"Avengers: Endgame" Review

It’s always special when you get this feeling. This feeling we may have witnessed history. History where we will tell our kids and grandkids what it was like to live it, how old we were when it happened, and where we were when we experienced it. This is the feeling I was left as soon as the credits finished rolling for Avengers: Endgame.

Make no mistake, what the Russo brothers, executive producer Kevin Feige and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely were able to accomplish with Avengers: Endgame is a miracle unto itself. Not only were they able to live up to the promise of what last year’s Avengers: Infinity War provided, but they also managed to tie up an overarching narrative that started all the way back in 2008’s Iron Man and pay homage to many of the movies that came along the way. Can you find nitpicks in this three-hour endeavor? Absolutely. Does it take away from the achievement? Not in the slightest.

Originally conceived as Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 back in October 29, 2014, one of the best things about Avengers: Endgame is how it manages to have a completely different feel from Infinity War despite the fact both these films were conceived as one and filmed back to back originally. While there was a sense the hard stop of Infinity War was a signal of the original conception of these movies, what the Russo brothers delivered both in tone and execution dwarfs the expectations set by the third Avengers film.

Where Infinity War was a relentlessly paced, giant action extravaganza, Endgame is a boldly small-scale affair. That’s not to say epic and big scale moments don’t happen in Endgame. However, the movie’s focus brings it back to the impact the events of the previous film had on the core six Avengers plus the few that survived Thanos’ Decimation. If Infinity War had the sense of danger and eminence you’d get watching a season defining Game of Thrones episode, Endgame has more the retrospective and pensive feeling of The Leftovers. Knowing this movie will be the biggest film in the box office, the fact the Russos and Co. went with something slower and more pensive for the final film in the Infinity Saga was a pretty bold choice.

Simply put, we needed the slow parts that started us off. The Decimation is the biggest loss any of these characters have ever faced, and the way this movie moves forward from the Decimation gives us a gateway to remind us why we fell in love with these characters and their universe at large. There’s nothing more exciting and cathartic than seeing your heroes at their lowest ebb and seeing them work the courage and motivation to rise up from it. Doing so provides the movie its hook, and with this being the definitive end to this story, the stakes have never been higher.

It’s also worth pointing out that, despite this being the darkest thing to ever happen to the MCU, Avengers: Endgame never loses its sight of the fun that’s made this franchise a success for so long. Yes, the movie is not as laugh out loud funny as previous MCU movies, but the wide swath of emotions you experience in it makes this the most emotionally rich movie in the saga.

For longtime MCU fans, the main hook of the story (the “Time Heist”), provides a great way to look back at big moments from previous entries (even underwhelming affair like Thor: The Dark World) while shining a fun new light to events we’ve long grown accustomed to. If this were a TV show, it’d be like if a long running series just hit its 100^th episode and its looking back at where they were before setting a path forward. Like it always happens when time travel gets added to stories, some of the logic is a little flimsy, and falls apart as soon as you start poking it at the seams. With that said, the movie smartly picks up the pace as soon as the Heist happens, so it gives little time to let its logic prevent you from enjoying the ride. Just emotions you’ll feel at the callbacks, the returning characters and easter eggs from previous movies is enough to not let time travel shenanigans spoil the fun.

Speaking of emotions, for anyone that has really been fully along for the ride since that first Iron Man film in 2008, the entire third act is for you. In those last 45 minutes, the full weight of what has been achieved over the past 11 years comes to fruit, and the full realization of this interconnected cinematic universe comes to a head in the final battle. This is where you remember that, as much as other studios have chased this trend, only Marvel was able to crack the nut as efficiently as they’ve shown here. For longtime comic book fans, this is a nerd dream come to life, and it will be hard not to have nerd tears flowing as the final moments of the movie unfold.

Is Avengers: Endgame a perfect movie? Not in the slightest. Some of the time travel logic can potentially spoil the enjoyment and some of the action scenes lack a bit of the oomph from previous entries. But in the end who cares? No other studio has ever attempted to weave this kind of interconnected narrative and bring it to a definitive close the way Marvel did here. If anything, it will probably be decades if we ever see something that may surpass what they have accomplished. For anyone that has ever been a fan of superheroes either through comic books or through cartoons, it’ll be tough to wipe the grin from the face seeing that a live action representation like this stuck the landing as well as it did.

Avengers: Endgame is the crown jewel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and an achievement in cinematic world building. While as a movie I may rewatch some of the more leaner, standalone entries like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Thor: Ragnarok, when everything is considered, there is no denying Avengers: Endgame’s spot at the top. The MCU will live on, but what they did with the Infinity Saga will never be forgotten.

Bravo, Marvel Studios. Stan Lee would be proud.

100%

★★★★★

5/5 

Essential

Written by Alejandro Segovia.

All opinions expressed are exclusive to the writer and do not represent the entirety of Stat X Media.

Pictures taken from the film's IMDB site.

Movie Scoring rubric:

★ : 1 point  ☆ : 0.5 points

★★★★★: Essential. Excellent movies. Close to flawless. Transcends any minor flaws it may have. 

   ★★★★: Great/Highly recommended. Great movies. Some flaws worth mentioning, but nothing to worry about.

      ★★★: Okay/Recommended. Good movies. Contains things worth watching & experiencing, but flaws can hinder the experience.

         ★★: Caution/Questionable. Mediocre movies. The flaws start to significantly hinder anything good the movie has.

             ★: Avoid. Bad movies with nothing redeemable about them (some enjoyment as "so bad its good). Preferably don't waste your time.