AVENGERS: ENDGAME
We could do this all day
11 years. 22 films. 18,324 Tony Stark smirks. Can Marvel nail the landing? Of course they can.
released OUT NOW! 12a | 181 minutes Directors anthony russo, Joe russo Cast robert downey Jr, Chris evans, Chris Hemsworth, scarlett Johansson, Mark ruffalo, Jeremy renner, Josh Brolin
After 21 films of absolutely unprecedented big-screen world building and heroics, the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings its Infinity Saga to a rousing conclusion with Avengers: Endgame. Not a conclusion in the truest sense of the word – the Marvel machine will run as long as Kevin Feige and co continue to produce the most popular films on the planet. But there’s a sense of finality that makes it feel like a true event in this era of never-ending franchise fare.
And while this is a very different beast from Infinity War – less a series of showdowns with giant purple meat sack Thanos and more a fleet-footed heist movie rooted in 11 years of character development – it’s no less dazzling a spectacle, and even more of an emotional gut punch.
For the few yet to see it, we’ll keep plot specifics to a minimum, as there are more surprises in Endgame than could fit inside a Flerken’s pocket dimension. But it’s no spoiler to say that after The Snap-ture, the surviving Avengers are suffering through the five stages of grief. Cap is closer to acceptance than most, helping others through support groups. Tony is stranded in space and, to some extent, denial. Black Widow and Thor are both depressed, the god of thunder blaming himself more than anyone for failing to go for the head. Hawkeye embodies anger, adopting the mantle of Ronin to brutally murder crims across the globe. Meanwhile, Banner... well, we’ll keep the secret of his current status intact, as it’s guaranteed to raise a smile.
Naturally, there’s a plan, and it involves a problematic narrative device that sci-fi fans in particular are intimately familiar with, which allows Endgame to double as a backslapping victory lap for the entire MCU. With a staggering amount of fan-pleasing cameos, callbacks and cathartic reunions, there’s a remarkably rewarding amount of payoff here for relationships and character arcs that have been building (or left hanging) for years. It shouldn’t be all that surprising given Endgame’s unenviable duty as the full stop on a 22-film series, but it often feels more like the finale for a longrunning TV show than the latest entry in a movie franchise. Taking a nostalgic and somewhat indulgent trip through the history of the MCU, there’s a case to be made that this is fan-service being favoured over coherent, accessible storytelling, with major emotional beats tied to minor details from films over a decade old. To an even greater extent than Infinity War, the more you’ve invested in this world, the more you’ll get out of it.
Running at a bladder-bursting 181 minutes, Endgame is the
A backslapping victory lap for the MCU
longest blockbuster since Peter Jackson’s bloated King Kong, but it zips along at such a clip that you’re never left drumming your fingers. What may surprise given Infinity
War’s dour cliffhanger ending is quite how funny Endgame is, with the comedy and drama both perfectly balanced (as all things should be). While it may be more restrained action-wise than its predecessor, Endgame’s centrepiece battle tops anything in the MCU on the how-the-flip-did-they-do-that? scale, complete with some stunning acrobatic tracking shots through the battlefield that recall Joss Whedon’s iconic splash-page moments in Assemble and Age Of Ultron. Sure, it’s all a bit brown, and with so much going on the action can whizz by, but there are beats in Endgame’s final act that reach higher highs than anything in the MCU to date. It’s hard not to be overawed by the mad ambition of it all.
Despite a series of logic holes you could pilot a helicarrier through, and a few characters getting short shrift (most egregiously, Black Widow and Okoye), what impresses most is the gratifying sense of the journey complete, of 11 years and 22 films with 30+ characters reaching an almost entirely fulfilling end point.
There will be more Marvel films, of course. Spider-Man: Far
From Home swings into cinemas in less than a month and a half, and many of your favourite characters will return. But some emphatically won’t, leaving this a decidedly bittersweet goodbye. Either way, you’ll be glad you stuck with Earth’s Avengers until the end of the line.
Director Joe Russo and Thanos creator Jim Starlin both make cameo appearances during an early therapy scene.