chris Evans) is off being, well,
Captain America, the remaining embodiment of the American optimism who’s going
around the deserted country encouraging the few human survivors as well as the
Avengers to keep on fighting. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), left so traumatized after what happened in Infinity War, takes the opportunity to
move on and weirdly enough, for a man who has struggled to balance his
superhero and personal life, find something that he can call a constant for the
first time. Sometimes it can get as insanely out-of-the-box as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Bruce Banner/Hulk
(Mark Ruffalo)’s arcs. Nobody would
have guessed what these two Avengers are up to these days.
Just when all hopes seem lost, the
chance comes to defeat Thanos, which in turn might undo what he did (meaning,
save their dusted friends). In theory, if such a chance presents itself, a
superhero would seize that opportunity without question. But what’s beautiful
about the MCU movies, Endgame in
particular, is how their superheroes are rooted to reality. The prospect of saving
the world here represents a moral dilemma. It’s not as easy as a simple “yes”. As much as undoing Thanos’ action might bring
back their dusted friends, it can also mean losing the single, smallest shred
of good thing that exist in the post-Thanos snap world.
To some, the movie’s early emphasis on
thematic musings might be “boring”. But certainly the MCU fans won’t mind. In
fact, Endgame’s thematic richness
speaks to why people connect to these superheroes in the first place: their
humanity. Regardless of whether they’re from earth or space, gods or mortals, people
connect to them because they feel like the regular guy in the neighborhood. Endgame serves as a reminder that while
superhero fights come and go, it’s the characters, their human strengths and weaknesses,
where they came from and what makes them who they are today that are going to
have more of the lasting influence.
But don’t worry, when Endgame is done with all its thematic
musings, it picks up its pace considerably towards the second act in terms of
the superhero-level excitement. To Endgame’s
compliment, it actually manages to get a majority of the characters that are in
the poster to share a scene together, something that Infinity War couldn’t quite manage with its overabundance of
characters. Still, even with a smaller amount of characters this time around, Endgame’s cast is bigger than the
regular superhero team-up movie. Surely, they cannot keep that many amount of
characters in the same room for three hours straight, can they?
Like in Infinity War, Endgame’s
second act sees the Avengers break off into smaller teams and head for
different places to track down Thanos and find ways to undo his actions. And in
this situation, Markus and McFeely’s script puts together some
logical as well as weird team-ups. Who would have thought that Tony Stark could
be up in space, interacting with a badass alien being like Nebula (Karen Gillan)? Some of the team-ups should
not have worked but, in typical MCU fashion, they do. It helps a great deal
that the actors in the weirder team-ups have excellent chemistry.
For the MCU fans, this second act is basically
the studio celebrating what it has done over the last eleven years. It’s the
MCU spending three hours of its runtime shaking each and every one of its fans’
hands, thanking them for sticking by their side since day one. It is no
surprise that Endgame exudes with fan
service from beginning to end. Thankfully though, it’s fan service at the
highest order.
And so, Endgame should not be the first MCU movie anyone selects to get
started on the MCU craze. Who in the right mind would watch Endgame having not seen Infinity War or at least, one or two
other MCU movies? Endgame is like a
test on the fans’ extensive MCU knowledge with its many callbacks to previous
movies. Rewatching or even watching some of the older MCU movies for the first
time is mandatory ahead of Endgame. The
rewatch and first time watch will significantly improve one’s appreciation of Endgame. At the same time, it’s fair to
say that the entire MCU foundation is built on callbacks. What makes Endgame more special than other MCU
movies? Here, the callbacks don’t feel like a throwaway line or a shoehorned-in
element. They serve as both a cool addition to the mythology of those older MCU
movies and an important stepping stone in the characters’ emotional arc.
Still, let’s face it, Endgame is undoubtedly the biggest movie
of the year, and on that end, this movie is as much of a technical achievement
as it is a storytelling one. It’s a superhero cream of the crop that requires a
gigantic production to pull it off, and gigantic is the most fitting
description of Endgame’s look and
action sequences. Trent Opaloch
reprises his role from Infinity War
as cinematographer, and his work is just so stunning to behold. His visual
flair truly encapsulates this movie’s epic scope, which spans the infinite
lengths of the universe. Each location looks distinctive from the rest, lending
credibility to the idea of these heroes taking further steps towards uncharted
territory, whether it’s the gritty realism of planet Earth that’s reminiscent
to Opaloch’s work in the Captain America movies to the far
reaches of the cosmos that’s reminiscent of Ben Davis’ work in the Guardians
of the Galaxy movies.
