A Marvouls Conclusion to 10 Years of Movies

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2019)

After eleven years and twenty-one movies, the Endgame is finally here and I must say it's everything it should be. With a massive runtime of three hours, "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) rarely feels like it wastes a second. In regards to its runtime, each hour of the movie does have its own sort of beginning, middle, and end along with its own themes. The first hour of the movie really hits hard as a sort of drama hot off the events of "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) and I could see how it might be a tad boring if you didn't watch all the previous movies leading up to this one, but for those of you that did it's amazing to watch our heroes fighting a battle that they can't suit up for. Things truly get interesting however in the second hour of the movie, which plays off as more of a thriller reminiscent of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014). There are some great action sequences here, but most of the excitement comes from the high stakes, suspense, and a happy serving of fan service. Last but not least, the final act of the movie. The last hour of "Endgame" is everything you could ever want for the epic conclusion of this franchise. Superb action scenes, inspiring moments, and some of the best character exchanges you could ever hope to see.
From beginning to end, you can tell the people at Marvel Studios really gave it their all on this one. Robert Downey Jr continues and surpasses expectations with Iron Man, whose arc in this movie hits home on so many levels. Chris Evans, on the other hand, takes the spotlight in this movie with his Captain America, once again we get to see his symbol of all that is good try to find hope in the aftermath of a devastating loss. It should also be noted that while Iron Man and Captain America both have incredible arcs throughout the movie, it is possible Thor that has the best arc of the entire MCU both in and out of universe. Watching as his character learns what it means to be worthy in the first Thor, only to be faced with loss and failure in every movie he's appeared in after might seem harsh but Chris Hemsworth does a terrific job balancing the humor that Taika Waititi added to the character along with the pain that he has experienced. Of course, all of this was possible thanks to the excellent directing of Anthony and Joseph Russo and the oversight of Marvel's very own Kevin Feige who is a Stan Lee for the modern era.
As you might be able to tell I found the movie does have a ton of pro's, but that's because it was everything that I could ever hope for after following this franchise since I was nine years old going to see the first "Iron Man" (2008) with my dad and brothers. With that said though, like all movies this one does have flaws and most of them just come from the fact that this movie serves more of a love letter to fans than a film shooting for an oscar nomination. While the heroes truly do thrive in this one, Thanos does take a slight step back and in my opinion, caused him to be a slightly less compelling villain when compared to his portrayal in the previous movie. He does, however, get his fair share of amazing scenes, I just didn't find I was as connected to the big bad as I once was. The film's biggest flaw might be the amount of fan service in it. While it's great watching it, and caused me and the rest of my theater to cheer and clap till our hands bruised during the premier, sometimes it felt a little redundant or hung around too long. One such scene happens in the third act of the movie without going into too many details to avoid spoilers, during the final battle there's a massive tease towards the future of the MCU as a certain group of heroes band together. It's an awesome scene and I really look forward to seeing how it pays off, but thanks to the dialogue it comes off as forced and cheesy. It's meant to invoke similar emotions to "Avengers" (2012) when we see the heroes band together for the first time in New York, but fails to recognize that that scene was great due to the age-old rule of "show, don't tell."
All that said, be sure to check the movie out as soon as possible. It's definitely meant to be seen on a large screen with loud surround sound speakers, but be aware you might not enjoy it as much if you haven't seen all the other movies. Overall I would give it an 8.5/10 and a ranking of Marvelous.