Review of Avengers: Endgame (2019) by Trevorsview — 01 May 2019

Thirty years ago, the critical and financial flop Howard the Duck was among the only comic book features from Stan Lee’s imagination. Then twenty years later, it took a total reversal to the capacity when Marvel has mastered the art of brainwashing people into numbly thinking their products, including their newest one, Avengers: Endgame, lands among the greatest Hollywood productions ever (just look at IMDb’s top 250 for crying out loud). But in truth, this is no different than anything else the MCU urinates, and yes, that includes The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World.

The time travel genre of this finale to phase three explains plot holes by mocking similar movies, yet still winds up far more illogical than Back to the Future, The Terminator, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and all others of such. The random sequence arrangement between the multiple heroes who jump through multiple places in time turns tedious, but not nearly as tedious as when they explain then re-explain stuff through massive information dumps that continue even after the climax. The atrocious script confuses the average viewer beyond wanting to care as it shoves aside an important character death two-thirds of the way through to make extra time for awkward jokes and boring exposition.

The first joke happens in a very serious conversation where multiple lives are discussed as being at stake, then bam: Tony insults Rocket with intention to generate a chuckle. Among the more awkward jokes thrown around includes one of how nobody knows who Ant-Man is while everybody knows who the Hulk is. Except that joke doesn’t really work, not only because it has nothing to do with the plot, but mostly because everybody on earth now knows Ant-Man. This imbalance between drama and comedy is just chaos unworthy of celebration, which can’t even carry any intelligence throughout a sentimental San Francisco memorial for the Snap victims.

Anyone deeply committed to the series could mostly likely by now be terribly sick of the cut-a-second editing and nauseating handheld camera, which here gets so bad it diminishes any impact of the bloated “sudden death” climax. Not to mention there’s drawn out music that never changes its style—a heavily American score that makes the already racist depiction of a Japanese assassin much more unacceptable. The music can’t even make a smooth transition between scenes, not that there could be one to start with, most of the “sad scenes” transition to upbeat scenes on a dime… at least Captain America 1990 stayed consistently cheesy.

Out of complete fairness though, the problems of humanity start things off in this production as best as they can. It starts when Hawkeye’s daughter vanishes after an archery lesson, then develops it further as it shows how the dark fate of Tony seems to be booked, until Captain Marvel saves him. She’s in here for only a total of about two minutes, but Brie Larson has improved her horrendous performance from the last movie, which is enough to make the first two scenes of this movie relatively effective.

In fact, all of the actors are better than before thanks to the more heartful attempts against urgent problems this studio wants to comment on. Mark Ruffalo is now at his funniest based off how high his character rises, as is Chris Hemsworth, based off how low his character drops. It’s like they both accepted the fact that they’re stuck in a skittles-level narrative, and it only took them eight years to finally make the most of it without phoning in their performances! That little motivation the Russo brothers express uplifts the somewhat brilliant comedic effect when watching clever flashbacks to previous movies, which triggers effective tension.

Don’t be fooled though, those behind this production still willfully deny whatever trouble they caused, particularly in how much they dishonor our own spirituality. It’s easy to neglect the individuals within this three-hour blitz, considering they are impossible to count by now. Because Disney isn’t even trying to tell an actual story, Thanos‘ complexity disappears from his last appearance. The heroes honestly showed more layers of opinion and conflict without a villain, much like in one of the MCU’s finer films, Captain America: Civil War, it would be better to return to that level of risk-taking instead of this blatant fanservice.

Geez, the deeper I review such a popular insult to art like Avengers: Endgame, the angrier I become about what some choose for fulfillment! It’s recommended not to writers who crank out a billion dollars without even trying. Eventually their true colors will show, and ultimately reveal the wrong in giving up money to Mickey Mouse. If “you are what you watch” is true, then wasting three hours here will give the effect of a trash heap on those who worship the red logo.