Endgame Review (With Spoilers)

 SPOILERS ABOUND: Avengers Endgame is the biggest film event of the decade and the perfect way to close out the 2010s by ending the biggest phenomenon of the 2010's, the Avengers. After the slam dunk that was Infinity War it has been a long year to wait, was it worth it? Well yes and no;

Endgame has a lot of good, the opening is fantastic, with us being shown the immediate effects of the Snap from Infinity War on someone like Hawkeye, how he turns one moment and the next everything he loved is gone. Then there's a great fake out as everyone learns their lesson the first time and just dog piles Farmer Thanos as soon as they can. Only for it to be revealed that he destroyed the Infinity Stones meaning "ha-ha I win." Until Thor kills him that is, in a nice follow up from the end of Infinity War.

Cue five year time jump and I like what they did with the world, yes it's miserable and mourning but it's not all doom and gloom; there's even bits of happiness like what happened with Tony. I genuinely did not see Tony having a kid, especially given how hateful and bitter he is at the start of the film but tis nice to see that he healed. I like the stuff with Steve and Nat trying to adjust to this weird new world, the Russos again proving why you could just make a buddy cop movie/rom com with these two.  Even Ant-Man when he returns has a great reunion moment with his daughter who thankfully wasn't snapped. Though not only has Thor become The Big Lebowski but Fortnite is still popular in 2023, wow Thanos really is a monster. (Though it was nice seeing the Ragnarok cast back.)

But this is where Endgame's problems begin, time travel, that's right they're going to steal the Infinity Stones from the past and then put them right back where they found them once they do their own snap. The following is a solid hour that just starts to grate as we go through what I call Marvel's Greatest Hits; New York in Avengers 1, the planet from the start of Guardians of the Galaxy 1,  Voromir in Infinty War, and Asgrad in ...Thor: The Dark World? The worst Marvel movie? Really? Well we get a nice moment with burnout Thor and Rocket, so it's not all bad. The point it drags is an almost pointless detour into Steve's old training base in the 70's, which outside of a nice moment for Steve when he tries to steal the time machine juice is largely padding out the run time.

This may not seem like a big deal but Infinity War never felt like it was dragging on, yes it was long but it never felt like it was wasting time. On top of that the crossovers with non Avengers in Infinity War also never felt like a "here's your cameo, bye." But Endgame suffers from both padding and an almost pointless cameo from Captain Marvel who shows up at the start, bails at the middle, and just kind of shows up again at the end for two moments, really good moments, but moments that could have cut her and not lost much if anything. It really does drag the film out a bit; they could have rewritten the script and cut 15 minutes out honestly. Also Nat dies because why not make her feel more underutilized, seriously when will she get her own movie?

But once the middle portion is over the movie kicks into high gear, kicks into overdrive, and is just plain awesome from the time Thanos becomes a real player again onwards. Cap wielding Mjlonir, the shield shattering, "Avengers Assemble", Shuri going Mega Man on asses, reuniting Tony and Peter, honestly I could gush all day but the big one for me is Rescue, which in the comics is if Pepper became Iron Man. I never thought they would bring that up but oh my god they did and now I want a Rescue movie where she fights the Mandarin, make it happen Marvel.

Though Iron Man 3 came damn close.

And then we reach the end, where Tony dies while taking Thanos with him; it's a lovely good bye scene as Tony dies surrounded by those who impacted his life the most. Even if we kinda knew Tony would die regardless, it's still a very fitting send off and I won't lie that when they sent out his first arc reactor on the lake I felt emotional, such a good call back to the first film.

Now there are some people how claim that the aftermath, namely the final scene, is homophobic. Because evidently The First Avenger just didn't click to them I suppose. The film ends with Steve leaving to return the stones and Mjlonir and taking almost 80 years to return 30 seconds later. And it closes on Steve and Peggy in the 40's, dancing the day away. (Typing that made onions suddenly appear.) I personally think the ending is damn perfect, with Steve finally getting what he always wanted, though the scene of him and Sharon Carter kissing in Civil War is made weird now, though neither knew, I just assumed Steve went by a false name all that time and can't change the past kinda stuff.

Also, it's still a shame they did Peggy dirty on TV.

But that was Endgame, a fantastic movie with a flounder in the middle but one that tries it's best to pay homage to 11 years of cinema. For me, I think my Marvel journey is over, but I'll always have these memories and experiences to carry with me. But that's for another day.