The end and beginning of a new generation of films

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2019)

Wow, woooh. Deep breath. End Game is finally here. The biggest blockbuster, the culmination of 22 movies, the end of the phase. Where do I begin? I'll just have to say it. Avengers End Game is a movie that we will look back and say that this is where it all started (or ended). It's the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's phase three and it came with two parts, Infinity War and End Game. Infinity War came in guns blazing, building tension, developing Thanos as the antithesis to the Avengers and ended with one of the most devastating scenes in the Marvel Universe. It was shocking, grandiose and jam-packed with a flurry of characters and scenes. Now, End Game has a year of build up, expectations are set, the hype remained incredible. How could the movie live up to that?
I honestly believed End Game couldn't keep up with expectations. It was a save-a-world story, with huge stakes but with the Spiderman trailer dropping, suddenly it became clear to the audience that the result is clear. That the avenger's wins and Marvel will continue with its next phase. How do you come up with a story to match the stakes and tension of the previous film if the ending is already known? Well, they answered that question in the first 20 minutes when they killed the main villain, the big bad, Thanos in the first 20 minutes with one strike, a dramatic irony. A huge curveball with the expectations set. I respect the writing decision for that, it's unexpected and allowed them to explore a different type of conflict in the film. The internal conflict of the superheroes, and the end of their narrative arcs. It's more personal and human, and the tension is raised through the end/death of our favourite superheroes and their arcs.
The Avenger films become harder and harder to review as it becomes less of one movie but a sequel of a multitude of movies, a ton of characters, and if people miss the previous films it becomes harder to appreciate the smaller details. Less screen time of characters leads to less character development. The movie demands you to understand these characters through the previous films. The cinematic universe gradually mirroring its comic counterparts. End Game itself comes in with a tighter narrative and smaller scope than it's predecessor due partly to the writing twist in the beginning and death of half of the characters (thank Thanos). The movie is an exploration of our central heroes arcs, motivations and fears and how they overcome it. Iron Man and Captain America have come a long way and it's a fitting end to their arcs in this movie because they resolved their central conflict. Iron Man vs Egoism/ Family and Captain America vs Authority/ The past.
The movie is split into three parts. The Assemble which is the shortest and displays the consequence of the Snap did to the universe, the gathering of the heroes and how they have changed. The time travel part which is in contrast to the previous film is light-hearted and more comic and adventure in style. Lighter tension but it's made entertaining through the writer's constant strong point. The marvellous use of playing off the character's personality, resulting in witty banters, humour, and interesting character development. The last part is the conclusion of the previous conflict, the war between the Avengers and Thanos. This is the payoff and the reason why this movie felt extremely satisfying. Excellent cinematography, soundtrack, scene handling and movies upon movies of buildup led to the clash between our favourite assemble and Thanos. Incredible payoff throughout this act as we get to see all the character's and their time to shine on the golden screen. Some surprising reveals that didn't come out of anywhere such as Cap's Mjollnir scene. It's a darn good payoff, emotional, tense, and most importantly, so much fun to watch.
The only negative I will add even though I didn't want to because I know it's tricky to handle something of this huge scale, with thousands of people involved in the process, is that Thanos's character growth is cut short in this movie. It's understandable given the story that led them to that moment, but I think the audience can't help feel a distinction between the Thanos in this film and the previous one. His arc ends less satisfyingly.
The movie is without a doubt, a cinematic masterpiece, and an awesome blockbuster that somehow lived to the hype and makes me excited for the continuation of the Marvel Universe. It's been a long build-up and not many saw this coming, but I'm genuinely happy that I live in a time when we can get perhaps two Marvel movies a year. While not many people can say they felt that reducing the scope and epicness in this film compared to Infinity War felt right, I think it was the right choice given the direction the movie had to take. The writing is superb and makes me giddy knowing how wonderful storytelling combined with a grand vision can create. I believe in the future that we will look back at this movie and analyze its influence just as Star Wars had on the previous generation. Marvel showed us how powerful an epic saga in an interconnected film universe can produce. I can't wait for more and we will say that it all begun with this film. Wow.