Avengers - End Game

And so it ends, after twenty two movies and a tantalizing cliff hanger set up in “Avengers: Infinity War”

This movie was always a going to be a hit, if the screen was blank for two hours, people would queue to get in, such is the build up.

However, set up and intrigue is easy, painting out of a self created plot corner is the hard part. With much loved characters fading to nothing in the previous film, the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) had it’s work cut out to deliver future standalone films.

As any science fiction fan knows, when storyline’s become tricky, cue the time machine. Here handily provided by “Ant-Man” (Paul Rudd) which provides more flexibility in the storytelling.

Following a surprisingly emotional opening and extended period of introspection, we are teased into a “will they, won’t they” make the time machine work, with help from Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.). We know the answer of course but the tension is fun whilst it lasts.

When we left Thanos (Josh Brolin), he was chillin’ by his cottage having sated his genocidal urges by wiping out half the living things in the universe. Revenge is on the cards, albeit the sudden resolution is a surprise, hence the need for a time machine to sustain the story.

Including all of the beloved characters was always going to be problematic but joint directors (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo) have managed almost the impossible by allowing each character space to shine, albeit on occasion deploying greatest hits from the various previous movies.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) takes early centre stage and then fades to a comic foil for the rest of the movie, giving us all hope you can let yourself go and be saved. Ironman was left in the most perilous of situations, this is played for as long as possible before the only realistic saviour comes to the rescue.

The film deploys each and every CGI trick to great effect and manages to combine humour, pathos and some real emotional heft. It comes to something when a superhero movie provides the character heavy lifting, such is the multiplex world in 2019.

For fan favourites with contracts up, audiences should be prepared for emotional goodbyes, which are completed with style and sensitivity.

Marvel have created a worthwhile, fun and hugely enjoyable film which by necessity is on predetermined rails, whilst managing to pull off real surprises and satisfying fans wish for a “good ending”

Hard to choose a stand out, all actors have well defined roles they have played for years but Captain America (Chris Evans) gets more beats than most. Surprisingly the “Guardians of the Galaxy” gang fit into this more serious universe. All character franchises moving from diverse origins to meet in the middle, an impressive strategic feat.

With box office returns edging near the Avatar worldwide record, a brief cinematic re-run is planned to try to push the film to number one.

Mildly cynical cash grab or a chance to air some deleted scenes fans will love, you decide.

Summary

Summarizing the plot in a short review is largely pointless with spoilers aplenty, so let’s make this simple.

If you liked the previous films and were teased by the previous set up movie, this is a must watch, a near perfect end to what is an amazing run by the young Marvel studio.