Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

If you have watched Avengers: Endgame, check out my previous post for a review that is full of spoilers… If you haven’t… Stay right here!

No matter when you embarked on this saga, it’s still the end of an era, the end of the road, the end of the line…. but our heroes still have one final mission to complete, one last debt they owe not only to themselves but to those who cannot stand in defence.

The Synopsis
Following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, the world has yet to recover thanks to Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) gift.

Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) alone fights to hold onto hope whilst the rest of her former teammates have allowed the darkness of their failures to consume.  That is until Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) shows up with a shot at a second chance.

Getting a reluctant team back together is the first fight, and from there it’s a complex journey to retrieve the only items that can set things right.

Divide and conquer is the key, and though quick thinking and changes in tactics and have to be made when new threats arise, ultimately the same rules still apply when it comes to upholding the fate of the greater good; united we stand or divided we fall.

The Good
What a fantastic story. Seriously. As far as plot, characterisation, story beats and circularity went – it was an amazingly orchestrated movie. Which of course can’t have been easy to accomplish with so many historical accuracies and major characters to juggle. I was never once bored during Avengers: Endgame – not an easy feat for a movie – an action movie nevertheless – with a three-hour running time. It was funny, it was emotional and it was edge of your seat, hold your breath and gasp-worthy.

I thought it would annoy me, the additional members that were brought in to form the Avengers, but it was refreshing to have Scott, Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Rhodey (Don Cheadle) and their distinctive personalities onboard. Also, though not a new member of the team, shout out to the new self-loving Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). It was super weird at first, but then hilarious, and finally right – but it was a shame they removed the idea of a potential triste between him and Natasha.

To touch a little more on the circularity aspect, endings are never easy. Whether it’s a trilogy, an adaptation that has taken on a life of its own or a series that has decided it’s time to pull the plug – it’s so difficult to get it right and please the masses. Avengers: Endgame managed to pull together everything we loved about the movie franchise that began in 2008 with Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man, and still managed to squirrel in a few nuggets to give themselves room to manoeuvre post-Avengers.

The Bad
Since Thor: Ragnarok, Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) personality has had a massive upgrade and he has become a lot more likeable and let’s face it; memorable. For me, it was a shame that they chose to run too far with the new traits he now brought to the table to make him the comic relief. It was fun for a while, but I kept waiting for him to come to his senses and become the fearless God of Thunder (loved his new look when he finally did level up).

Finally, call me crazy, but was I the only one who expected to see a lot more of Captain Marvel (Brie Larsen) in this movie? Perhaps it was an expectation the audience brought on themselves as her movie came just before Avengers: Endgame. I can understand that she isn’t one of the original Avengers, but they showed very early on in the movie how unique she was and what she single-handedly brought to the team. It would have been very interesting to watch her dynamics with the team.

The Conclusion
Enquiring minds want to know what’s next. Are we heading into Phase Four or Book Two? Though rumoured to be moving forwards as ‘Phase Four’, with Spider-Man: Far From Home, coming this summer, and other sequels such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, Doctor Strange 2 and Black Panther 2, in discussions – I say; let’s not worry about the future just yet.

For now, we should sit back, bask and appreciate what we’ve just had.

Feeling reminiscent after Endgame? Check out a few of my old reviews from the Marvel Cinematic Universe; 
Captain Marvel
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
Black Panther
Thor: Ragnarok
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Doctor Strange