Avengers Endgame Review: Whatever It Takes
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Avengers: Endgame
Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
10
Where to Watch Avengers: Endgame?
We have reached the epic finale of the Infinity Saga with the blockbuster smash hit that is Avengers Endgame! We have also reached my personal favourite film in the entire MCU. Not only that but this film ranks in my top three favourite films of all time! After 21 films we reached the film that they had been building up to since The Avengers and really since Iron Man.
Now I am aware that a lot of people consider Avengers Infinity War to be the superior film and while I think that film is fantastic and amazing, the thing is that the movie is about Thanos. While the Avengers are in it constantly and impact the plot, the film follows Thanos more than any other character and he wins.
While that movie hits like a gut punch, Thanos is a villain. Like I mentioned in my Captain America The First Avenger review I like heroes more. I want to see the selfless heroes win and here we get to see the Avengers reclaim center stage in an epic conclusion!
Now I know that I am a bit inconsistent but I sometimes like to start with the negatives. However, with this film, I have no negatives so I will instead start by addressing common critiques I have seen about this film. The first one I see is that the first act is slow. I think this criticism is kind of crazy, to be honest.
Yes, it is slower than the wall-to-wall action of Infinity War, but most of the MCU films aren’t Infinity War. Even the first Avengers film started pretty slow and then ramped up in terms of action. Also, this film has earned its right to be slower-paced as it is building towards that incredible third act!
A second critique that I hear often is that the ending is a bit rushed. I disagree with this because I feel that within the MCU it is an ongoing universe which means this isn’t the end for the majority of the characters and so it does not warrant the drawn-out ending that so many franchises do at the end of their saga.
Now that we’re done with the only couple of negatives that I have heard of and thought of addressing let’s move on to the positives. So evidently I love this movie and I think this movie is the best the MCU has had to offer in the first three phases and probably up to this point in 2024. This is truly the culmination of everything that Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have been working towards since 2008.
I think one way that they really implement this and show us the love for the franchise they created was through the time travel mechanism used throughout the film, this allows us to explore many of the different films that we’d already seen but now we get to see a new perspective on certain scenes and we get to revisit moments that are super iconic to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
To touch on that time travel bit for a moment, I will say my favorite segment of the time travel is definitely revisiting New York in 2012 just due to the fact that The Avengers is one of my favorite movies and I particularly enjoyed seeing what happened in the immediate aftermath of The Avengers capturing Loki. The involvement of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the members of Hydra who were trying to take control of the situation is very interesting.
Obviously revisiting Guardians of the Galaxy is a film I hold dear and if you read my review you also know that I am more lenient on Thor The Dark World than others. So I do really enjoy the time travel element and while their explanation of it can somewhat be confusing that is true of most time travel devices used in any film or novel so I just accept that it might not make sense and move on.
I like seeing characters interact with either their former selves or characters that we haven’t seen in a while due to them being either dead. I think coupled with the time travel section of the film we do get some funny moments between Hulk, Steve, and Natasha when they’re trying to figure out the time travel which eventually leads into a really cool planning montage where we get to hear The Avengers share stories and like some of this also goes with the Guardians characters and just strategize how they’re going to go back in time.
This is all built up to one of my favorite speeches given by Captain America because there is a desperation to it but also a hopefulness and the words “whatever it takes” are really good marketing tool for the film. Every time I hear that phrase I think of Avengers Endgame.
To harken back to the first section of the film I want to say one of the most shocking moments that I’ve ever had in a movie theatre is when the “Five Years Later” popped up on screen after they killed the original timeline Thanos. I was not expecting, the audience I was with wasn’t expecting it, and it was a really good choice for the film because it allowed our heroes to sit in their loss and we get to see how some of them have handled it.
Thor for example fell into a state of depression and began using humor as a coping mechanism and eating a lot to ignore the reality of what happened when he didn’t win. Natasha tries to bury herself in Avengers work in trying to solve all the problems of Earth and even space to try and keep things together and to take control of her situation. At the same time emotionally she isn’t addressing how she feels.
For Tony, we see that he has moved on. He married Pepper, and they had a daughter he’s trying to live with the life that he has luckily been gifted after the terrible events of five years prior and so when the opportunity to fix everything is presented to him he is apprehensive just due to the fact that he doesn’t want to mess up what he has now.
