So, the first money-devouring juggernaut movie event of the
year is upon us. And not just any event, either.
Yup, it’s Avengers Endgame, the follow up to 2018’s Infinity War, and just like that one, it’s no doubt made the GDP of a small country in
returns during the time it took me to type this sentence. Even more this time
around, by the sounds of it. After all, this is the culmination of a
culmination, about a decade of the most ambitious shared cinematic universe
coming to a head. I must admit, if this was the true, bona fide, no kidding
around, finale to the MCU, I would’ve been truly hyped to the ceiling—since
then anything could happen. But, I also know that’s fairly naïve from a
business perspective, and regardless of what I’d like it to be, this is still the finale for the Marvel films
as we’ve known them up to now. And so, getting past all the hype and all the
deluges of box office dollars…how did it turn out?
The film picks off right where the gut-punchingly excellent
ending of Infinity War left us—and with some twists and turns out of the way,
the first third or two have more of a personal focus. It’s one I certainly
appreciate, but for me, in practice it was somewhat uneven—some parts went on a
little too long, other elements could’ve been focused on more. For me, Infinity
War generally had a better pace and structure, constantly ramping up the
tension and threat—here, while there’s certainly good moments and some solid
performance, it doesn’t quite have that. I did feel the length at a couple of
times, though that dissipated later on.
And, let’s just say there’s one major factor of the plot
that’s going to be dissected, nitpicked, debated, and had all sorts of geeky
pedantry applied to it for years—mark my
words. It leads to some both funny and emotional scenes, but also brings with
it some contrivances and a little confusion.
But that’s not what most people are going to be there for.
No, what they’re for is the climax—and where Infinity War left people stunned,
this leads to every emotion on the spectrum. Though I prefer that film’s first
sections, the ending here sure as hell outdoes the crescendo of that one—visuals,
excitement, catharsis, everything. Not of all it makes sense, sure, but with
some of the moments on offer, who cares. It
delivers on just about everything audiences will want, and to call it crowdpleasing
is an understatement. Last time left the cinema in stunned silence and frantic
discussion—this one had cheers and tears all around. On delivering that, the
Russo brothers succeeded admirably.
The characters that people have got to love over the decade
or so (and in some cases less) get their moments—some definitely more than
others, but Robert Downey has some surprisingly human moments near the start,
including one scene of raw emotion I felt was pretty well done. Chris Evans
pretty much plays it as he always has done through these films—Steve Rogers in
this film definitely plays more on what he does than what he says.
Hemsworth as Thor…let’s just say that I have mixed feelings
on his portrayal, though I certainly didn’t hate it. It follows on from Ragnarok, and not everyone liked that, but it apparently reinvigorated the
actor’s interest in the role, and I can see why here.
Some characters get a worse deal than others; Brie Larson as
Captain Marvel…doesn’t get a major showing here as she was made out to be, and
I’m still not entirely sold on the character after this one. Mark Ruffalo as
Bruce Banner and the Hulk, on the other hand, continues his strong showing from
last time, with some new twists this time around, as does Scarlett Johansson.
It’s easy to go on about every minor player in the film, and
though it could’ve been slightly better, much like Infinity War, it does a
surprisingly good job balancing it under the circumstances. And yes, there
are…consequences. I might’ve preferred some done differently, but giving a
satisfying ending for some to the vast audiences this has was a difficult order
that they certainly gave their best shot.
And eventually…we have to ask where the MCU goes from here.
In some ways, it may be a victim of this two-parter’s massive success; they’ll
have a very hard time topping the
universe-affecting shenanigans after this one, and as I’ve said before, you can
only be the culmination of such a shared universe once. Try and just shuffle a
big new overarching threat like Galactus or whoever into place, and you run the
risk of repeating the sins of the comics, where before long nothing seems to
matter in the face of the status quo. That being said I doubt they’ll do that;
most likely the next films will be more standalone, and with Disney
assimilating the library of Fox in a manner to shame the Borg Collective, they
have many options. Perhaps too many, but still.
Still, they could take a page from what DC seems to be going
for now—shocking to hear, I know—and focus more on less interconnected, more
individual films than massive metaplots. Sure, they’ll likely succeed
financially either way—short of the next Guardians of the Galaxy being all
about Rocket taking a dump, or Howard the Duck killing everyone and giving the middle feather—but there’s an
open road ahead, and I’m at least curious to see where they’ll go. Maybe it’ll work
for me, or maybe this film will be the true grand finale as far as I’m
concerned. Time will tell.
Overall, Endgame is somewhat shakier than Infinity War
script-wise for me, but makes up for it with the final third, with fanservice,
popcorn blockbuster highs, and emotion all peaking. I’ll probably see it once
in theaters—not just because of the length, but because some things only hit
that hard once in a space of time. I do hope that what’s left at the ending
sticks, and that what we get after this changes things up—and that, in the long
term, will be the real challenge for the people up top.
But even if I do ultimately feel that this is all where it
ended? I can’t say it wasn’t a hell of a ride.
Comments
Post a Comment