REVIEW: Avengers - Endgame

I saw Endgame twice over the past weekend, and overall, I think it’s a pretty decent movie.

It takes an old premise (the time travel collectathon) and turns it into something that feels unique, it shockingly lives up to the epic stakes that ten plus years of after credits sequences have set, and most importantly, it ends all the stories that needed to be ended with a respect for the characters and audience.

So, before I go on to list faults like the Isaac I am, know that more than 20 A list actors, the Russo brothers, and a gazillion animators did a fantastic job bringing this once in a lifetime movie into existence. There will never be another film quite like Endgame and the fans who think it’s a 10/10 masterpiece are fairly justified in giving it that rating. I just have a different opinion.

…okay? We good?

My problem with Endgame is that it’s not very clean.

And ya know, I think most people don’t really care about that sort of thing in these movies anymore.

Most people are happy to sit down in a familiar diner, eat one heck of a hamburger, and are totally fine with the menus being a tad grimy. But I’m not.

I want my Marvel to be a 5-star dining experience every single time and this movie was not that. It was a generous 4 star.

The music is inconsistent, unmemorable outside of the opening track, and often distracts rather than compliments.

There are mountains of exposition that eat away at moments which could have been better used to establish character motivations and subtext. Yeah they might have been needed to clear up the convoluted context this series has dug for itself but good lord is it tedious to watch.

There are certain scenes that you have to blindly accept as an audience member because they don’t make a lot of sense logically considering plot elements set up in previous films. Why would Thor get fat after he grows past that in Ragnarok? What’s the deal with the Soul stone sacrifice when its pretty clear Gamora didn’t love Thanos in Infinity War? Would Pepper really be just fine with Tony after he comes home? I dunno.

The fight scenes are almost completely spectacle and don’t carry nearly the weight they did in Infinity War, the stones are basically generic power objects and don’t show off any unique properties like they did in Infinity War, and Thanos comes across as totally inconsistent between this flick and the last. Like we just spent 2 and a half hours with this dude as he established just how deep his belief that the universe could repair itself went. But because time travel exists he just decides to wipe everything clean and become god? Not very solid character development if you ask me.

Now, let me reiterate. I liked it a lot. I had a good time watching this movie. I felt like the people behind this 3 hour adventure completely nailed all the superhero-y aspects of a Marvel film in all the best ways. It’s fun, sad, and all kinds of cool.

But it could have been much better.

4/5

P.S. I am now incredibly excited for Guardians 3, Dr. Strange 2, and whatever the heck they’re gonna do with Hulk.