REVIEW – Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame really has been 10 years in the making. To those that are fans of the Marvel franchise, and the superhero genre as a whole this film is a HUGE deal. It marks the end of an era.

I booked myself into a midnight screening of the film, simply because I didn’t want to accidentally land on spoilers on social media before I got to experience it for myself. Now, don’t worry there will be no spoilers from me, on my social media nor in this review. This is a safe place.

The film is a whopping 3 hours and 1 minute long, but I have to say, when watching it, it really didn’t feel like that! In fact, it flew by! Just make sure you to the toilet just before the film starts. The pace of the film is perfect, which is what makes it go by so quickly.

Story

Story-wise, you go in knowing what to expect. We know that The Avengers are going to pull back the devastating events of Infinity War, but we just didn’t know how. Despite knowing that overall the “good guys” were going to win, viewers including myself were just constantly waiting for something terrible to happen to their favourite characters. From the get go the reviews have been extremely positive and clearly state that it’s an EPIC but also emotional film. So make sure you are prepared for that. Despite knowing the theme of the outcome, there are PLENTY of surprises, and things that you just wouldn’t expect, which is fantastic. I won’t say too much about the story and what happens, but I can at least tell you how I felt about it. Having now seen it myself, It’s safe to say that this film is a complete emotional roller-coaster. I smiled, I frowned, I gasped, I laughed and I cried.

There are a few “that’s too easy” moments for me, but that is pulled back with hiccups on missions and also betrayals. There are also some plot holes and some explanations of the film seems a little rushed. Mostly how they actually get to making the plan that eventually stops Thanos, and also where certain characters are or have been. I will say though, that you truly would never ever guess what will happen, or if you do – it certainly isn’t right.

Other than that, Avengers: Endgame is spectacular. One thing that I did really love was the fact that there is so much nostalgia within the film, and it pays perfect little nods to the previous MCU films that we have pretty much grown up with. For me, that was a really nice touch. Now, we know this is a bit of a dreaded film, and sometimes I find a lot of MCU films almost have too much humour, and sometimes in the wrong places. But the humour in this had quite a different tone to the other MCU films, just with hints of the MCU we all know and love.

I will say this, the third act of Avengers: Endgame is fantastic and has you constantly guessing what is going to happen next. There are so many scenes that fill you with dread as you watch your favourite character battle it out against the mighty Thanos. My heart was beating SO fast at several points in the film, I thought I was going to have a cardiac arrest! When it comes to films, unless it’ a horror film, that feeling is very rare. With that said there are also scenes and comic book references that we have been waiting to happen for a long time. I’ve said it a few times already, I did cry, yes. And the bit that got me was the scene at the end, that was beautiful and such a nice touch.

Cast/Characters

Now, we already know and are extremely familiar with the cast – hell, we’ve grown up with them, so I don’t need to tell you that every character is cast perfectly – that is a fact. But there are some standout performances in Endgame, some that I were’t really expected. There were also some performances/portrayals of characters that I didn’t like as well, which I’ll go into detail on shortly. I’m also not going to talk about ALL of the characters either, just my favourites and my least favourites.

Firstly the front runners – for me that was Captain America (always) and Antman. Cap is always a standout member of the cast in any Avengers film, so that was to be expected. His subtle humour, actions and attitude towards life and the situation that they are in, is perfect and so honourable. There are three scenes in particular of Cap’s that I just LOVED, and one of those is the at the very end of the film.

Antman, was just hilarious as always. He’s another actor that is the character, like Jason Momoa is Aquaman – Paul Rudd is Antman, and I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing him. He brings plenty of laughs, as to be expected but he is also the one that initiates the plan and is essentially the one who saves them all. As well as the laughs and banter he provides, we also see a much softer side to him towards the start of the film, which is so powerful.

All of the other characters had their glory moments and epic scenes in Avengers: Endgame. I feel that was divided out perfectly, each character who was “dusted” had a revenge scene, and one more so that others – Scarlet Witch. Wow, she blew me away! I do almost wish we got to see a little more of her in the film myself.

Now for those that just didn’t do it for me…

Hulk – this portrayal of The Hulk is actually laughable, and not in a good way. Hulk is supposed to be this angry, savage and powerful character. Although he “made his peace” with himself and Bruce Banner in the film, I just felt like he was moulded to be funny, and that is just not the Hulk. I get that he brings in the laughs and I guess interacts with kids more (you’ll see what I mean), but I just really didn’t like that and a lot of his scenes just made me cringe.

Thor – now don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Thor, and he is actually my second favourite Avenger. He did also have some epic and actually relatable scenes in the film, especially with how he dealt with the trauma of what happened – that is something that is likely to happen. BUT, he was almost ridiculed it felt, and that just is not the Thor I know and love. It seemed everything he said was a joke, and none of the team took him seriously or even trusted him to do what he should be capable of.

Captain Marvel – I wasn’t blown away with her solo film, although I did enjoy the second half of it, but I felt like that was leading to something really special with her in this film. And we just didn’t get that, at all. It kind of reminded me of Justice League, when Superman just came back from the dead and beat Steppenwolf at the end. No, she was not the one to kill Thanos (that is your only spoiler), but she just wasn’t a core member of the team like I thought and hoped she would be. She was also the cause of one of the plot holes for me… and I think/hope you see why as well when you watch it. Overall I was just underwhelmed with her.

Like I said before there are lots of characters that were awesome in the film, but I just don’t want to go down and write a long long list of what I thought of each one!

Cinematography & Special Effects

The effects are absolutely incredible in Avengers: Endgame. At times there is a LOT going on, in quite a few different scenes and no expense was spared when it came to detail. It was actually amazing throughout, although there is one scene where we see Thor and someone from Ragnarok (don’t want to give it away too much) that does look obviously CGI’ed, but I guess not everything can be perfect.

The cinematography was great too, there are already so many iconic scenes in the film. I will say that it doesn’t have the beauty of some other superhero films I have seen visually, but there are some powerful scenes in the film.

The score was pretty epic too, it leads you along with the story and scenes, Although it works really well, but it does kind of limit the surprise element to it, as you know when something tragic, heroic or funny is going to happen. With that said, the moment you hear the Avengers Theme during the film, you get goosebumps. That was perfectly timed and perfectly used.

Overall

For me, personally I enjoyed Infinity War better. Avengers: Endgame is flawed, but is still a brilliant film, and the perfect send off for such an iconic era of superheroes. Yes, I’m a DC fan, but I also love Marvel – anything with Superheroes sign me up. Like I said, there are some bits I didn’t like, more so characters than the films, and a few choices that the characters make. But overall, I really enjoyed it and it certainly didn’t feel like a 3 hour film. Be prepared, take some tissues because you will cry at some point during the film. The MCU will never be the same again.