Thursday, April 25, 2019

Film Review - Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Avengers: Endgame is the follow up to last year’s Infinity War and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are not in a good place after failing to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) and preventing the dusting of half the universe, some might say that what’s done is done and they should try to move on but not them.

Not Them.

To say this movie had a lot to live up to is not lying for me as I really loved Infinity War last year, seeing it 4 times in its opening week, it had great storytelling that made full use of its 2.5 hour runtime, the character moments were well handled, the action was good and Thanos was an excellent villain perfectly portrayed by Mr Brolin but how does this get topped especially when there are so many questions we have in our minds?

Well you top Infinity War by making a worthy follow up that’s how as this movie the more I have thought about it is a mighty impressive one just as a movie on its own surpassing the Marvel Studios brand which a lot of the films I have mainly felt were good in that lane but this one transcends it I feel to just be a great film.

Firstly the storytelling here is very sound much like Infinity War was and there are multiple ways this could have gone very horribly wrong but screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have done their jobs well but crafting a great script that balances action, heart, character, story and comedy in a very nice way where no one element feels out of sync or overpowers the other and the comedy at times in these movies has been guilty of that but here it is used well.

And also both Infinity War and this movie prove beyond any doubt in my mind that having a strong villain in these kinds of genre movies matters 115% and Thanos has been just that in both films, Mr Brolin was great in Infinity War but he is as good if not better in this one and Marvel Studios has constantly dropped the ball over a long time but with these 2 films they have more than rectified for that with this character who deserves to go down as one of the best villains in movies.

But its not just Mr Brolin who steps up, everyone involved in this movie is bringing their A game, in the 11 years of these films none of the main cast have quit, been fired nor phoned it in and they certainly don’t do that here, Chris Evans and Karen Gillan are two people who don’t get the due they’re deserved for the work they do in their roles and they are fantastic, Downey does arguably his best work in this movie as Tony Stark, Paul Rudd is great fun as Scott Lang while Jeremy Renner gets a meaty storyline to sink his teeth into.

And lastly the action sequences have to be seen to be believed, there is some great stuff here that if you have followed this franchise for all these 11 years you will not forget easily.

If there are some problems well their really only minor quibbles and that is the 3 hour runtime which movies can struggle to maintain a good pace with (Return of the King is a good example and that films pretty good) it does get a little wobbly in spots but aside from that the time goes by very easily and you barely feel the long length.

And like that great Star Trek movie the Undiscovered Country did for Captain Kirk and crew, Avengers: Endgame is a great send off to the original 6 Avengers and I could not have been happier or more impressed with this movie, 4.5 out of 5.

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