“Why you can trust Digital Trends – We have a 20-year history of testing, reviewing, and rating products, services and apps to help you make a sound buying decision. Find out we test and score products.“
It’s difficult to overstate the importance ofAvengers: Endgamein the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The culmination of 21 films and several television seriesweaving together a singular narrativeover more than a decade,Endgameis not just the final chapter in Marvel’s “Infinity Saga,” it’s the final exhibit in a billion-dollar proof-of-concept for both Hollywood and movie audiences.
At this point, everyone knows Marvel’s powerful production team, led by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, can tell a great story, but withEndgame, the question becomes: Can they end it?
The answer to that question is no simple affirmative. It’s an emphatic, comprehensive “yes,” resulting in a film that somehow manages to be as epic as fans hope and as dramatic as the MCU deserves.
Simply put,Avengers: Endgameis the biggest movie Marvel has ever made, and it just might be the best, too.
Directed byAvengers: Infinity WarandCaptain America: Civil Warfilmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo,Avengers: Endgamepicks up in the aftermath of the climactic events ofInfinity War,which saw cosmic conquerorThanos(Josh Brolin) turn half the living creatures in the universe to dust with the snap of his fingers. Reeling from their defeat and hopelessly adrift — some quite literally — the heroes of the MCU find themselves faced with one final opportunity to reverse Thanos’ actions and bring their allies, friends, and families back.
Precious little can be said of the plot that bringsEndgameand the MCU’s “Infinity Saga” to its conclusion without spoilers, but it should suffice to indicate that plenty of surprises await even the most all-consuming Marvel movie fan.
Endgameis a master class in building and maintaining drama.
At this point, it’s becoming a Marvel Studios (and Disney at large, for that matter) tradition to feel like there’s been too much footage released in the lead-up to a film’s release, only to have the final product offer all manner of narrative twists, turns, and unexpected meme-generating moments. That holds true forEndgamemore than any prior MCU movie, as the potential for spoilers was massive, but the number ofthink pieces and op-edsto accurately glean even a few — if any — plot points from the film is shockingly small.
Marvel deserves plenty of credit for whatever secret-keeping strategies it employs, becauseEndgameis a master class in building and maintaining drama.
Much was made of the film’s three-hour running time in the lead-up toEndgame’s premiere, but those three hours fly by without ever feeling jumbled or forced.Endgamekeeps a quick pace, but it’s a pace that feels familiar in the MCU, with every moment efficiently put toward building out a character, driving the story forward, or evoking a particular emotion — even when that emotion is a bit of levity in an otherwise dire moment.
The cast ofEndgameis crowded, certainly, but the Russos take painstaking efforts to give each character a moment to shine — from new favorites like Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) to MCU veterans Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth).
It’s those latter three, along with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Hulk (Marc Ruffalo), and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), who truly shine inEndgame. Along with Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), these surviving MCU characters (following the events ofInfinity War) are tasked with showing the audience the physical and emotional toll of losing so many friends and family members in a conflict they believed themselves certain to win.
Recent Movie Reviews
The aforementioned characters’ disappointment in themselves and the world they failed to protect — something that had become, for many of them, their entire purpose in life — resonates throughout their arcs inEndgame. Fortunately, the cast delivers some of their best performances to date in exploring how each character processes that kind of trauma, and if any uncertainty surrounding Marvel’s casting decisions still remained, the actors’ performances in this concluding chapter should finally and decisively put those doubts to rest.
While the spectrum of emotions thatEndgametackles is surprisingly robust (and features an impressive level of nuance when dealing with certain characters’ responses to the events ofInfinity War), the bar-raising scope of action comes as less of a shock.
To the surprise of no one,Endgameboasts some of the largest battles of any MCU film so far, both in the number of top-tier, recognizable characters appearing on the screen at various points and the sheer cinematic scope of the events playing out there. Yet, amid all of the chaos, the Russos somehow manage to find just the right balance between the cheer-worthy spectacle of it all and the sort of focused, character-driven action that makes the stakes of the battle feel authentic.
Looking back atInfinity Warthrough the lens ofEndgame, it’s easy to see the former as a film about the way heroes can set aside their personal differences for a cause greater than all of them.Endgame, however, is a film about the true costs of war — both for those who fight in it and those around them.
All of this will likely be the subject of countless think pieces in the weeks to come, andEndgamebrings the MCU full circle by focusing on the characters who kicked off Marvel’s unbelievably ambitious experiment a decade ago.
After years of battles fought, seemingly unbeatable odds soundly beaten, and countless enemies and diabolical schemes foiled time and time again, the two-part experience offered byInfinity WarandEndgameis a cathartic one. The loss felt by the characters across the two films is one of the most powerful emotional journeys the MCU has given audiences so far, but so is their path to redemption inEndgame.
In the end, it’s somewhat fitting that Marvel chose to buck tradition withEndgameand not include theusual mid- or post-credits scene, leaving us hanging when it comes to what’s next for the MCU.
IfEndgamewas indeed the final chapter in Marvel’s movie-verse, it would be a perfectly satisfying send-off to one of the greatest franchises ever brought to the big screen.
Fortunately, the MCU still has plenty of stories to tell — and if they’re half as good as the story thatEndgamebrings to an epic, wonderfully satisfying conclusion, we have a lot to look forward to.
Avengers: Endgamepremieres April 26 in theaters around the US.
Watch it on Amazon
