Endgame: The final love letter to the Avengers

Avengers Endgame has landed in cinemas worldwide, shattering records, pleasing the fans and breaking their hearts at the same time! The 11 years long franchise has come to its conclusion. The finale is epic, magnificent and emotional. Well, the MCU will go on, but it will never be the same. The heroes we have come to love and root for get their last moment in the spotlight and the biggest battle against the biggest villain is here! If Infinity War was Thanos’s movie, Endgame is the original Avengers’ movie! I will say from the start that it is not the best movie in the MCU. It doesn’t have the best dialogue, the best script or the best story. But it has more emotions than all the other Marvel movies put together. It is a love letter to all the heroes that have made us cry and laugh for the last decade. I won’t spoil the movie, but know that Endgame is the final chapter in this story. Everything comes to a conclusion, every one of the original Avengers gets his/hers story resolved. With all that said, let’s dive into Avengers Endgame!

We lost, all of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. This is the fight of our lives.

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’s actions and restore order to the universe. The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios’ grand conclusion to twenty-two films, Avengers: Endgame. The story continues right after the events of Infinity War, with the team in pieces, scattered across the universe, hopeless and with their souls shattered. But hope comes in small sizes and Ant-Man comes up with the solution to everyone’s problem. If you’ve seen Ant-Man and the Wasp you can understand the idea, if not, it’s explained here anyway. There are new additions to the team this time, heroes that weren’t present in Infinity War and each of them brings something important to the team. Regarding the story, Endgame is a little harder to follow, but not because it is too complex, more like too complicated. For a 3 hour movie, it tries to include everything possible, giving time to every hero and every storyline, but it’s not that easy to make it all coherent. Overall, Endgame tells the story it needs to, but it is a little rushed here and there and, at times, the action moves to slowly. So, prepare for a slow first hour and 2 hours of almost non-stop superhero geekfest.

If you’re a fan of the MCU, you’ll get excited at every easter egg and callback to the older movies, from lines the characters say to the decisions they make. We have 3 hours to conclude the story of every one of the original Avengers, to close the overarching story with Thanos and pass the torch to new heroes to continue the MCU. So, there’s bound to be some rushed parts and leftovers. Don’t worry, we’re getting more movies and tv shows to continue the stories of characters left less developed in Endgame. As I’ve said before, the impact of this movie is not in its script or story, it’s in the emotions it raises in us. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll quiver with excitement at many epic moments and, if you’re lucky, you’ll applaud alongside the rest of the cinema at certain moments. It’s the most emotional movie in the MCU and it deserves to be!

I am inevitable

Regarding the characters, as I’ve already said, this is not Thanos’s movie. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are the stars of Endgame, because they were & are the leaders of the Avengers. Both get the most screen time and the most emotional endings. I’m not gonna spoil anything, but get your tissues ready for tears of joy and sadness. Captain America was the man out of time, the ideal hero of an ideal world, who held on despite everything the world has thrown at him. He is almost desperate in this movie, but he holds on, again. Iron Man was the most developed character in all the MCU, evolving from a selfish billionaire to a responsible hero. If Cap was the idealist of the team, Stark was the human soul. Robert Downey Jr. shows us some of his best work in this movie, as well as Chris Evans. They both get deserving endings. Also, a little hint: He is worthy! The rest of the original Avengers also get a fitting end to their storylines and the newer heroes are prepared for the future of the MCU. Ronin/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) get some powerful emotional scenes developing their characters. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) have some twists on their ends, sometimes distracting, but serving their stories and their evolution as characters. Thanos is a bit disappointing in Endgame, but he got more than enough development in Infinity War, even though he becomes more of a classic Marvel villain here. It’s hard to talk about the characters without getting into specific moments from the movie, so I’ll just leave you to see these moments for yourselves. The newer Marvel heroes get some relevant scenes, but are definitely not the highlight of Endgame. Stay tuned for the last Stan Lee cameo!

Part of the journey is the end

The visual effects in Avengers Endgame are top notch, as with many other MCU movies. The music comes to an epic conclusion, with the main themes of the franchise being reused for specific moments to increase the drama or action. Alan Silvestri gives us another powerful and epic soundtrack, but we also get a few songs here, akin to Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Overall, Endgame is a fitting finale for the franchise and the most beautiful homage to the Marvel movies, even superheroes movies in general. Avengers Endgame is a journey worth taking, an emotional roller coaster that every Marvel fan must ride!