Avengers: Endgame (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Emotional. That's the 1st word that comes to mind when I think about Avengers: Endgame. There were so many emotional scenes throughout the film. It plays like the swan song / last hurrah of the original Avengers team, and ends their stories in satisfying and surprising ways. 

The film begins on a somber note. The survivors are dealing with grief and despair, at the same time trying to keep order and hold the rest of the planet together in the aftermath of Thanos' snap. These scenes are well done, with some exceptional performances from Scarlett Johansson and Chris Evans. 

*SPOILERS BEGIN FROM THIS POINT*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony is stuck in space with Nebula. Clint (Hawkeye) lost his family in the snap. Back on Earth, Cap, Natasha, Roadie, and Bruce are assessing the damage. Captain Marvel has joined them and she goes into space to rescue Tony & Nebula. They figure out where Thanos is at and go after him to steal back the stones in an effort to undo the deaths he caused and kill him. Thanos is killed but the stones are gone, Thanos used them to destroy each other. Defeated, the heroes return to Earth, with no choice but to move on with their lives. 

Fast forward 5 years later. Scott makes it out of the Quantum Realm by accident. After realizing what's happened on Earth, he seeks the remaining Avengers, hoping that his knowledge of the time warps in the Quantum Realm could be the answer to going back in time and reversing what was done. 

The remainder of the film deals with their plan to go back and collect the stones so they could bring back everyone that died in the snap. The plot gets a bit messy at times, with some uneven tonal shifts that don't quite gel. However, these moments are quickly outshined by greater ones, including some nice tributes to past films and some scenes where the heroes are reunited with past loved ones and their past selves. 

The emotional core of the film for me was the relationship with Natasha and Clint. Seeing Natasha's pain at realizing what Clint has turned into was both wonderful and heartbreaking. And Steve Rogers, having become a defeated, empty shell of the once optimistic man he once was is also well done. His final hurrah was very sweet. And finally, the way Tony Stark’s journey came to an end. It was very moving and worked.

There were some surprise appearances from past characters. There were also some funny moments. Ant-Man, Rocket and Nebula had a lot of funny lines. Thor also had humor, but I felt it didn’t quite work. Seeing him turned into a shaggy haired, beer bellied lush kind of undid all the greatness that his character achieved in Infinity War, at least for me. And the other thing that didn’t work was Bruce Banner/Hulk. In the 5 years later, he’s learned to integrate both personalities, so you get a walking hulk with the calm demeanor of Bruce. It just came off as cartoony and weird.

The final big battle, however, was epic! Scarlett Witch had a great moment where she gave Thanos a good beating that was quite satisfying. And when Tony saw Peter Parker again and simply hugged him was very sweet. Thor joining the Guardians of the Galaxy was also cool. Everyone coming back and bringing their armies with them to even the odds was fantastic. It was a satisfying, epic conclusion to the first 10 years of Marvel films. It felt like the end of a great era and I only hope that the next one is as good.