The Cinematic Event of a Lifetime

Rating: 10/10 (8 July 2019)

Marvel Studios' 'Avengers: Endgame' is the end of a journey 11 years and 21 films in the making. This journey began in 2008's 'Iron Man', the film that launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and every Marvel Studios film since then has led us here. I assure you though, 'Endgame' is the PERFECT ending to the 'Infinity Saga', as it's been dubbed. The film revolves around the remaining Avengers trying to undo the catastrophic loss of life brought on by Thanos in last year's 'Avengers: Infinity War'. Eventually, with the help of Scott Lang/Ant-Man, they discover a way to go back in time via the microscopic Quantum Realm and try to steal the 6 Infinity Stones and bring back all the lives that were lost. The film's runtime is a little over 3 hours, but that's because there's a LOT of story to tell, and not a SECOND of it feels slow or unnecessary. From the opening scene, 'Endgame' grabs your attention with the force of the Infinity Gauntlet and refuses to let go! The film's directors, Joe and Anthony Russo, manage to juggle a vast amount of main characters and story threads BRILLIANTLY, without ever making the story feel boring or rushed. Everything flows PERFECTLY from one scene to the next, and (at least in my opinion) never gets confusing or hard to follow. Well, there actually is ONE scene where Bruce Banner explains how time-travel works in the MCU, and I didn't really understand it, but it's time-travel so no one knows FOR SURE how it actually works. Other than that, I understood everything just fine. Now, onto the acting. 'Endgame' features some of the BEST acting performances I've EVER seen in a Marvel movie, from Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/ Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man), but the standout performance is definitely, without a doubt given by Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man). I'm not kidding when I say RDJ deserves an Oscar for his performance. The film also has THE BEST third act in the HISTORY of comic book movies. It's nothing short of ASTONISHING how they were able to pull that off, but they did, and it was the greatest thing my eyeballs have ever witnessed. There's a very emotional scene towards the end of the movie where, for the first time in my 20 years of life, I FULL-ON ugly-cried watching it. It was bad. I pretty much cried from that scene until the end of the movie, so I HIGHLY recommend you bring tissues. Maybe an adult diaper too, because you are NOT gonna wanna get up to pee. So, to wrap this up, 'Endgame' is more than just a movie. It's the cinematic event of a lifetime, the likes of which I doubt we'll see again for a VERY long time. It's a love-letter to Marvel fans who have been on this journey for the past 11 years, and it's everything I ever wanted it to be. I know I said this last year about 'Infinity War', but THIS time I'll emphasize it more: 'Avengers: Endgame' is the GREATEST comic book movie of ALL-TIME.