Worth The 21-Movie Pre-Film Marathon

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2019)

I think film is entering a post-cliche phase, where tired tropes are no longer tired, but are now just accepted tools in a storyteller's toolbox. Certainly we don't need to enforce originality on all forms of art. I adore this film. The entire MCU is a breathtaking opera, and this is the ten-year grand finale. You *do* need to see all twenty-one previous films (in chronological order, hopefully, rather than release order) because taken on its own, "Endgame" would be a mishmash, with so many of its call-backs missed.
I think film is also leaving the era of the auteur, and entering that of the committee. George Lucas may have been the final straw, as when Disney (the originators of the committee method, from what I can tell) picked up the mantle of that particular franchise, their natural choice to revert to committee decisions dovetailed with everyone's need to get franchises out of one person's control. The MCU was planned out ten years in advance, so that almost at once -- and certainly by Ultron -- "Endgame" was being envisioned. Seeing how all the disparate threads meet and find either their resolution or their own inspiring arc, that *in itself* is amazing. Knowing that, in the most crucial moment of the film, we get a familiar call-back to a much earlier part of the MCU, elevates the experience from one of possible bewilderment to outright joy. It's no wonder that other directors would defer this type of blockbuster to the Russos. I only wonder how anyone involved in the creative process could have kept these secrets to themselves for ten years. Knowing that this film makes its predecessor seem like a prelude, and all the other significant milestones in the franchise series seem like blips on a radar, it must have been nerve-wracking to know how all of this turns out and still feed us those "massive" revelations in the earlier films.
When in the right context, a superlative experience. As good a film experience as you will find. Yes, if you don't gel with the film, it could strike you any number of odd ways, but most people are on board with it being a new classic.