Movie Name: Avengers: Endgame

Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Produced By: Kevin Feige

Release Date: April 26, 2019

Budget: $356 million

Box Office (So far): $2.189 billion

Introduction

It is here. It is finally here. After 10 years and 22 movies, it all came down to this Endgame. I have mentioned this on the podcast before. When I was a kid, I dreamt of a time when I could see the superhero's that I grew up with, in real physical form.

Let us remember that the journey that these franchises took us, was not guaranteed to work at all. The first Hulk movies were not very successful and the first Iron Man was filmed during the writing strike. There was absolutely no certainty that it would last this long.

However fast forward 11 years and it has come to this. This is not the end, but it does feel like it caps off certain aspects very well. Let us dig into the details of the movies.

Story / Plot

This will be full of spoilers, so if you do not want to know what happens, please do not read any further. For the rest of you, enjoy!!!

We continue where we left off in Avengers: Infinity War, Tony Stark and Nebula are stuck in space on a ship and are running out of supplies. Then out of nowhere, Captain Marvel comes out and saves them. She brings them back home. Here we have Falcon, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Thor and a few others waiting to see how they could beat Thanos.

They are able to locate Thanos. They put a plan in place to get the stones back and then kill him. Unfortunately for the Avengers, when they get to Thanos, he tells them that the stones were destroyed. In a fit of rage, Thor kills Thanos by chopping his head. Although they beat the villain, the kill feels empty and the Avengers at least temporarily lose hope.

Then fast forward 5 years, everyone is living their lives. Natasha seems to be leading the remaining Avengers now. Hawkeye, who saw his family vanish at the beginning of the movie, turns to a life of vigilante justice. Iron Man is living the quiet life with his wife Pepper and kid Morgan. He has left the superhero life behind him. Captain America is a support group lead, helping people cope with the disappearance of their loved ones. The Hulk is one of the surprising twists. In the last 5 years, he has been able to tame the beast. He is the hulk, but he is mild mannered and is able to control his emotions a lot better. Thor on the other hand, has gone off the deep end. He has gotten fat and all he does is play video games and drink in the new Asgard, which is in Norway.

This is where the story takes a little bit of a turn. Ant-Man who was last seen stuck in the Quantum Realm after Ant-Man and the Wasp, comes back to reality and finds the Avengers. He advises that by using the Quantum Realm, they could use it for time travel. The Avengers would have to go to specific points in time and retrieve the 6 stones. They would be able to restore what Thanos had done. At this point everyone is skeptical and do not know if this would work.

One person who is heavily skeptical is Tony Stark. He says that there is no way that this could ever work. Too many variables are at play. A short time after, while in his office, he discovers that time travel is possible and he advises the Avengers that they could do this. So then they start the trek in getting all of the stones.

Like any movie, nothing goes smoothly. Rocket and Thor travel to Asgard in 2013 and extract the Reality Stone from Jane Foster, and also retrieve Thor's hammer Mjolnir. Thor reunites with his mother and he gets some advice that gets him out of his funk.

Nebula and Rhodes travel to Morag in 2014 and steal the Power Stone before Peter Quill can. Rhodes returns to the present with the Power Stone, but Nebula is unable to return when her cybernetic implants interface with those of her past self. Through this connection, the Thanos of 2014 learns of his future success and the Avengers' attempts to undo it. Thanos captures Nebula and sends past Nebula to the present day disguised as her future self.

Hawkeye and Romanoff travel to Vormir in the same year, and learn that the Soul Stone requires the death of a loved one. This is a very touching scene as Romanoff sacrifices herself for the greater good. From this moment on, Hawkeye must live with the fact that he felt, he should have died for the cause and not Natasha.

Reuniting in the present, the Avengers fit the Stones into a Stark-created gauntlet. Banner, the least susceptible to the gamma radiation emitted by the Stones, dons the gauntlet and resurrects all those whom Thanos had disintegrated. Past Nebula uses the time machine to transport past Thanos and his warship to the present. Thanos attacks the Avengers' compound. Nebula convinces past Gamora to turn against Thanos, and kills her past self. Stark, Rogers and Thor battle Thanos, during which Rogers proves worthy of wielding Mjolnir. Doctor Strange arrives with other sorcerers, the Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the armies of Wakanda, Asgard, and the Ravagers; they fight Thanos' army. Danvers arrives and destroys Thanos' warship. Thanos seizes the gauntlet, but Stark takes the Stones and disintegrates Thanos and his army, himself succumbing to the radiation emitted by wielding the Stones.

