Movie Review -- Avengers: Endgame

  Hey, guys. Sorry this review is so late. I actually saw Avengers: Endgame a week and a half ago, but things have been busy lately and in order to avoid this review being delayed until June I'm going to try something a bit different. I'll start things off by giving my verdict right away: Avengers: Endgame is a good film roughly on par with its predecessor, Infinity War (reviewed last May). Go watch it. This review of Endgame will be more of a brief comparison between the two films. So let's get to it!

  In terms of story both films have their strengths and weaknesses. Infinity War's best story part was its ending partially because its bleak, punch to the gut approach was radically different to any ending yet seen in the MCU films. But that film's beginning was plodding and took a while to gather momentum. Endgame, on the other hand draws you in right away with its more interesting opening, showing us what a world suddenly missing half its population would be like. As the action gets rolling, it's clear that the stakes have never been higher for Marvel's superheroes; if the Avengers can't pull this off they won't get a second chance. This leads to a desperate tone which still allows for some fun and jokes (this is the MCU, after all). For example, as was the case in the last film there's a heart-rending scene involving the Soul Stone that really stands out. (It's also cool to see Red Skull again, even if again he isn't voiced by Hugo Weaving.) Endgame's middle act is similar to Infinity War's but since it draws the viewer in immediately Endgame doesn't feel as long as its marathon running time would suggest.

  A big difference between the two films is their cast of characters. The first film was an all-hands-on-deck affair, whereas this second film is more of an anyone-who's-left-tag-along-if-you-want situation. This obviously means that there are less characters to keep track of in Endgame and the film is better for it. Infinity War had plenty of heroes – Hulk, Vision, Groot, etc. – who were pretty much useless. Though there are still characters with diminished (sometimes non-speaking) roles, Endgame has more room to develop and show off its characters. It also helps that most of the guys who died at the end of Infinity War were people I didn't really care about anyways. And speaking of characters I don't care about, Captain Marvel thankfully has a very limited presence in Endgame. All she really does is act arrogant and talk about how important she is. In fact, she would make an alright villain...

  In terms of direction and production value, there's no surprises to be found in either film. They're shot and edited just the same as most other Marvel films.

  And that's about all I'll say about Avengers: Endgame. It's a fine ending to the story we first got in last year's Infinity War. Each film demands that you view the other as well, but if I had to pick one over the other I'd say that Endgame is the superior of the two thanks to its better pacing and more balanced cast.

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