Avengers: Endgame Review

By Jake Hardison

It’s been eleven years since Tony Stark escaped a cave, told the world he was Iron Man, and proved he had a heart. It was arguably one of the biggest moments in pop culture history and easily the biggest moment superhero movie history up to that point. And little did we know that the movie event of that decade would start a story that would come to a conclusion in the movie event of this decade, let alone where that story would take us along the way. And while it may go without saying, the culmination of 22 chapters in this epic, and frankly, unprecedented saga is well worth waiting the whole 3 hours and 2 minutes to get up to pee.

I’ll start by admitting how hard it is to write a review for a movie like this without giving anything away. That being said, this will be a NON-SPOILER review (unless you’ve been avoiding the trailers; those are fair game). The film has extremely high expectations to live up to, and in all fairness, measuring its performance won’t reveal too much about the plot.

The best thing about the Avengers: Endgame is that it feels like the first Avengers movie that we’ve gotten in years. I say that because Avengers: Infinity War very much feels like a Thanos movie, and not just because Thanos won. Infinity War was a look at the Avengers divided and disbanded, and while it gave us some really fun team-ups and spectacular fight scenes, the story didn’t need to make any time for the heroes because it already had that time reserved for its villain. Conversely, Endgame finally gave us a look at the Avengers at their best.

The beginning (and I won’t say how long that lasts) provides arguably some of the best performances we’ve seen from these actors thus far. While most scenes in the movie feature up to billions of dollars worth of talent, much of the first act shows these performers seemingly trying to one-up each other in the most delightful way, focusing on the bleakness of the “post-snap” world and the anger, resentment, and guilt consistent with each character’s preceding story. Our heroes find themselves in a weary process of grieving while trying to help each other piece together a bleak universe. Effectively they have given up on undoing what has been done, and instead try to make the best of what’s left.

The call to action comes courtesy of one of the more fresh faces in this universe (if you don’t know which one, he just celebrated a 50th birthday and most people are wondering how he’s kept said face so fresh). However, the core of this story is the original six avengers. If you’ve put in the hours investing in this cinematic universe, everything about this movie will be a massive payoff. Something that often can get lost in film is the storyteller’s ability to show how much respect it has not only for the characters but for the audience as well. Every moment in Endgame is perfectly consistent with what the characters have each been scared of, struggling for, arguing against, and motivated by in terms of how they approach each new conflict.

What this group of filmmakers is able to pull off is genuinely touching, not just because of how much love we have for the characters as fans,  but because of how much love the late legends Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Stan Lee had for them as well. Avengers: Endgame is equal parts a tribute to the characters, their creators, and the fans.

If you don’t believe this is legitimately one of the largest-scaled and most anticipated films of all time, the fact that this movie has broken all presale ticket world records and is only one day away from international release should do it for you. This coming weekend is bound to be mayhem in both moviegoing and popular culture, so be sure to enjoy, be respectful, treat your theater staff graciously, and DON’T SPOIL THE ENDGAME.

Thank you Joe and Anthony Russo, thank you Kevin Feige, and thank you Stan Lee.  

‘Nuff said.