A "Marvellous" Ending...!!

COLINS FILM CLUB REVIEW (Spoiler Free) – Cinema

AVENGERS ENDGAME

Its been nearly a year since cinema audiences and Marvel fans were treated to one of the most unexpected and near perfect films shocks in history with the ending of Avengers Infinity War, a film which saw the bad guy win and the good guys lose, and lose to such a degree that its effect has been the subject of Twitter and Facebook posts throughout that time. The Thanos Snap took away everything we thought we knew about Superhero films and just well, turned it on its head. Not since Darth Vader uttered that immortal line to Luke Skywalker has there been a moment in cinema so defining.

Avengers Endgame picks up after the events of the Snap, with half the known life in the Universe wiped out at the click of a finger by the mad titan Thanos. Those left behind must somehow, almost impossibly come to terms with the sudden loss of those they cherished the most whilst a guilt-ridden, defeated Avengers team must deal with the fact that they couldnt protect everyone or even damn well avenge them this time. Most of what has been seen in the trailers so far is actually from the first 15 minutes of the film and indeed the first hour of this 3 hour epic deals with mostly getting the pieces back together within this elaborate chess game, and coming up with a way to undo what Thanos did. Its here where Endgame might seem a little slow and talky but its with good reason as never before has this group been shown to be so vulnerable and without a clear path to follow, the defacto leader of Steve Rogers`s Captain America is normally the dependable beacon of hope they follow, but not here – Cap is as aimless and lost as the rest of them with no clear plan, and even giving self help classes to other unfortunate people who have lost someone. This all changes however when with a little help from heroes who were absent from Infinity War a plan is hatched to find the Infinity Stones again and put right everything that is now so wrong.

With the sombre first act out of the way, Endgame kicks into traditional Marvel high speed again for the middle and end acts. Whilst it is not within my remit for this review to give away plot details as I do not wish to spoil this film for anyone, I will just say that the two Russo Brothers who directed Infinity War and Endgame have delivered on virtually every fanboy wish you could even want from a Marvel film, and whilst in my review of Infinity War is stated at times it felt like the film was actually the pages of a comic book you could flick through, Endgame has gone well beyond that, it has pushed through that barrier and actually become a comic on film, it is exactly as if the drawn pages have become animated and that all that is missing are the speech bubbles. Endgame delivers so totally that its hard to find any fault with it. It may even be a much more cleverer film than Christopher Nolan`s The Dark Knight which hold high esteem as being the best Superhero film translation to screen to date, and as gritty and dark as it is, its simply overshadowed here by Endgame`s exuberance of visuals and action. The Russo`s have ended in proper style with this film.

The onscreen characters are generally served well with screen time, with Robert Downey Jnr`s IronMan taking up the most, however Chris Evans gets in on the scenes too especially as act 2 kicks into gear, whilst Chris Hemsworth`s Thor goes off in a totally new direction during the film which gives rise to some of the funniest scenes too, however its Mark Ruffalo who gets the biggest change as we see an interesting new dynamic for him and The Hulk, of which I will say nothing more...

Scarlett Johansen`s Black Widow isnt forgotten either, and I loved her reply about “..i get emails from a Racoon, so nothing seems strange anymore” line, in fact one of the great things about Endgame is the amount of humour still present – you will laugh just as much as you will cry in this film. With most of the other Avengers pals and the Guardians of the Galaxy dusted after the Snap, one of those to benefit from additional screen time, and who becomes integral to the plot during the film, is Karen Gillans Nebula, a character who has seen a tremendous arc since the first Guardians film and who has evolved into a complexed but interesting mix of barely human and nearly machine, at first hopelessly loyal to Thanos before switching sides to join the Guardians, her arc isnt complete yet so it will be great to see what happens to her next. Also back after missing out in Infinity War is Jeremy Renner`s Hawkeye, who for reasons we see in the opening minutes of Endgame changes his persona into a vigilante known as Ronin, avenging any unworthy survivors of the Snap with his own brand of justice.

And then we have the big bad guy himself – Thanos, the deeply toned purple despot who believes he has just brought balance to the Universe by destroying half of it but injured in the process, living out his days as a farmer, his battle armour hung up like a scarecrow. Josh Brolin once again brings much needed gravitas to this character, and whether its in simple conversions with Ebony Maw or monologuing his grand but utterly mad plan to the Avengers, Brolin adapts the Thanos voice enough to give us hints at what he really is. In Infinity War, he draw us in with awe, this was a person so strong, so unbeatable that even the combined powers of Earth`s mightiest heroes werent enough to stop him achieving his goal, and by the end in Wakanda, we had all gained a certain empathy towards this titan, and as such it was a pure joy to see him finally appear on screen rather than just glimpses in cut scenes. Its no different in Endgame – the minute Thanos rocks up and takes up arms again, to his ultimate confrontation with the Avengers, you know your in for a treat.

In terms of visual effects, Marvel have this so perfect now that its pointless trying to guess what is CGI and what isnt, the two are near perfectly seamless now and the Russo Brothers certainly know how to set up a scene as well, their directions is nigh on brilliant, they have paced Endgame to perfection – as was mentioned above, a slow start but it was deliberately done to ease you into the action of the middle act and then not let go as you dived head first into the climatic final one. There are one or two cameos to look out for as well – i`m not saying who as you will see for yourselves when you watch it, suffice it to say that one plays an important part in the middle section of the film with the Hulk, and the other – well, lets just say it leaves a door very much open in the future MCU Phase 4 films. And special mention should be made of the late Stan Lee`s final scene stealing cameo as the great man is seen in a car on an Army Base, a scene he had managed to film only months before his untimely death...

Okay then, so there we have it, Avengers Endgame is wrapping up over 10 years of Marvel films which have all been hinting or steering towards this point through their narratives or the much anticipated cut scenes in the end credits, the culmination of these stories deserved the most fitting of finales and with Infinity War before it, Endgame has truly delivered just that...!!! Its a cinematic behemoth, the like of which may never be seen again, its been a massive undertaking by a studio who has gone into uncharted film waters to bring us a series of films and characters which we have become much attached to over those years and as much as we can relish this conclusion to this epic story, its not without a slight bit of sadness that as Marvel moves onwards into Phase 4 with newer characters like Captain Marvel taking more centre stage, plus the new deal with 20th Century Fox could see the likes of the X-Men, Fantastic Four and others all coming into the studio`s fold, so that although we will be leaving behind some of those who`s stories have come full circle, nothing is ever certain in the MCU, and if they can find a way to do something, they will..

Avengers Endgame will thrill you, it will make you laugh, it will make you gasp in awe but it will also bring you right down too – never before has the term rollercoaster ride been more apt. The highs mixed with the lows coupled with the explosive set piece action and wonderful character moments have given us the supreme ending to not just the Avengers but to every MCU film leading up to this point, and when watching it together with Infinity War you will experience a comic book film like you have never experienced it before, right there... amongst the pages.

Do yourself a favour. Just watch Endgame...

A brilliant, near flawless epic of a film which takes Infinity War and time`s everything ten-fold into a supreme experience which neatly concludes 10 years of cinematic history and MCU stories all in one amazing film. If he was here to sum it up, Stan Lee would no doubt call it “Avengers Excelsior!!”. Probably the most amazing film of the year so far, and definitely a contender for the best Superhero film ever...

*****