And it goes without saying that the
special effect work here is peerless. Really, the whole illusion of a universe-spanning
superhero movie like Endgame, whether
it’s the environment or the characters, rests heavily on the CGI magic. And the
illusion still holds. Sure, Endgame
is overloaded with CGI, but it’s so sleekly-rendered, seamlessly integrated
with the few live-action elements that they’re rousing, exciting, and thrilling
to watch.
Let’s not forget the various styles of
superhero action. It’s easy to point out the big sequences, but the beautifully
choreographed hand-to-hand combat sequences should not go unnoticed, which are so
reminiscent of the Russos’ time
making Captain America movies. But it’s
the final hour of Endgame where the
movie takes off into superhero movie Valhalla. It’s every comic book fans’ wet
dream splattered all over the screen. It debunks the misconception that the
cinematic form cannot do its source material’s complex, abstract imageries
justice. Endgame’s action-packed finale
is the closest in capturing all that. It’s overwhelming, all over the place, nonsensical,
but put them altogether, it’s a satisfying overdose of comic book awesomeness.
On a critical eye, sure, its final hour
isn’t short of a plot hole. Something
very, very major suddenly happens, which the movie doesn’t clearly explain how
it got to that point. But then again, that’s only the most minor of gripe. Who
cares about faults when there are so much great things going on? It’s a final
hour that’s packed with relentless action meant not only for fanboy
entertainment, but also for fangirl entertainment (particularly with that one
specific shot).
And since Endgame is the finale to this iteration of the MCU, a finale just
isn’t complete without an emotional ending. In the words of an anonymous MCU
actor, the last eight minutes of Endgame
is the “best in MCU history”. And this actor speaks the truth. Superhero movies
aren’t known for being tearjerkers, but simply, anyone who isn’t tearing up
coming out of Endgame has a heart of
stone. Endgame has the best ending in
MCU history because it is the most emotionally powerful.
What’s an MCU movie without humor? Yes, Endgame is a somber movie. But it is
also a movie featuring a talking raccoon. Regardless of how somber the world
may be, the idea of a talking raccoon walking around planet Earth does have a hilarious
ring to it. It would be a missed opportunity if the Earth-based characters fail
to acknowledge the ridiculousness of standing next to a talking raccoon. In
that aspect, Endgame is that small
Bucky-Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley
Cooper) moment in Infinity War but
increased by like a tenfold. Endgame’s
bigger focus on character-building allows for more interaction between the Earth-based
characters and the Space-based characters like a Rocket or a Nebula, honing in on
the culture shock aspect of their relationship for laughter.
But the joke extends
beyond just the contrast between Earth being and Space being. One or two surprise Avengers pop up with a few
topical jokes (whether it’s today’s social trends or classic movies), jockeying
for position as the funniest scene stealers. In typical MCU fashion, Endgame’s humor feels natural, where the
jokes aren’t there for stylistic purpose, but rather to fully realize them as
human beings.
Endgame also celebrates
the MCU’s most imperative achievement in its perfectly-cast ensemble. The jury
is still out with the newer generation, but with the old guards, they’re
virtually irreplaceable.
Robert
Downey Jr.
has been around in the MCU longer than anybody, and just like his iconic line
in Iron Man, he is Tony Stark/Iron
Man. Taking his past real-life struggles and confident swagger into account, Downey Jr. lends so much heart and
humor to bring Tony Stark to life. In Endgame,
he’s going to make people laugh, make them sympathize with his plight or even,
break hearts.
Chris
Evans
has made Steve Rodgers/Captain America his own. He lends so much physicality,
realism and wisdom to transform this all-American icon into the MCU’s most badass,
lovable, and morally complex character. In this movie, he remains the team’s
most reliable paragon of hope, inspiring others to stand strong amidst the
hopelessness while also having to deal with making the hard choices, his own feeling
of hopelessness at every turn, which comes full circle later.
Chris
Hemsworth
has grown leaps and bounds as Thor. Thor used to be just one of the Avengers,
but post-Thor Ragnarok (2017), Hemsworth’s looser, comedic take on the
character makes Thor the Avenger to watch.
Thor’s reinvention here takes another step further, making even his wacky Ragnarok version seem sane.
Mark
Ruffalo’s
portrayal of Bruce Banner/the Hulk in the MCU sets him apart from his
predecessors. Ruffalo brings an air
of freshness and levity to the green rage monster, capturing the duality
between Banner and Hulk in ways that’s almost unprecedented in cinema’s history.
The whole relationship arc between Banner and Hulk takes a surprising turn
here, one that’s both comically and dramatically pleasant.
CONCLUSION:
Avengers
Endgame
closes out a chapter of the MCU lore in an epic way, serving as a brilliant
subversion of the genre as well as a nostalgia trip that perfectly summarizes
what makes the MCU so great: its ability to juggle the superhero spectacle with
humor and heart.
Score:
10/10
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