Forget Captain Marvel... meet The Rat!

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2019)

After 'the vanishing' in Infinity War, there were still a handful of superheroes left knocking about to try and restore order to the universe, but in Endgame the real hero is a rat. A lowly rodent scampers across the controls of Hank Pym's quantum machine, activating a few switches with his little ratty feet, bringing Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) back from his five-year stay in the quantum realm. And it is Lang's return that kick-starts a desperate attempt to reverse Thanos' nefarious handiwork.
If you can swallow such lazy writing, then you'll no doubt have no problem with the rest of the film, which resorts to that old chestnut - time travel - with all the paradoxical problems that arise as a result. Unfortunately, I struggle to let such things slide, annoyed by rather casual approach taken by writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, whose script scampers lightly over the temporal issues like a rat over a console (I'm sorry, I just can't let that go). While the film is undeniably enjoyable as a slam bang piece of mega-budget entertainment, it isn't as flawless or as clever a denouement that one might hope for.
Visually, Endgame is hard to beat and it's great to see all of the A-list stars of the past MCU movies coming together for one last effects-filled battle (it's amazing what $400,000,000 can buy), but for the culmination of a twenty-two film series, I had dearly hoped for something a bit more considered and fulfilling than a great-looking movie that is ultimately dependent on the actions of a rat (yes, it irritated me THAT much...).