It is the film that we knew had to come at some time – the film that closes one of the major phases of the Marvel cinematic universe. We expected something huge, strange when you consider just how blown away we all were by Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, but perhaps what we didn’t expect was a film that puts you through the emotional wringer quite the way Endgame does… which we probably should have expected after the shock ending of Infinity War. Still if you had told me twenty-two Marvel films ago I would wiping my eyes at the end of an Avengers movie I would have told you that you needed to have your head read.
Without spoiling too much for those that haven’t seen it. The film picks up after Infinity War. Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans – Captain America: Winter Soldier, The Avengers) and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson – Under The Skin, Her) are trying to piece together everything that has happened with a now depleted team. On top of the ones that Thanos (Josh Brolin – Milk, No Country For Men) annihilated Thor (Chris Hemsworth – Thor, Show White And The Huntsmen), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher, Spotlight) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jnr. – The Judge, Sherlock Holmes) have all gone off to do their own thing.
Their subsequent investigation into Thanos, while trying to move on with their lives, is not uncovering very much but does turn up that Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner – The Hurt Locker, The Town) is back and on a deadly rampage. Together the two of them must put the team back together and try to come up with a way to take on Thanos in a very different world.
So now the judgement. To be honest I am kind of in the middle when it comes to Endgame. I’ve heard people say that it is the greatest comic book movie of all time – that certainly isn’t the case it comes nowhere near the bar set by The Dark Knight. To me I don’t even think it is the best Marvel film, to be in pales when you hold it up alongside Captain America: Winter Solider or even Infinity War. Likewise while the film did put me through an emotional rollercoaster I don’t think it even got anywhere near the emotions set off throughout Logan.
Don’t get me wrong though the film is a great film… it’s just not the masterpiece that some people have labelled it to be. It has its plusses, the story holds you though out the three hours of the film, but even then I found myself wondering whether it not to do justice to the story itself whether Endgame should have been a trilogy on its own. Some may feel the film was over long but to me it felt at times like parts were rushed and things left unanswered. Throughout the film though it did hit me for everything that I really liked there was something that left me disappointed. For example I was blown away by the epic end battle sequence that saw all the characters come together in a way that we had never seen before but throughout the film I was disappointed that once again Thor seemed to have been relegated to comedic relief again… his character is worth so much more than that.
The one thing you can’t say about the film though is that is has you leaving the cinema feeling disappointed. No, credit has to be paid to the screenwriters, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Avengers: Infinity War, The Chronicles Of Narnia) and the directors Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: The Winter Solider, Avengers: Infinity War) because they have delivered a film that is going to be long remembered in the cinematic universe. Not only will the film break box office records right across the board but it will also be remembered as a film that shows the right mix of action and character drama. Some of the more touching places work really well, while the action sequences once again show why the Russos are the best action directors out there at the moment. The most important thing here though is that they got the ending of the film right. Yes it is the most emotional part of the film but it is the ending that most comic book fans would have wanted and does true justice to the characters and storylines that we have come to know and love.
While I do still believe Endgame is not the greatest comic book movie of all time it does come pretty damn close. A great film that has a fitting ending, comic book fans will certainly not be left disappointed.
[imdb show=”transparent” data=”detailed”]tt4154796[/imdb]
