End of an Era - Avengers: Endgame
It is here. The epic conclusion to the most commercially audacious effort in the history of Hollywood. They have packed in more stars than you could reasonably expect to keep track of and have told more stories than just about any franchise in movie history. But in a way, it was all always one story. It was always Endgame.
Friendships are meaningful because of the feelings elicited from shared personal histories. When you’ve traveled down a road together, bonds are inevitably formed. The Marvel Cinematic Universe could certainly be said to represent that type of journey at this point. And for many, these characters have become something like friends.
How then, do you evaluate this movie on its own merits? Does it stand on its own as an entertainment product? Do you need to take in the other 21 movies in order to appreciate this one? Is it a fitting send-off for these characters that have become so familiar over the last decade? The answer to all of these questions is a mixed bag and will largely depend on what kind of viewer you are. Are you someone who cares most about the events in a movie or most about what those events are trying to say?
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
The movie picks up right where Avengers: Infinity War left off. Half the world’s living creatures have been destroyed and the living are left wondering what to do next. For the Avengers, this means trying to come up with a plan to bring back those lost souls by undoing Thanos’ snap. What follows is a complicated, but logical plan to travel back in time and reverse the course of events before it is too late.
As they travel back in time, sets of Avengers are sent to times and places audiences will be familiar with from previous films. When Thanos becomes aware of this plot to undo his actions, he works to alter the timeline as well. The end result is an epic battle pitting all of Thanos’ forces against all of the heroes and armies from the Avengers’ universe.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
As an achievement, they have pulled off one of the most difficult feats in all of cinema. To have harnessed this much momentum for this long is truly incredible. So many of the intricacies of the various stories over the years receive at least a nod in Endgame. Those nods are part of the reason for the film’s bloated 3-hour runtime.
If you are a fan of Marvel’s past, you will enjoy this. It is teeming with nostalgia and every bit of reminiscing they could muster. This is a film that is best enjoyed if you too have a past with these characters. In many ways, the film feels like the most sepia-tones effort they have ever undertaken because so much time is spent revisiting the past, as opposed to telling a new story. For some of the emotional beats the story relies on, they will only land with you if you are pretty well-invested.
Photo Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
It is that lack of a new story that keeps Endgame from being a perfect sendoff. As is the case in most of the Avengers movies, the on-screen happenings are the main event. Those events overshadow the thematic elements that sometimes crop up in some of the standalone stories. So we aren’t treated to the gender empowerment messaging of Captain Marvel, or the contemplation of colonization of Black Panther. No, instead we get 182 minutes of CGI fueled action, interludes of sentimentality and enough good natured humor to fill the gaps. Marvel knows its friends.
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