The End of a Great Journey

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2019)

Avengers: Endgame had quite a few tasks to pull off. It had to be the culmination of 21 MCU movies, it had to finish up several character arcs, it needed to deliver on what Infinity War set up, and it still had to be a good movie. It succeeded in these regards. Endgame is a thrill ride, delivering a fast-paced story, and an extremely emotional finale to one of the most ambitious franchises in movie history. Oh, and it also had to make a ton of money. Mission accomplished. Anyway, it's impossible to talk about Endgame without the spoilers, so this is a spoiler-filled review.
The thing with Endgame is that it's not a movie that stands on its own. In order to appreciate Endgame to its fullest, you needed be there at least for most of the time. This is a movie primarily for fans. But it's not like it's off-limits to non-fans. It's possible to appreciate this movie as a casual fan who's only seen a few MCU movies, but it won't have the same impact as on someone who's been here every step of the way.
After Thanos destroys the Infinity Stones and is beheaded by Thor, the Avengers must go back in time to retrieve the stones to bring them to the present. The time travel aspect is rather confusing, but then again, time travel across the board is confusing. The idea is that you can't change the present or future, you can only change the past. It's quite something. As far as I know, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the only movie to have time travel that makes sense. With the time travel, we get a trip down memory lane, as we see several events from the MCU unfold again, although from different angles. We get the Avengers arresting Loki, Star-Lord looking for the Power Stone, and the elevator scene from Winter Soldier recreated, although with their own twists. We also see some old friends, like the Ancient One and Frigga. All of this leads to one giant final conclusion, a grand, epic-scale battle between Thanos and his army and the completely assembled Avengers. The final battle is beyond epic and is undoubtedly the best action scene in any superhero movie, ever. This is where the epic moments happen; Cap lifts Mjolnir and says "Avengers, assemble," much to the joy of audiences everywhere. Some may complain that it's fanservice, but it's not. It's the natural progression of the story that they've been telling since 2012. They teased Cap with Mjolnir in Age of Ultron, and the moment was worth the wait. And with the constant addition of new heroes, having them come together for the final battle was the optimal way to cap off 21 movies.
As far as the spoilers go, there are several. The big one, of course, is the death of Tony Stark. He dies using the stones to take down Thanos. Having watched this character develop since 2008, going from a cocky billionaire to the guy who'll do anything for his family and planet, it was sad to see him go, but at least he died heroically. And in this movie, Tony's arc is interesting because he found happiness, even after the snap. By coming back to the battle, he gives up everything he gained in those 5 years and makes his sacrifice at the end all the more selfless. Plus, everyone thought Cap was going to be the one to die. Speaking of Cap, there's what happened to him. He stays in the past to live with Peggy Carter. Given everything Cap went through over the years, it was a well-deserved victory, and a happy way to end the movie. It's a very bittersweet ending, kind of like Lord of the Rings. On one hand, Thanos is defeated, Cap got to live a happy life, but on the other, Tony Stark is dead and this grand story we've been following for so long is over. It's very emotional, especially for those of us who have been here for years. One spoiler that's kind of odd was Black Widow dying. On one hand, someone had to die at Vormir, as they can't not get the Soul Stone. On the other hand, it felt forced. At least we see how upset Hawkeye and the other Avengers are, so they at least recognize her sacrifice. And, of course, she did sacrifice herself to save the universe, which is, obviously, heroic. But since the movie moves at a rapid pace, it does feel rather rushed.
Another aspect of this movie is how it finishes a 22-movie arc, that started way back in 2008. With that in mind, it's the end of an era, but it doesn't jump right in to the next. People were speculating about how things would be after Endgame, but we hardly know. People said Captain Marvel would be leading the Avengers. We don't know. It respects the old characters and doesn't shove them aside for the sake of the new ones. Heck, you're probably fine watching Endgame if you haven't seen Captain Marvel yet. That's not to say it ignores the new characters. The Captain Marvel vs Thanos fight is pretty cool. That leads to another aspect: no one in this movie feels useless. In Civil War, for instance, they could have reached that outcome without Spidey or Ant-Man. Here, everyone plays a part, and every snap survivor did something that led to the conclusion.
With that in mind, this movie marks the beginning of a new phase in the MCU, and a new chapter for our heroes. Of course, Iron Man died, Black Widow died, and Cap is old now, as established, but Thor's arc is interesting. He does fall on hard times, but he does come back. Because he's Thor. He rises above his giving up phase and rediscovers himself. Oh, but shame on them for the Fortnite joke. That was disgraceful. Having Thor join the Guardians of the Galaxy was an interesting twist, but I'm not sure where that'll end up. I also have no idea what'll happen with Valkyrie and the Asgardians in Norway. But at least it leaves us interested. It doesn't jump right in to Phase 4. The other character with a shift is Thanos. There are two Thanos's. The one that dies 20 minutes into the movie, and 2014 Thanos. He shifts from balancing the universe to starting the universe over, which isn't as interesting as before, but it definitely raises the stakes. Nebula also has quite the interesting arc. While she doesn't undo the snap in this version, having both versions of her, one seeking Thanos' approval and the other to kill him, is an interesting contrast.
Despite the impressive runtime, it doesn't feel that long. Heck, this movie is longer than Fellowship of the Ring, but doesn't feel any longer than Infinity War. This is, of course, due to how fast the movie moves, juggling the post-snap world, all 3 time travel quests, Thanos, and everything else. Most impressively, it's never boring. It's a bit of a slow start, but when it picks up, it really picks up. It starts showing where everyone is post-snap, which it couldn't not have. It doesn't dig too much in, but we see Cap leading group-therapy, an abandoned MLB stadium, and a memorial to the snap victims, which was a neat touch as that would undoubtedly get built like that if it were to happen in real life.
Avengers: Endgame is a thrilling, epic, emotional conclusion to the Infinity Saga. It's been fun to follow the story of the Infinity Stones for all these years, and it is sad to see this story end. But, as the tagline says, part of the journey is the end.