Avengers: Endgame - Review

Release Date: April 26, 2019​​​​​​​​

We're in the Endgame Now

So we all kinda knew what would happen by the end of Avengers: Endgame but no one would have guessed how it was going to happen. I assure you I will not spoil, in any capacity, the movie for you, but you should know that it does pay off. I was actually really surprised by Endgame because it was the complete opposite of something like Infinity War or Civil War. It replaces all the nerdgasm moments with dialogue. For once in Marvel’s filmography, it takes the time to build up events and let scenes breathe. It doesn’t rush from fight scene to fight scene, there is so much talking and I love it. It’s something that people weren’t ready for when it happened in Wonder Woman, but now don’t mind seeing it in the final chapter of The Infinity Saga.  
 
So what makes this one of the best movies Marvel has released? It's all that talking. There is so little action that it blows my mind. I’m not saying there isn’t action, but purely on a ratio basis, this must be one of the lowest in the series. This is all great news because I feel like I grew closer to characters. Endgame took the time 

to set up stakes and drive home that this was it. That Thanos’ promise of a better universe didn’t come to pass and that there was still of a glimmer of hope left. You got to see how characters were coping and fighting through trauma which made you care more. The amount of character work done is really surprising because the sheer amount of it has never been seen in this universe and might never happen again.

​Endgame is not perfect though, far from it in fact. I’ve seen a lot of people commenting on how this is the best superhero movie ever made, or how it will be impossible to top. There are so many problems that it amazes me that these claims are taken seriously. There are many moments when events aren’t properly explained and need to be expanded on but are left alone. Sometimes this is done to set up the Disney+ streaming shows but other times its just a lapse in logic. There is also a problem with an absurd amount of references. There are so many jokes referencing other MCU movies that it becomes really distracting. For some of these references, it's not even the first time they have been used. Remember in Civil War when Captain America tells Tony “I can do this all day” when they are fighting at the end. That same line is used again here in reference to when Steve Rodgers says in his origin movie. These moments are sprinkled in throughout the entire runtime so they will never let up. 

The music was fine in Endgame. There wasn’t anything special about it here and was actually pretty bland except for two moments. Other than that though, it seems like the slight improvement that was in Infinity War was reduced back to its original quality. There was nothing special about the cinematography here either, it was all pretty common stuff that you have seen before in Russo directed movies.

So it all comes down to how long you’ve been paying attention to the MCU or how much fun you are going to have listening to characters talk to one another. People are saying this movie has immense rewatch value but I would disagree. I feel like I could see this movie once more in my life for entertainment and never see it again. It was definitely a satisfying time at the movies and am really surprised it came out this good. Yes, the hype is way overblown, but when has that not been?

7/10
A surprising amount of untapped potential in ******