Review of Avengers: Endgame (2019) by Definitelymayb — 26 Apr 2019

Avengers:End game is by far a much better film than Infinity War. More structured and more cohesive than the mess that was IW. That being said, I think the film is a very good conclusion to the last 10 year journey, which I have been part of since watching the first Iron Man during my high school days. What I loved about the film was that it took a lot of risks and some much needed character conclusion to their arks. In a funny world, these characters would have survived indefinitely and continue to rake in millions of dollars for the Disney overlords, but I must commend Kevin Fegie, the directors and screenwriters to actually end most of their storylines. A lot of care was taken in terms of the direction of the characters and what this film would end. The meta aspects of this film was particularly satisfying with those who have followed all the films will enjoy the subversions offered throughout this 3 hour epic. That said this film is far from perfect, with many of the same flaws still very much present.

First, despite its epicness, much of the films drag into 3 distinct sections that I don't think add to being a very good cinematic experience. One massive annoyance is the tonal fluctations that seem to drag this movie down much like in IW. For example, in the first Act which reflects on the aftermath of Thanos's successful plan, we get some really dramatic scenes, then suddenly we get the usual MCU exposition/comedy scenes all fitted within adjacent to one another. One moment Black widows talking about something serious, and then another character talks about peanut butter sandwhiches. This is one of the painful things about the recent MCU films is the lack of dedication to the more dramatic aspects of their situation. First act on repeat viewings would have the feeling on dragging on because pretty much no action takes place. Another problem is that despite having these character moments, I dont think the film does a good job exploring these characters properly and in fact, there is little introspective of the sitatuion. We get to see for example, Captain America talk about how to move on in some sort of help group, but then we get little world-building of the tragedy that occured during IW. One thing I keep saying is that as the MCU keeps getting bigger and expanding, the world keeps feeling smaller and indifferent. For example, where is the military, why doesnt the film show what happens to the governments in Earth and other parts, where is Thunderbolt Ross, Martin Freeman's character, what about the villains? etc. We get very little of this but only a focus on the Avengers who lets face it, don;t really do much or is needed. Another poor thing that becomes apparent with the MCU is the lack of any villains/antagonists that are developed or survive long enough to be part of this. It feels like a missed opportunity in this film to actually get a sense of a bigger world at large. The movie then becomes a time travel/heist movie that is actually the most enjoyable. Despite some nitpicky time travel issues, I think this part was the most interesting and definitely the most worth in repeat viewings. However, this again was not a lot of actions and the characters splitting up made only some duos more interesting (ie Cap and Iron Man), whereas the pair of Black Widow/Hawkeye & WarMachine/Nebula were definitely boring and generic. There is also a lot of conveniences in this film which becomes more noticable on repeat viewings. The final act, is a massive fight and deeply rewarding on an action perspective. Whilst it is good, its certainly still not as good as the Russo's brothers previous efforts. WE get glimpses of all the good characters fighting and there are some genuinely jaw dropping moments such as Captain America picking up Mjolinir and the avengers assembling for the final fight. Lots of CGI which is a mix big unfortunately.

That being said, this was a much enjoyable film. The mixed feeling/score is reflective on the lack of cinematic quality and annoyance in that the film does many good stuff, but then is let down on other crucial aspects. Other things such as handing the mantle to Falcon, lack of emotional scene for Black Widow become bug bears on repeat viewings. Overall, this was still a satisfying experience, but for the sake of MCU, I hope they improve on the story and characters more in the future endeavours and be more like Winter Soldier, First Iron Man and Civil War which I think still are their best films.