So I got to see the epic finale to eleven years and twenty two films in the making and just wanted to offer my thoughts on Avengers: Endgame.
Now, I will be treading into SPOILER territory here. However – I’m going to tread lightly and avoid specifics. I’m not even using any pictures in this article just incase something accidentally slips in. I will highlight plot points including the ending but won’t go into exact detail on those points. So from this moment on, if you don’t mind knowing some of the basics then read on. But if you want to go into the film 100% blind then skip this article. Again, very light SPOILERS ahead…
I guess the first thing to bring up is my previous concern about time travel. Yes time travel does play a major role in the film… but it’s actually handled far better than I thought it would be. It was pretty clear that they’d have to go back in time to fix the fact Thanos killed 50% of the population of the universe, including a big chunk of the heroes. I really didn’t want them to get lazy and just hit the reset button… and they don’t.
The rules of the time travel are very clever in that you can’t just go into the past to change the present, nothing can change the present. If it’s happened then its happened. So going back and stopping Thanos would be pointless as he’s always going to collect the stones and gauntlet and always click his fingers. Again, I’m going to avoid specifics but let me just say that my biggest fear of them just going back in time and hitting the reset button does not happen even though they do go back in time.
I guess next I need to cover the return of all those who died in Avengers: Infinity War via Thanos’ click finger thing. We all knew even back then they would be coming back, of course they would… and they do. You don’t kill off Spider-Man after only a few appearances and expect the audience to believe it will be permanent – especially when you already have another Spider-Man film in the works. I’m not going to cover exactly how it happens, but just point out how well I feel they handled the return. See, my biggest worry aside from hitting the rest button (which they don’t do) was that I was concerned with how the characters would react after coming back from the dead as I didn’t want them just coming back not knowing of feeling the effects of what Thanos did.
This again is handled well. The best example given is when Peter Parker comes back and sees Tony Stark. Peter even says how he remembers everything, how he was turned to dust. He remembers dying. Which is very important for the character moving forward he and the rest have to know they failed to feel the effects in order to grow as characters.
Speaking if death, yes there are two major deaths in the movie. You have to remember there’s no coming back from these deaths either. I’m not going to say who dies or how but will just say how they worked in the film. The first was unexpected I admit… but also a bit dry. I just didn’t feel any great loss when it happened. I was just like; “Okay, so they’re dead then.” The second one is the polar opposite. I pretty much saw this death coming even going back to Infinity War. All through this film, I felt it was obvious this character would be killed off. Yet even with me knowing it would happen, I didn’t know how and when it did – it really worked. It’s an effective death and one that has been earned.
Okay so there was technically a third “death” in a sense. This one happens in the final few minutes of the film. I’m not sure how best to cover this without spoiling it. A major character dies, but the person behind that character does not… if that makes sense. It’s a very bitter-sweet end to both the character and the film. Fitting and satisfying. For me, my favourite part of the film was the final five minutes or so.
Let’s just get away from the more heavier moments for a whole and cover the humour. The film is as funny as it is emotionally draining. This is something Marvel films have always excelled at and Endgame is no exception. There are some really tense and suspenseful. Scenes of utter devastation and despair. And yet the film is still chock-full of funny quips and scenes. Hulk being a great source of the humour. From him messing around and experimenting with the time travel to him having to walk down some stairs… trust me it’s funner than it sounds.
Then there’s Thor. Oh my, what they do to Thor in this is hilarious. That’s something most definitely best not to spoil even in the slightest. It’s a funny, funny film and it’s not overused humour or in anyway misplaced. The humour is peppered though the film and just works.
If I have any criticisms then they’re only a couple. I don’t see the point in Captain Marvel as a character here. She really does seem like an afterthought and just shoehorned in because… why not? She doesn’t feel all that important to the film or the team. When you have characters like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the others who have been around for years and have worked off each other for the last decade or so. You feel their kinship the camaraderie between them. With Captain Marvel, she’s just too new to fit for me. Her debut movie only came out a month or so before this and yet she’s supposed to just slide into this epic finale as if she’s always been a part of it? She just turns up when it’s convenient for the plot. She just did not work for me and perhaps should’ve been saved for Marvel’s next phase and to kick-start a new ongoing epic. I’m pretty sure this film could’ve worked just as well without her.
Am I the only person utterly bored of these huge, epic battles? I realised how disinterested I am in these dozens upon dozens of CGI character orgies when I watched Ready Player One. Aside from playing spot the 80s icon… which was fun, I was just so tired of seeing the mass-mess of characters smashing people in the face. It’s tired now, dozens upon dozens of people stand at opposite ends of the battlefield, they stare at each other before letting out a war cry and run toward each other – screaming all the way, until they smash togther in a CGI rumble.
Of course I knew going in that the film would have to climax in a CGI-fest mass brawl. It’s not as if I thought The Avengers would just shake Thanos’ hand and call a truce. But it does not matter how many times filmmakers do these Lord of The Rings CGI battles, I just do not care for them. There are a few smaller and more personal fights that I found far more entertaining and interesting to watch – one featuring Captain America springs to mind. I’d be quite happy to never sit though another epic CGI battle ever again.
I’m also willing to bet that on repeat viewings that they’ll be problems with the time travel. There always are with time travel movies. In fact I can already think of a couple of issues.
Overall, Avengers: Endgame is a satisfying finale to an epic story line that has taken over a decade to be told. It’s a finale that isn’t that final and more so the start of a new beginning. I’m looking forward to what Marvel have planned from this point onward and how the aftermath from Endgame will surely feed into the up coming Spider-Man: Far From Home which should bridge the gap bewteen the end of this Thanos storyline as a new one begins.
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