TAC Reviews...Avengers: Endgame

The twenty-second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sees the return of many familiar faces and to name them all would take too long. Suffice it to say Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and so on are all present following the events of Infinity War when Thanos succeeded in wiping out half of all life in the universe.

I don't think I really need to do an introduction regarding the hype for this film as any fan of the MCU has been awaiting this film with bated breath for the last year. Everyone wondering how the Avengers are going to reverse what Thanos did and as the contracts of many of the key actors have now run their course, how many of the characters we have been with for twenty movies would be making it to the credits. Well, that non-intro turned into an introduction, so without further ado let’s dive right in...

By the way I am going to try to make this a spoiler free review but in order to talk about the plot I am going to give away some details but there is nothing that the audience doesn't find out about within the first 30mins of the film anyway. 

The film picks up 3 weeks after the end of Infinity War, Tony Stark and Nebula are adrift in space and with their oxygen due to run out, both have resigned themselves to death. Meanwhile, back on Earth the survivors of Thanos' purge are trying to determine if there is a way to undo what Thanos did. They decide that if the Infinity Stones wiped out all life, then maybe they can use them to bring everyone back. After Stark and Nebula are returned to Earth, she tells them where they can find the tyrant. 

Reuniting once more, Thor and co head to the planet Thanos has now retreated to. But things don't go as planned and the Avengers are forced to resign themselves to the fact that they are too late, the deed is done, and there is no way that they can undo what Thanos has done.

The film then moves ahead five years with the survivors trying to move on with their lives. Blackwidow is co-ordinating relief efforts across the planet, with War Machine trying to keep things under control in Africa, Captain Marvel attempting to keep order in a galaxy now filled with confused frightened citizens who don't know what to do in the wake of the purge. Rocket and Nebula are also doing their part to help where they can. 

Meanwhile in a lock-up facility and old, rusting van is sitting motionless, when a rat walks across a panel on the dashboard. The machine in the back stirs and reactivates hurling Scott Lang aka Ant-Man back into the world from where he was trapped at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp. He is needless to say confused by the destruction around him, and learns what happened from his daughter, now five years older, who survived the purge.

Heading to Avengers HQ, Scott explains to Blackwidow and Captain America that because he was trapped during the purge and for him, a much shorter passage of time has occurred, not the five years that affected the rest of the universe. This is because the microscopic world has its own set of rules that are different to the rest of the universe. He suggests that if they can determine a means of mapping the temporal waves within that place then they might be able to go back in time to prevent the purge from ever happening.

Naturally everyone is sceptical, but if it is a chance to save everyone then they decide to try. In short order Banner is brought back into the fold, but Stark has moved on with his life. The love of his life survived the purge and they have settled away from the concerns of the world to leave in peace. Thor has also lost hope and retreated from the world isolating himself from those around him.

Believing that they can find away to travel through time the team ploughs on clinging to the veins hope that perhaps it is not too late to undo the damage Thanos has wrought, and maybe, just maybe the Avengers can save the day one more time...

Right so the hype for this film was not over exaggerated and there is a hell of a lot going on with different characters interacting with one another, and the wake of the purge is dealt with in a way that is not just a cop out. During the build up for the film there was talk of Captain Marvel having some kind of time-travel ability which threw massive issues up regarding whether things would be conveniently undone by her. I had an arching eyebrow the moment time travel was suggested because it opened up a massive can of worms that could ultimately just undermine everything we have seen so far. Terminator Genisys completely screwed up its entire timeline in a way that negated the original film and the excellent Terminator 2 plus everything that followed. The J.J.Abrams Star Trek created an alternate timeline so the Primary universe with The Original Series, Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager all still happening whilst the Kelvin timeline charting what happened in the Alternate timeline. Fortunately Endgame doesn't do that, the time travel element is handled intelligently in a way that does not negate the twenty-one films that have come before it. 

There is a hell of a lot going on here and the amount of characters that appear in the film is at times quite mindboggling with characters from previous films popping up as the Avengers travel back to past events.

It is really difficult to discuss anything further because I really do not want to spoil anything, but in truth I can't really pick many holes in the film. It knew when to keep things small and highlight the struggles of the individual characters, and when to build things up to a truly epic payout that does not disappoint. 

I guess the only question that remains is where do we go from here??

What is bigger than fighting a tyrant who has wiped out half of the known population, is it possible for the scale of the story to ever reach that level again, or is this the peak?? I don't honestly know, having more characters driven stories has worked before and with Spider-Man Far from Home coming soon it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

I am giving the film an obvious Thumbs Up, and whilst I am aware that this review is a bit bare bones that was intentional so as not to give anything away.

9/10 – Great conclusion to the Twenty film Infinity Saga story line...I don’t wish to spoil so let me just say, go and watch it.