“AVENGERS: ENDGAME” directed by Anthony and Joe Russo is finally upon us this weekend. I won’t dive into character-arcs or plot-points in this review. This will be 100% spoiler-free so you’re all in safe hands with me. In this review I’m going to layout some of my general expectations. As well as what some of the things were that I hoped to see from this continuation of “Infinity War” and the MCU. I will as cautiously as possible tell you what this movie was successfully able to deliver from the hopes and dreams I had of what the culmination of twenty-one films in this cinematic universe would deliver.
In short, I thought this was a fantastic film. I recently watched a large majority of the MCU titles to prep for this one and with “Infinity War” still fresh on my mind I wanted to see a few things. I wanted some closure to this wave of films and the over-arcing story-line. I wanted a few building blocks for things to come. Yet none that would get in the way of the current plot-line. I also wanted to see the continued tone of the story having weight and ramifications to the events that happen through this connected narrative. A tense and suspenseful story was a hope of mine without question, but I did want to have some laughs sprinkled in. Nothing at the expense of the tone, but just enough levity to create that engaging wave of emotion.
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I certainly wanted plenty of superhero moments that would translate into climatic comic-book action-sequences. Something else on my wish-list was very important to me, and that would be a story-line with heart, sincerity, and layers of emotional intensity. I wanted the three-hour run-time to move quickly with a highly engaging story that would be impossible not to invest in. Lastly, I didn’t want to have to take a bathroom break during the movie. And I must say mission accomplished on that one because this film had me locked in from the opening scene till the screen faded to black. Watching this one almost made me feel like I had lost time and I’ve sat through ninety-minute movies that felt much longer.
Those were some of the less-detailed things I wanted from this film and I have to say it delivered on them all for the most part. This wasn’t a perfect movie, but it was certainly a very complete one. There were so many moving story layers and characters in this film from top-to-bottom and everything felt nicely woven together. There was a smooth continual flow to it. The story was constantly developing and moving forward which had me hanging from one scene to the next completely compelled. I thoroughly enjoyed the various paths the story took. Although I would have done a couple minor things a little differently. However, it still all worked to create an amazing movie with an emotionally driven adventure that was filled with memorable moments.
I’m not going to speak on the characters in detail other than to say the performances across the board were fantastic. Everyone brought their best effort and it resulted in everything you could want from this massive collection of characters we’ve grown to know and love over the years. The script routinely works in nicely-timed superhero moments that gave me goosebumps each time because they felt like they meant something. All of which results in tremendous amounts of charismatic energy. It was a comic-book movie that felt so much bigger than the usual comic book movie. The mission the Russo brothers had ahead of them was to create an unforgettable ‘event film’ to cap of the first major section of the MCU. And what they, and the entire cast and crew delivered, was truly was an event.
While I was watching I could feel the atmosphere in the theater. I could feel the energy inside of me and it was because this movie never takes its foot off the gas in terms of creating well-crafted emotion, action, humor and spectacle for three-hours and it was hand-down impressive. The special-effects were top-notch as you would expect. The action-sequences were incredibly creative and perfectly fitted for the different beats of the story to provide some variety and freshness to them.
The musical score from Alan Silvestri was phenomenal. It did all it needed by elevating the intensity of countless moments throughout. I had a great time with this one and it was an emotional roller-coaster. With so much at stake for this film I think it’s a definite winner. I don’t need to tell you guys to go see this one. You’re all going already, have a great time. Come back and let me know what you thought down in the comments and check the official site this weekend for my spoiler filled thoughts.
GRADE: 90%
