Pros: The final chapter of the Avengers and the last meeting with many beloved characters; some very emotional moments; humor; gorgeous fight scenes; references to previous films in the franchise Cons: Timing; the film sags a bit in the first half; not everyone will like how Marvel ends the story of some heroes of Avengers: Endgame / “Avengers: Completion”
Comic book movie genre
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Starring Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang) ), Brie Larson (Carol Danvers), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton), etc.
Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios
Year of release 2019
IMDb website
I’m well aware that you don’t need this review to decide whether or not to go see The Avengers. Not only that, I suspect that regardless of what is written below, there is a 95% chance that you have already seen the film or will watch it over this long weekend. The film has already broken pre-sale and first-day rental records, and will definitely set record box office numbers over the weekend. The only question is whether Avengers 4 will manage to collect its first billion this weekend; there is no doubt that there will be several billions. Avengers: Endgame is aiming for first place on the list of the highest-grossing films and will most likely overtake Avatar and Titanic by the end of the year.
By and large, this review is just an introduction to the comments, where fans will call Endgame the best comic book movie ever made, and haters will pour another bucket of bile on the picture. In the eleven years since the release of the very first Iron Man, everyone has formed a clear opinion about the Disney/Marvel comic universe and Avengers: Endgame is unlikely to change your opinion.
Avengers: Endgame is a beautiful title with an interesting play on words that is difficult to convey in Ukrainian or Russian. Endgame is not only the “Completion” (Ukrainian version of the name) of the game, “Final” (Russian version), but also the endgame, the final part of the chess game. Half of the pieces have been removed, there is room for maneuver on the board, but the last move can already be calculated.
A year ago, after the very emotional finale of Avengers: Infinity War, it was obvious how Endgame would end. This is a farewell to the characters who have become almost family to us over the past 11 years, the completion of the main storylines, the answer to the questions asked in previous films.
If you haven’t been closely following the events taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you risk missing a lot of interesting moments. Before going to the cinema, you should review at least the three previous parts of The Avengers, or better yet, all the currently released full-length films. I wonder if the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, who gave the MCU thirteen years of his life, conceived all these connections and cross-references from the very beginning, back in 2006, or is this a successful improvisation and adjustment of the events of previous films to “Endgame”?
Avengers: Endgame takes you on a brutal emotional roller coaster ride to bring everyone in the room to catharsis by the final scene. There are some very dark, serious scenes in the film that can wring a tear out of the most callous of viewers, and you will probably hear sobs throughout the theater. On the other hand, as in the case of Avengers: Infinity War, literally every emotional scene here is followed by an immediate release in the form of another stupid joke from Thor, Rocket or Ant-Man. Sometimes it looks a little intrusive and ridiculous, but these are Marvel films, we are already accustomed to such techniques from screenwriters.
The first half of the long, 3 hours 1 minute, film contains several optional and slightly drawn-out scenes, during which the narrative sags noticeably, but in the second part of the time you won’t be bored and it’s not at all because of the well-staged action scenes, of which there are plenty here, just It’s so interesting to follow the events of the film, look for references and Easter eggs that three hours fly by unnoticed. Yes, some of these Easter eggs look more like a collection of Internet memes, but, nevertheless, it still works. By the way, there are no post-credits scenes in Avengers: Endgame for the first time in several years. It’s too early to tease the viewer with new films, so Disney/Marvel decided to call it a day. For now.
Avengers: Endgame is a farewell movie. Obviously, in the fourth phase we will not see most of the heroes of the previous series. The way Disney/Marvel took some characters out of the game will probably not please some of the fans who have their own favorites, but nothing can be done about it. Moreover, despite the telling title, the game continues and Avengers: Endgame is not at all the final film of the third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The honor of closing the chapter falls to Spider-Man: Far From Home, which is scheduled for release on July 2, 2019.
But what will happen to the franchise next is not yet clear. Despite information appearing from time to time about work on the next Marvel films, there are no dates, no titles, or any details about the plot of the upcoming films.
Currently, we know about the following Marvel films, work on which is already underway. Black Widow is a solo film about Black Widow starring Scarlett Johansson, which, apparently, will be a prequel to the events of The Avengers. The Eternals is a film about the Eternals, a race of superhumans created by the Celestials during experiments on ancient Earth. The only Eternal in the films of the first three phases of the MCU is Thanos. Doctor Strange 2 is a sequel to the film about the magician doctor performed by Benedict Cumberbatch. Black Panther 2, which is in very early stages of production. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, work on which will not begin due to constant scandals surrounding the figure of the film’s director, James Gunn. Shang-Chi is a film about a martial artist and the first Asian superhero film in the MCU. In addition, there are rumors about a restart of the Blade series.
At the same time, we are not yet saying goodbye to some of the characters from Infinity War, some of them will move to the Disney+ streaming service, which is scheduled to launch in November 2019. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch and Vision will receive their own series (WandaVision), Loki (Loki) and Hawkeye (Hawkeye). The release of mini-series, the starting seasons of which will contain 6-8 episodes, is planned for 2019-2021. Their characters will be played by the same Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Renner, who are well known to us from previous films.
So Marvel and Disney’s grand experiment is anything but over. Changes are awaiting the Marvel comic book universe and it is very interesting where they will lead the franchise in the next 10-12 years. Let’s see.
Conclusion:
The grand finale of an incredible film experiment that lasted 11 years
