'Avengers: Endgame' A Review

Avengers: Endgame is the latest installment of the MCU, the culmination of a decade long loosely-connected series, and part two of last year's innately unsatisfying Avengers: Infinity War. The film opens shortly after Thanos wiped out 50% of all living things with his snap. The Avengers quickly reassemble and immediately try to retake the stones but are unsuccessful. Time passes and a new opportunity presents itself for bringing back those who vanished.

The franchise has amassed some incredible talent over the past decade and they are all displayed here but only a few, mostly due to time and narrative restriction, are able to really shine. The three big tent-pole Avengers- Iron Man/Robert Downey Jr., Captain American/Chris Evans, and Thor/Chris Hemsworth- are given the most time and give the most interesting performances. Downey, is magnetic and effortless, and this is the culmination of a really compelling journey for the character that he nails and clearly relishes. Evans similarly has gone through a pretty substantial arc and is equally comfortable but no less layered. Hemsworth though gives the most dynamic and interesting performance, perhaps because his character is still transforming, this is not an ending for him it is the beginning of another adventure. This makes sense given the Thor character really only came into it's own in Thor: Ragnarok. Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo are more sidelined but have a few decent moments, for them also this is not an ending. Scarlett Johansson is the only original Avenger whose arch is someone underdeveloped and unsatisfying. Outside of the OG Avengers there are appearances from virtually every major character from the franchise and a couple fun cameos but to describe them would be to spoil them. The one major surprise was the sizable role played by Nebula/Karen Gillan who gets a significant slice of screen time and really capitalizes on it.

Visually the film is engaging and fun, outside the inevitable large-scale CGI battle, the aesthetic is much more intimate and provocative than is typical for the MCU. The narrative is a series of pay off after pay off and has a really effective streak of humor. It is effective not because of its action but because of the series of intimate emotional moments that unfold.

A fun, thrilling ride, that absolutely does not stand on its own nor outside of the sprawling franchise that its in. An incredibly satisfying film that makes up for the wait but not quite for the handful of mediocre or plot shuffling installments that came before it.

See It.