Avengers: Endgame Is An Epic Of Biblical Proportions
It’s almost not worth writing a review of Avengers: Endgame, because it has to be free from spoilers and you are all going to see it whatever I say. So let me say my hands are shaking as I type this — that may be the dearth of drink I forced on myself because of the length of the movie, but I think it is because this is a movie that will shake you.
That length doesn’t even remotely seem like one of the longest movies released in decades. The 3 hours and 1 minute seem like an hour at best. The movie lingers when it needs to, covers a vast amount of content and plot, and still feels like it races along to the epic conclusion. About which I can say almost nothing. I can say that the first five minutes are a roller coaster ride of feels, from crushing sadness to hilarious comedy to heart-wrenching pathos to thrilling joy. The roller coaster slows down after that, but never stops.
The performances are top notch, with some actors reaching the acting pinnacle of their Marvel careers — perhaps of their movie careers. I don’t want to even call out the best acting performances for fear you may take that as an indicator of a plot element. The cinematography is outstanding, particularly in the framing of the grand scale moments. For all the scale and bombastic imagery of movies like the Thor franchise or Guardians of the Galaxy films or Avengers: Infinity War itself, none of them touch Endgame for these scenes and shots.
What else can I say about Avengers: Endgame? I never even teared up at any moment in Infinity War, but I did multiple times in this movie. But I can’t reveal if they were tears of sadness or joy — or both. My hands hurt from applauding so hard at so many epic heroic moments. And I wasn’t alone. Even the jaded movie reviewers all around me clapped until they hurt and cheered out loud.
Avengers: Endgame is, without doubt, the most Avengers of Avengers movies and the most Marvel of Marvel movies. It is an epic on a scale not seen since the days of huge studio epics like The Ten Commandments, which was loaded up with stars of the day, ridiculously long and massive in scale in both story and execution. In fact, that is the closest comparison I can make to Endgame. Someone better at dissecting cinema will probably explain in depth how superhero movies are the biblical epics of the modern era, and if that is the case, Endgame is clearly The Ten Commandments.
There are some weaknesses, of course. Some of the elements (I don’t feel right even saying if they are plot points or characters) won’t mean anything to anyone not a fan of Marvel comic books. And I don’t mean just little Easter Eggs. But that’s OK because I think those elements that will be unknown to fans of just the movies won’t make the experience any lesser for them. As a fan of the comics, however, I was thrilled for those elements to be in the film.
Again, you don’t need my recommendation to go watch this movie, but go watch this movie. I give Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios, PG-13, 3hrs 1min) 5 out of 5 stars.
