Avengers: Endgame (2019) - Spoiler-Free Review
That does sadly mean that 'Avengers: Endgame' is stuck in the shadow of its own greatness. Whilst 'Avengers: Infinity War' could get away with being a big fireworks party and a cracking ending, 'Avengers: Endgame' has to be a satisfying conclusion that doesn't push audiences away from the series and its future. It has to focus on way too many characters and story-lines and somehow tie them all together to make for a satisfying film, both to hardcore fans and the general audience. I was very concerned about how the film would accomplish this, and while the result isn't too surprising (why, fan service, of course!), it does manage to accomplish something quite spectacular over it's 181 minute run-time. Yep, that's right - it's THREE HOURS LONG.
The story follows the events of 'Avengers: Infinity War', with the Avengers separated across space and Thanos sitting quite comfortably with his great quest accomplished. When the Avengers discover a vital piece of information, they decide to band together to face-off against the Mad Titan once and for all...
And yes, would you believe it, they do not cop-out on this one. There's no wasting time to introduce everyone and everything, but instead the Avengers get right down to it...and then the film can't quite sustain that kind of break-neck pace and instead decides to develop a proper story beyond "Avengers avenging". This is ultimately where Endgame starts to sag, with characters developing in interesting and unexpected ways, but not always in the ways an audience perhaps wants. Thor's character journey works well on-paper, but the execution is so baffling and tone-deaf that I really didn't like it. Bruce Banner has an unexpected change, and whilst this gives his character an interesting journey, it is one that seems to have already been resolved by the time it starts. I also can't help but feel that Natasha / Black Widow is given too little to work with in the film, and given the ending to this film, I can't see Marvel managing to make that actually feel more satisfying in retrospect. Hawkeye's arc is interesting to watch, but given how much of a back-seat he's taken in the series, it's not quite as powerful as it could've been. The real hearts of the story here though are Tony Stark / Iron Man and Steve Rogers / Captain America, for very different respective reasons. Both try to deal with the events of Infinity War in their own ways, but come together for the greater good - to save the universe.
It's difficult to really analyse the film in much detail without spoiling aspects of the plot, and I do certainly intend to write a full, analytical, spoiler-filled review at a later date. Despite this though, I do think it's worth mentioning a few things - firstly, that Captain Marvel's appearance feels like a cameo in the film, as does Okoye's (despite both being prominent on the poster), and also that Thanos' role feels greatly (and understandably) reduced from 'Infinity War'. The focus is very much on the surviving Avengers, and while this benefits the film greatly, there isn't a huge amount of time dedicated to establishing the post-'Endgame' status quo - which will no doubt be explored in future Marvel movies, but isn't given much time here. As I mentioned previously, the film has some very noticeable structural issues, and at many points feels over-stuffed with either out-of-place comedy or plot diversions that don't go very far. That being said, the film does put the characters from and center, and while the plot mechanics are too vague to really make sense, its easy to ignore that and invest in the journeys of each Avenger. It's very much an emotional roller-coaster, and with laughs, cheers and tears from the audience when I went to go and see it. The last hour of the film is absolutely incredible, and well worth paying for on its own. It might feel predictable to some, but the ending is very much a fitting one for the film, and feels very satisfying.
There isn't a huge amount of action set-pieces for a three-hour film, but I actually appreciated that with 'Avengers: Endgame'. What's here is very good, although akin to 'Avengers: Infinity War', I don't think any of the action set-pieces are as good as, say, anything from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I wish that the production team had spent more time working on these sequences just to make them the best they possibly could. At many points, the film feels quite green-screen-heavy, and while the Visual FX work is great, it still doesn't feel quite real. I also think that while some of the FX work is amazing, some feels a little bit off at points - not bad, but not quite right - which seems odd considering that this film was shot about a month after 'Avengers: Infinity War', so presumably had a longer post-production period. The Russo brothers direct the film very well, but as has been said before, I don't think they bring much of a unique voice to these Avengers films. They're very well-made films, but they don't have the thriller feel of the Russo's Captain America sequels, nor do they have the snappy dialogue of Joss Whedon's first two Avengers films. The cinematography is very good, but the film has quite a flat look throughout, which is frustrating for what could be such a bold and colourful film. Alan Silvestri's score is excellent - providing that you like his Avengers theme - and certainly helps with the cheers and tears throughout the film.
The acting is obviously great throughout - but would you expect anything else from a Marvel Studios film? There are plenty of surprise cameos throughout, ranging from obscure characters in other films and even a cameo from a TV character (not Daredevil though, I'm afraid). Robert Downey Jr really puts his all into this film, whilst Chris Evans gets a whopping great hero moment in the third act. Chris Hemsworth is great throughout, but the main issue is with the way Thor is written. As much as its suited to Hemsworth as an actor, it does feel like an odd direction to take the character, and somewhat undervalues Thor's role in the story. Paul Rudd is always a highlight in every Marvel film he's in as Ant-Man, and Jeremy Renner finally returns as Hawkeye/Ronin/Clint Barton to do his thing...which involves a new sword with his bow and arrows.
Overall though, 'Avengers: Endgame' is messy, over-stuffed and perhaps not as good as it could've been, but considering the ridiculously high bar Marvel had set for themselves, I'm honestly not surprised that the film isn't a 5-star masterpiece. It's very easy to overlook its flaws because of how much it gets right - especially in concluding a lot of the ongoing stories in the series. It perhaps veers off too far into fan service, but that's understandable for the twenty-second film in the series. It's a terrific achievement, and well worth watching - before it gets spoiled for you. 8/10
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