Avengers take a bow in sentimental 鈥楨ndgame鈥�
Despite all the CGI effects, some more special than others, the moments our reviewer most appreciated in 鈥淓ndgame鈥� were the small-scale comic touches.
Despite all the CGI effects, some more special than others, the moments our reviewer most appreciated in 鈥淓ndgame鈥� were the small-scale comic touches.
鈥淎vengers: Endgame鈥� is the 22nd聽entry in the long-running Marvel Studios superhero saga. It鈥檚 also the last of the 鈥淎vengers鈥� movies, and you can tell because, if you wait through the voluminous end credits, you will notice that the movie just ... ends. No teaser for a sequel.
It鈥檚 been well publicized that 鈥淓ndgame鈥� is the last of the line, so I鈥檓 not spoiling anything here. But writing at any length about this 181-minute movie without detonating a minefield of spoiler alerts is beyond my capabilities, plus I wouldn鈥檛 want to do that anyway. So I鈥檒l just sketch the premise outlined in its first 15 minutes or so.
At the end of聽 鈥淎vengers: Infinity War,鈥� Mad Titan Thanos (voiced by Josh Brolin) acquired the six Infinity Stones that allowed him to wipe out half the universe, including a swath of Avengers. (Their rapid dissolution into dust heaps was the movie鈥檚 most memorable visual effect.) Five years later, the surviving squad is a somnolent bunch licking their wounds until Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) rouses the troops to take a last stand against Thanos, who is fond of saying things like 鈥淚 am inevitable.鈥�
It was inevitable, of course, that this movie, which is projected to make more than a billion dollars worldwide, would get made. Given the fact that it鈥檚 essentially a large-scale contraption for Marvel fanatics, it does the job well enough. But Marvel veterans Joe and Anthony Russo, who co-directed, and their screenwriters, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, are not especially dynamic crasftsmen. Even though there are moments when the emotional connections between the Avengers hit home, for the most part the film is a moderately well-paced action comic saga with a sluggish third act. All the talk about these Marvel movies being the modern-day equivalent of Homeric epics and Greek mythology may indeed be true, but I don鈥檛 think 鈥淎vengers: Endgame鈥� will ever be compared to 鈥淭he Iliad.鈥�
Despite all the whiz-bang CGI effects, some more special than others, the moments I most appreciated in 鈥淓ndgame鈥� were the small-scale comic touches: a dumpy-looking Thor (Chris Hemsworth) trying to shake his sloth and return to glory; Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) being antsy; Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) trying to be kinder and gentler. Best of all is Robert Downey Jr. Amid all the hardware, he alone in the Marvel series has consistently given top-notch performances. His work in 鈥淓ndgame鈥� is extraordinarily moving and makes me wish yet again that this great actor would on occasion see fit to be great in a movie that doesn鈥檛 require him to fill out a franchise.聽Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, and some language.)聽