AT THE MOVIES

by Isy Jordan

The Avengers: Endgame
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and more...

After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' actions and restore order to the universe.

For the record, your humble reviewer is a huge fan of Marvel, the MCU, and all things remotely related. Those who read my review here of Avengers: Infinity War remember that I was pretty beside myself at the end of that film. Honestly, I'd say that was most of us. So for many long months after that abrupt, bleak movie's end, we waited for the fourth Avengers movie. We were hoping that some of our lost Avengers weren't permanently gone. Especially when they released the new trailer for Spiderman: Homecoming which arrives this summer. Didn't understand that bit of marketing but from that promo, we at least we knew we'd get Peter Parker and Nick Fury back, right?

Our story picks up only a couple of weeks after "The Snap" occured. Our remaining heroes are wrecked. Captain Marvel arrives looking for Nick Fury. Tony Stark and Nebula are trapped in space and running out of food, water, and air. Fortunately, our Captain Marvel is able to rescue a very distraught Tony Stark and Nebula who reunites with Rocket, the only survivor from the Guardians crew.

With Nebula's help, they are able to locate Thanos and the crew go to confront him because they discover he's used the gauntlet again within the last two days. When they arrive, they find Thanos badly wounded on another planet. He destroyed the gauntlet this time and in a rage, Thor hits him on the head this time and kills him. They all return but killing Thanos didn't fix anything. It's very anticlimactic.

Five years later, Natasha is leading up the Avenger team that's scattered in different locations around the globe. Steve comes to see her one day at the compound after his community therapy session. While he's visiting, Scott Lang, believed to have perished in "The Snap" arrives, having traveled through time via the quantum realm. He proposes the use of time-travel using Hank Pym's machine to somehow undo the damage that Thanos caused.

Can "The Snap" be undone?

I'm a fan of the Russo brothers who also directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War. I knew it would take an epic movie to fix what they did in the Infinity War and honestly, they hit that note. This is a visually stunning movie spectacle the likes of which we don't see often. It was over three hours long without an intermission but once you're there, you're so invested that you really don't mind or notice.

The effects in the film are nothing short of amazing, the acting was a step up from your usual Marvel movie. Notably, the actors who are leaving the franchise like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans seemed to have stepped up their performance for a final outing and it was appreciated. We saw the film on opening night in a jam-packed house and it was a community experience with cheering and tears.

Even those of us who have been reading the comics for many years didn't guess correctly how it would go. You'll notice I said tears and that means we lose people. It just doesn't go the way you think it will. One hero we lost in a way that made perfect sense. We lost another in a way that I disliked and didn't make a lot of sense because the hero is getting an origin story movie so... Another hero we said goodbye to but they didn't die. They did something with time-travel in that character's story arc that set the MCU community on fire. Personally, I have many issues with that character's story arc as a result because of the space-time continuum. I have a list of 64 things wrong with that actually. But that's just me...

Still, see this movie at the theater. See it more than once because it's a lot to take in. It's rated PG-13 for super-hero violence and scary images. Maybe a little language. Surprisingly, much of that is Cap.

Isy