Writers: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFreely
Directors: Anthony & Joe Russo
The previous Avengers film, 2018’s Infinity War, was like a Doctor Who anniversary special on an intravenous crystal meth high. It was truly mammoth in scale; from the amount of characters to the number of planets to the sheer untold numbers of deaths. But given the sheer spectacle, the end-of-days gargantuan nature of it, there was no getting away from the fact that Infinity War had a very much standard ‘collect the gems’ plot, much used by role playing video games for decades. Endgame, directed by the Russo brother and written once again by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFreely, suffers slightly from the same problem, as the narrative pieces of Infinity War are re-staged via time-travel.
The opening sequence is perhaps the greatest of any Marvel film. Set apart from the usual brash fighting that most superhero films begin with, this sees Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) teaching his daughter archery as they prepare for a cosy, outdoor family meal. And then suddenly they disappear with the whip of a strong wind. It is an intimate, brutal start.
From then the remaining Avengers, Guardians and other assorted heroes are scattered across a unversed reeling from Thanos’s use of WMUD. Iron Man and Nebula are stuck on space ship losing oxygen and appear to be on the verge of death, only for them to be saved by the ever-intriguing Captain Marvel. She flies them all the way back to Earth and the gang set about trying to work out how to fix the mess of trillions of dead people. They source Thanos on a gorgeous looking planet, making stew and they charge in and attempt to steal the Infinity Stones and bring everybody back, simple? Wrong! The Stones are gone and with slash of Thor’s hammer, so is Thanos’s head.
From there the film jumps five years later and codifies into a traditional three-act structure. This first act is perhaps a Marvel film at its most radical and interesting. Aside from a scene in which Hawkeye, with new scary tattoos and a cool haircut, beats up some Chinese gangsters, there is no action sequences whatsoever. Instead, the film attempts, as best a film of this size can, to deal with intense grief that follows the death of loved ones. Captain America is running a support group, Thor has collapsed into alcoholism and Black Widow has thrown herself into work to mask her emotional breakdown. It is extremely melancholic but also mature, and the stunning shots of empty New York streets add a genuine level of despair to what is the usual inconsequential superhero destruction.
The sudden return of Ant-Man (by the stunning fortune of a wandering mouse) sets Endgame’s narrative wheels into full motion. The group discover the quantum realm in which Thanos has banished most of the universe allows for the possibility of time-travel, and so they set about trying to build a time machine using Ant-Man’s quantum truck. But for this they need Iron Man, who is off playing happy families with his daughter and sadly did not die when Thanos clicked his fingers. This leads to the various Avengers/Guardians to zip around previous Marvel films and retrieve the Infinity Stones before Thanos claimed them for his chubby purple self. This is pure, unashamed fan-service and – fair enough. But it is not the most elegant or sophisticated way of solving the immense puzzle they created for themselves in Infinity War, and for all the complexity of planets and time-zones and characters, the plot once again is slightly disappointing in its simplicity.
The films heads inexorably towards a huge, climatic battle in the film’s final third, as our lost heroes are returned to fight Thanos’s army once more. The battle is less visually appealing than in Infinity War, feeling more static and predictable. Although, I think that maybe due to it taking place in a location that is less interesting than lush greens of Wakanda. There is of course the much-discussed sequence in which all the female characters come to together in order to aid Captain Marvel has she attempts to keep the Infinity Gauntlet from Thanos. This scene, while a clear and clunky bit of virtue signalling, would surely have meant a lot to a 10-year-old girl used to seeing mainly men on the Marvel screen. And that is more important than what Twitter thinks.
The films end with the death of several major characters and the clear completion of what is now being called the Infinity Saga. On first viewing I was amazed by Endgame, swept up in the insane sugar-rush it creates. On second viewing, the films flaws were much more on show, it’s clunky plot and extended running time. But to make a film this big, with this much action and planets and characters is insanely difficult; and the creative team of the Russos and Markus and McFreely do a phenomenal job. The final shot, of Captain America and Peggy, dancing in their room is so obviously cliched but it works; you can’t help but smile at a character who sacrificed so much getting to live happily ever after. Endgame is a fine end to a sequence of movies that has redefined the blockbuster, and may be seen in years to come as its dramatic peak.
9/10
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