Avengers: Endgame Review. Was it Worth the Wait?(Minimum Spoilers)

On May 2nd, 2008, the world was exposed to the awesomeness that was Iron Man, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This was the first step on a path of incredible films. Through various trials and tribulations, the Avengers have assembled, time and again, to fend off whatever threatened the people of Earth.

Last year, in Avengers: Infinity War, geeks across the land wept hard, watching their favorite heroes get defeated by the might of Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet. The film was one of the absolute best in the series; it left jaws dropped and butts clenched.

It also brought us some of the best memes!

We all wondered how Avengers: Endgame would be, especially since the run time for the film was announced as being over 3 hours. So much heartbreak had happened, and now it needed to be fixed. The hype for this film was tremendous, as Infinity War was so well received. But could it match the excitement and action of Infinity War, or would it fall short?

Let’s jump into the review!

The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

The Good

Having three hours to work with offered a lot of room to develop characters and crack jokes, which was appreciated. We got to spend time with every single Avenger, understand their motivations, and watch them interact with others. While I am a fan of action and drama, getting to see these heroes have fun was so wonderful.

The aesthetics for Avengers: Endgame was exactly what we have all come to expect from Marvel, which is top-notch. The ships, suits, weapons, enemies, basically everything looked gorgeous. When it came to fight scenes, you could absolutely tell the fighter’s personality by their expressions and the way they moved across the battlefield. We were presented with grand battles that made you feel like everything was truly on the line for this conflict.

They pulled out all of the stops, featuring characters from every film in their cinematic universe. It felt largely like a reunion, and will be a nice treat to loyal fans who have watched all of the films. The journey itself forced the Avengers to revisit their old battlegrounds, and that brought a wave of nostalgia.

At the end of the film, when the battle was finished and everything was said and done, every Avenger got their happy ending in one way or another. Getting to see these heroes who just want to rest, get to have their cake and eat it too was nice closure.

But out of everything in the film, watching one of the most handsome, male characters become overweight and rock a sweet beard was still so awesome. That was my favorite “kept secret” of the movie. This is, at least to my knowledge, the first plus sized MCU character who is a main role. Kudos to them for adding that aspect.

The Bad

The movie is over three hours is long. Literally the guy next to me slept through the slower parts of the film and was able to still catch a majority of Endgame. I appreciate they took their time with the storytelling, relationship building, and character development, but there were a lot of moments that felt unnecessary.

There are deaths in the film that can be seen from miles and miles away. When the scene comes, it just doesn’t hit home, and it feels awkward. The acting was great, the conflict was intense, but ultimately you just knew this was going to happen. There’s a scene where two characters fight one another, in order to see who gets to commit suicide, and it was cringe worthy.

Captain Marvel was, for whatever reason, skipped over for the major parts of the film. She is essentially the Marvel’s Superman, and they chose to focus on less powerful heroes instead. Her part in the film actually made the final fight seem cheap, as she just swoops in to beat people up, and then that’s it. After watching how great Captain Marvel was, I was expecting a much larger role.

There’s a scene in the film where a majority of female characters band together, and it felt so forced. I’m absolutely all for positively representing women, and showcasing the talents and hard work of female characters, but it just was done so poorly. They may as well have shouted “GIRL POWER!” while charging into battle. This was the scene I wanted to work because it featured so many badass, female heroes, but it was just so tacky. You can tell it didn’t get half the effort it deserved.

Overall

Avengers: Endgame is a great film, but not the best film in the MCU. It brings us closure, and it offers scenes of our favorite Marvel heroes hanging out with one another, before the hardest fight of their lives. They get their just desserts, and we get to see fantastic battles we always dreamed about, all our geeky lives.

Everyone will enjoy this film, and we’ll all absolutely rewatch it, time and again.