Avengers: Endgame (2019) Movie Review

Avengers: Endgame (2019) Movie Review

When I was seven years old, my father took me to go see The Avengers. I was there with him and some of his friends, and it was the first PG-13 movie I got to see in a movie theater. The Avengers was the film of the summer. I remember seeing advertisements for it everywhere – on chip bags, Coke cans, billboards all across town. These characters weren’t new to me; I had been a fan of superheroes all my life. Some years before that I had been asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I responded, “Spider-Man.” Yet somehow watching a bunch of my favorite fictional characters of all time on the big screen was so new. I had never seen anything like it. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing ever. During the final battle in New York City where Loki’s army of evil aliens takes over, and the Avengers truly assemble onscreen for the first time ever, I shouted, “This is awesome!” Over the coming years I would go on to see the evolution of Marvel movies. The Avengers came and went, then Iron Man 3, then Guardians of the Galaxy, and so on. A few years ago I became greatly interested in comic books, especially the Marvel variant. I still have a very heavy container filled to the brim with Marvel comic books from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, featuring all my favorite heroes – Iron Man, Spider-Man, the X-Men, etc. I grew out of that phase eventually but my love for the movies never really faded. I’ve seen 80% of all MCU films, leaving only four left to watch. And so Marvel superheroes and their movies are a very big deal to me. One could say they represent a good deal of my childhood.

Avengers: Endgame is the newest and shiniest of these films. I hate to say it, but it’s probably the only movie that’s come out in 2019 so far that I have had any interest in seeing (what else has even come out this year? Captain Marvel? Us? Glass?). Naturally I was fairly excited to go see this movie, and now that I’ve actually seen it, am I satisfied with the conclusion to the series? Yes, very much so. As a movie, Avengers: Endgame is a total mess. Loose plot threads, continuity errors, cheesy dialogue, and random unnecessary banter pollute the 3-hour runtime (besides Malcolm X, this is the longest movie I’ve seen in my entire life). Watching pretty much every significant MCU character ever come together to fight Thanos sounds cool on paper, but is actually really overwhelming when it happens. There are, like, a thousand little things that I could point out and criticize. I won’t. Why not?, you may be thinking. Because it would be a waste of time to sit here and write them all out. Trust me, we could be sitting here for eternity talking about plot holes and confusing little moments. Instead, I just want whoever reads this to know that Avengers: Endgame is not a perfect movie by any means. As of right now, it has a 95% approval rate on Rotten Tomatoes. That is too high in my opinion.

But don’t get me wrong, this movie will blow your mind. If you’re a fan of Marvel movies or have seen any of them over the years, then you should go and see Endgame. Honestly, if you know that Thanos killed a bunch of people in Infinity War, then that’s kinda all you need to know to be able to watch this movie comfortably (assuming you know who the characters are and stuff). I’ll try my best not to spoil anything, but let’s just say that some things that needed to happen in this movie happened. I was left feeling like the Avengers saga was fulfilled and complete. My favorite part was the twin endings with Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans). As MCU characters, they are far and away the two most interesting, in my opinion. I like a lot of the other characters, but Iron Man and Captain America just matter the most and represent the series the best. Plus both of their stories have developed really well over the course of the 11-year saga beginning with Iron Man in 2008. At the end of Endgame, Steve Rogers travels back in time, reunites with Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), his romantic interest from his first movie, then comes back to the present as an old man. This is such a great conclusion to the Captain America character because throughout all of the movies, his most plaguing problem is that he can’t grow old, and it’s always up to him to save everybody. It’s really nice to see him finally at rest. And Iron Man’s ending…I mean…I can’t criticize. Stark goes back in time with Rogers to a S.H.I.E.L.D. (good guy organization) base in the 70s and finds his father working there. Modern-day Tony Stark talking with 1970s Howard Stark is one of my favorite parts of the movie because he finally gets to come to terms with his father. And then he gets to kill Thanos and save everyone. That’s technically a spoiler but I think we could all tell that Thanos was gonna die and that everyone who turned to dust in Infinity War was gonna come back. Iron Man started this in 2008; now he ends it just over ten years later. Perfect. If that isn’t the ultimate payment for fans, then what is? Avengers: Endgame is basically the biggest payoff you could ask for if you’ve been a fan of Marvel. I’m giving this movie an A- as a grade.

Safety Chart:

Violence: 7/10 - It’s honestly a lot of cartoon violence if you really think about it. Lots of people die and get killed in various ways. Fighting and explosions, the kind of stuff you’d expect. Although it’s nothing a kid couldn’t handle.

Language: 5/10 - Some language you’d expect in a PG-13 movie.
Drinking/smoking: 3/10 - Not much. Nothing memorable at least.

Endgame, to me, represents something more than a movie. It’s Marvel’s (and the universe’s, as far as I’m concerned) way of thanking me, after all these years of dedication and support, late nights watching movies, long hours of reading comic books, my bones aching from typing paragraph after paragraph of essays on these characters. Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man, so many others. I’m 14 years old. They’ve been with me all my life, these fictional people who have given me so much entertainment and joy. So it also represents my childhood coming full circle. In 2010, I fell in love with Marvel. In 2012, The Avengers changed everything. In 2015, I started collecting comic books. And now, in 2019, Avengers: Endgame is basically the most epic movie I’ve seen in my entire life. Where to go from here? We can’t continue like nothing happened. A new chapter is beginning for Marvel, for superhero movies, for cinema as a whole. And for me. As I move into high school, I’ll have to let go of my childhood. And Endgame isn’t a bad marker as the end of it.