The end is very touching and puts a proper end to the story arc of Captain America. After Tony Stark's funeral, Captain America is set to go back in time and return the stones to their respected places. Bruce Banner advises that Captain America will come back in a few minutes. When Captain America did not return on time, we see a person sitting on a bench. It is an old Captian America. He decided to go back in time to go see Peggy Carter and live his days with her. He also gives his shield to Sam Wilson, insinuating that he will carry on the Captain America flame.

Note: There were parts of the story that were taken directly from Wikipedia as it was was written in a nice concise manner.

Bottomline

Where do I start with my views about this movie. Alright, let us start with the positives.

Positives

In terms of the story, I think that everyone that went to see the movie was satisfied. The movie answered a lot more questions than it created, which is a good thing. We finally got to see a true ending.

There were many touching moments in the movie. The one that stood out the most in my mind is the scene on Vormir with Hawkeye and Romanoff. The fact that both of them are fighting each other to see who will sacrifice them self, was quite touching.

Another part of the movie that I found great were the scenes when Stark and Rogers go back to the 1970's and Tony meets his father, Howard Stark. That for me was unexpected and I found it really touching. Especially when Howard Stark is talking about his pregnant wife (pregnant with Tony) and asking if he is really ready for the task. In this scene there is an awesome Easter Egg with Jarvis. We see that Jarvis was Howard Stark's driver and hence why the assistant in Iron Man's suit is called Jarvis. There is one line in the elevator between Howard and Tony that I think made a huge impact on what Iron Man did at the end of the movie. The line was:

Individual objectives has rarely outweighed the greater good.

One aspect that I liked is that all original members of the Avengers had their moments to shine. Their stories were completed and they got some good screen time. Yes this movie was over 3 hours long, but this was nice to see. Most movies nowadays, cut their movies and it always feels like some members get the shaft and the missing parts are released as bonuses on DVD / Blu-ray's.

One of the best touching scenes in cinema was the end with Captain America. The fact that he goes back to the love of his life, Peggy Carter and has that dance with her. How can anyone have a dry eye after that. I also like how Steve Rogers passes the torch to Sam Wilson. You could not have done that scene any better.

Last but not least, the final battle. What an epic battle scene. Yes it was all computer graphics (CG), but it was awesome and I wanted to see more action from it. There was so many things happening and although you always had the sense that it would end well, there was enough there to keep you on the edge of your seat. I thought that Infinity War had a good battle scene, but this one, was even better. Not sure how they managed to do that, but they did.

Negatives

As much as this is a great movie, there were a few negatives.

Captain Marvel was not in this movie a whole lot. One would think that if she would have stuck around, they could have hit their objective a lot more smoothly. They do get around this by advising that she has a lot of other planets to save, but that just felt like a cop out. Then at the end she happens to comeback to take down the warship and have a few scenes there. She only seems to be there when she feels like it. Unlike her own movie, where she seemed to have a heart, here she comes off as snooty. I was not a fan.

There is the argument that we did not see Black Panther and other heroes that much. That is fine, but Captain Marvel was pretty much in every preview for Endgame. In addition, compared to others, she is very powerful. Her character did not feel as genuine as the others.

I love Thor in his solo movies and even in the Avenger movies. I understand that he is the comedy relief but I felt that sometimes the comedy was a little too much. There were times where the laughs were not needed and a more serious approach would have been appropriate. An example of this is when he goes back to Asgard, instead of going with Rocket to get the stone, he cries and goes the other way. Yes it was done to get a laugh, but I think the scene itself could have merited a more serious tone.

Parts of the story had holes in it. The movie explains that the stones are needed in order to keep balance with the universe. However, Thanos destroyed them. Wouldn't that mean that time would cease to exist. If the stones forever survive, that means that this can happen all over again as the stones will never be truly destroyed.

The length is a little long. Although it did not feel as long as I would have thought, it was still a long movie. However, there were no parts that felt like dead air. So yes, it is a long movie, but it is not that bad. I know many people put this as a negative but for me it was not as bad as I initially thought.

Conclusion

In the end, I would highly recommend the movie. If you have followed any of the Avenger movies, then you owe it to yourself to go watch it. It had happy moments, sad moments and funny moments. It feels like an epic finale to this phase. We must remember that this is only the end of Phase 3. Although there are rumours that are saying that the next Spiderman movie will be the true end to Phase 3.

I think that this movie deserves its place in the Best Movie of the Year categories. I know that superhero movies have a bad reputation, where Hollywood types laugh at the fact that this could be a great movie. Should it win movie of the year, I do not know, but it should be in the conversation that is for sure.

The success of this movie, is a testament to all the other 22 movies that came before it. If any would have been really bad, this movie would not be as popular. DC tried this and failed miserably with a few exceptions. Whoever works on these movies, had a plan and they carried it out to perfection.

What do you think? Did you like it or did you find it mediocre? Let us know.

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