It’s just interesting to see the world when half the population has disappeared and how that has affected so many lives and just the sadness that you felt while looking out to the different landscapes and just the way in which the world has been left with half of life is gone.
It is probably the most serious the MCU has gotten and while yes it is slower I think the slowness is justified for us to really feel the weight of what happened and for the solution not to be fixed very early on because then there are no stakes there’s no fear that maybe the world is just like this now.
Finally to talk about the last third of the film which in general is considered to be the best part of this film and I am not going to disagree with that. From the moment that Steve, Tony, and Thor face down Thanos it is just a spectacular and exciting finale. Of course, we finally get to see Steve hold Mjolnir of course teased back in Avengers Age of Ultron and we get the payoff here which was super cool the moment when it happened in theatres just will forever put a smile on my face.
From there we get the portals and the on your left moment which leads to my favorite MCU moment of all time which is when we finally get to hear the iconic words “Avengers Assemble” which I’ve been waiting to hear since I was a child reading Avengers comic books and watching Avengers TV shows.
I will not lie to you when I say that I had tears well up in my eyes and I was shaking because this is the moment I had been promised since the very first time we saw them assemble in 2012. Hearing Captain America say these words surrounded by 30 Avengers and an army of support was just so iconic and I will never forget it for the rest of my life. Also, this payoff was worth all the build-up from the previous two hours and you get so much cool action as well as some unexpected team-ups that make this one of my favourite action set pieces ever!
I had fears going into this film that we were going to lose either Tony or Steve and while I love Steve Rogers, Tony Stark is my favourite MCU character, and let me say I had a bittersweet smile when we heard “I am Iron Man” for the last time. The funeral and video of his daughter are touching and I love the way we get to see all the characters that he had impacted throughout his time as a hero.
The next thing I want to touch on are the character arcs of the six original Avengers who were definitely the focus of the film. Hulk finally gets to find a form of peace as he has finally molded the personality of Bruce Banner and the Hulk which allows him to be a hero without the fear of hurting others. While I prefer the Jekyll/Hyde version of the Banner/Hulk relationship I do recognize the importance of his growth. Hawkeye’s mini arc for the film has him coming back from a dark place after losing his family and he returns to being the hero he was.
Thor has to face the losses he has been ignoring since Thor Ragnarok and his loss to Thanos. He retreats into himself and at the end of the film he sets off for the first time with no path in mind besides remaining true to himself. Natasha finally gets the chance to be the hero that she never thought she was. Ever since The Avengers, she has made reference to her past and how she didn’t consider herself a hero but her sacrifice on Vormir allows her to be that hero. It is one of the saddest scenes in the MCU.
Steve goes through the arc of finally learning to move on. Ever since he became Captain America he has gone from one fight to the next and for the first time at the end of this film he does something for himself. He also proves Tony from the First Avengers wrong by showing that he was special long before the serum. Tony’s arc is the conclusion of what started in 2008.
When he was in the cave with Yinsen, he was told not to waste his life and he sure didn’t. It may not have been the ending he was hoping for but from the moment he declared “ I am Iron Man,” he knew it was a possibility. He also proves Steve wrong by showing he is willing to make the sacrifice.
The emotional moments in this film were top-tier MCU as well. I already mentioned the death of Black Widow which hits hard. The scene where the other Avengers are reacting to her death shows how much she meant to them. Tony’s death was quite hard for me to watch and there were a lot of tears in the theatres. Like I said the funeral scene was so sad. Thor’s talk with his Mom was really touching. So was the talk between Wanda and Clint. Obviously, Steve and Peggy’s dance was sweet. I also quite like the scene between Steve and Sam.
So yeah, this film is my favourite in the MCU and I am unapologetic about it. It is a perfect wrap-up to the Infinity Saga while still setting up future storylines and a continuing universe. It is the dream of every superhero fan who never thought they would see a universe like this on the big screen. It is certainly rewarding to those who have been on this journey since Iron Man with tons of references! This movie has it all, it has heart, action, huge stakes, fan service, and a satisfying conclusion. Go give this one another watch, this is the movie that reminds me why I love the MCU!