Left
Behind Meets Back to the Future 2 in the superhero movie to end all superhero
movies.
At
three-hours, the ambitious, sprawling, jaw-dropping Avengers: Endgame never feels long. Every scene feels necessary and the
directors, The Russo (Avengers: Infinity
War) Brothers build things slowly, leading to a raucous, free-for-all superhero royal
rumble you’d expect from the culmination of a twenty-two-installment
series. At this point, the Marvel
Cinematic Universe has become like the WWF. The various single-character films are kind
of like the weekly Raw and Smackdown shows.
Everything eventually leads up a giant Pay-Per-View (or in this case,
Avengers movie). You don’t necessarily
need to see every installment to get the gist of it, but if you do, it’s
fulfilling to see various storylines that have been carried out throughout the
years finally reaching a satisfying climax.
I’ll
try to avoid the spoilers as much as possible.
In fact, the Marvel marketers deserve some kind of medal for keeping the
whats and wherefores of the plot so closely guarded. What I liked was that the Russos gave us
these giant action sequences, but not at the expense of the characters. Each one of the core group (those who weren’t
dusted from Infinity War that is) get plenty of moments to shine. There are enough quirky character beats here
to satisfy fans, without feeling like gratuitous fan service (okay, so maybe there
are one or two exceptions, but nothing major).
If
Age of Ultron was a Giant-Sized Annual comic book, and Infinity War was a
limited-edition collector’s issue, Endgame is a multi-title crossover
event. There are so many narrative
plates spinning at once, and yet it never feels jumbled or incoherent. Even the eye-popping finale, while
overstuffed, acts as sort of the icing on the cake. Remember back in ’08 when the possibility of
Iron Man teaming up with Hulk almost felt like a pipe dream? Flash-forward to the present where just about
every Marvel hero is front and center and you have yourself a fanboy’s (or
fangirl’s) cinematic wet dream.
I will try to be vague about certain plot points to avoid spoilers. Instead, I’ll tell you what characters I felt
fared best in this over-stuffed superhero bonanza:
1) Captain
America. Even though this is officially
an Avengers movie, this is very much Captain America’s show. He carries the weight of the team on his
shoulders. If he takes their victories in stride, he takes their losses personally.
His resilience in the face of unfathomable odds is what has endeared him
to many over the years. Endgame offers a
perfect cap (no pun intended) on his long-running storyline. Cap does things in this movie you always
dreamed he’d do and does some equally memorable and awesome things you’d never
thought you needed to see him do. If
indeed Chris Evans (who has never been better in the role) steps down from playing
Cap, he can hold his head high knowing he went out on the highest note
possible.
2) Thor. (Okay, there will be some spoilers in this
paragraph. Skip down to the next paragraph
if you want to go in totally cold.) Chris
Hemsworth continues to play up the humorous side of Thor we saw in Ragnarok and
imbues it with a heartfelt sense of loss, grief, and self-hatred. Alternately hilarious and touching, Hemsworth,
like Evans, is at his best, walking deftly between the poles of his character’s
disparate emotions. When he throws in
the towel and lets himself go… all I have to say is… Dad Bod Thor is my new spirit
animal.
3) Iron
Man. Like Cap, this very could well be Iron
Man’s swan song. If that is indeed the
case, then Robert Downey, Jr. is going out on top. He brings a lot of the emotional baggage of still
being at odds with Cap in Civil War to the table, but he has other reasons
(which I will not reveal) of not wanting to enter the fight. Downey hits all the emotional high notes too,
yet again knocking it out of the park.
4) Nebula. Karen Gillan shines as Gamora’s grieving
sister. Wanting to take Thanos to task
for dusting half the galactic population, she digs deeper here than in previous
entries, exposing the raw, damaged, vulnerable side of her character we’ve
never seen. It’s truly one of the best
performances of all the MCU movies.
5) Black
Widow. For years we’ve seen glimpses of
what makes Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) tick. Here, grieving the loss of her fellow
comrades, we see a new side of Widow:
Regret. We also see how far she’s
willing to go to put the past behind her and forge ahead into the future. There’s one particular scene (again, which I won’t
reveal) that got me a little choked up.
So,
there you have it. I’ve tried to be as
un-spoiler-y as possible. By now, the
die-hards have already seen it (more than once). I can’t quite call it the best Marvel
Cinematic Universe movie of all time (there’s a LOT to take in, so I’ll have to
give it multiple viewings before deciding on where it’ll land permanently), but
it’s impossible to think that any Marvel fan will walk away disappointed. That’s about the highest compliment I can
give.
Avengers: Age of Ultron: ****
The Incredible Hulk: ****
Iron Man: ****
Avengers: Endgame: ****
Thor: Ragnarok: ****
Ant-Man and the Wasp: ****
Spider-Man: Homecoming: ****
Iron Man 3: ****
Captain America: Civil War: *** ½
Ant-Man: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: *** ½
Avengers: Infinity War: *** ½
Black Panther: *** ½
The Avengers: ***
Captain America: The First Avenger: ***
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: ***
Captain Marvel: ***
Thor: ***
Thor: The Dark World: ***
Iron Man 2: ***
Doctor Strange: ** ½
2019 Comic Book Movie Scorecard:
Avengers: Endgame: ****
Alita: Battle Angel: ***
Captain Marvel: ***
Shazam!: ***
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