Avengers End Game Review · 3:42am Apr 28th, 2019
AMAZING movie, had a couple problems, but overall a fantastic ending to a saga ten years coming
ALL SPOILERS BELOW ARE UNMARKED
To answer the first question - yes, they undo the snap, but ONLY the snap. Anyone killed beforehand is still dead, including Loki, Gamora, Vision, and anyone dead in prior movies. This movie's casualty list is limited to two - Black Widow and Iron Man. And Thanos, he's dead twice over. And I respect that, they mash the reset button, but it doesn't fix everything. They don't kill Captain America, but they do write him to a point where he ain't gonna be in future movies most likely and if they say he died off-screen I won't ask questions.
Captain Marvel did not steal the show, which was my fear. The problem is she didn't do much else. After my lacklustre response to her in her own movie, I was looking forward to them making me like her here. But she's just a plot device, she brings Tony and Nebula home and then vanishes until the climax when she returns just to blow up Thanos' ship. Oh well, maybe he Russos can take over her franchise next.
The thing that really makes this a worthy finale is the continuity. Yes it's a time travel plot - Thanos is revealed to have destroyed the Stones since their purpose was done, so they go to the past to get them there. We revisit the battle of New York, Quill getting the Power Stone, Asgard while Jane is tainted by the Aether.
Aaaand this plan immediately derails as Cap runs into his past self who thinks he's an escaped Loki, the two Nebulas cross signals and Thanos realizes what's happened, and Hulk meets the Ancient One who is hesitant to give up the Time Stone. This is good, it kept me interested in this thing would go.
The movie had so many awesome moments. Seeing the Battle of New York from other perspectives. Hulk finally is at peace with himself and is HAPPY, it's so nice to see Bruce happy! Steve whispers "Hail Hydra" to a SHIELD double agent to get them to trust him. The three-way brawl with Thanos. Past Gamora kneeling Quill in the balls because she doesnt know who he is. Thor summoning Mjolnir in the past to see if he's still worthy, then taking Mjolnir back to the present to dualwield with Stormbreaker. The collective forces of Earth, including Asgardians, sorcerors, assorted alien races, Wakanda, and more, arriving to back up the Avengers in the final battle.
STEVE LIFTS THE HAMMER. Incredible.
Flaws? The first half an hour or so is a slog. I get they're setting up how much the world sucks now and how depressed everyone is, but we know this ain't gonna stick so let's just go. And there's tons of plotholes in how they bend time into a pretzel and then fix it offscreen.
I. DON'T. CARE.
The movie is awesome enough that I can ignore the plot holes, the contrivance, and the conveniences, if it means this is the result. Most of the cast gets a happy ending and we get a worthy sendoff to the MCU as we know it.
I cried during the ending. I don't cry much. I didn't cry when Aerith died. I didn't cry for Toy Story 3. I didn't cry for Kingdom Hearts 3. I didn't cry in anything in MLP.
I cried for End Game. Twice.
And that's about the most glowing endorsement I can give.
It was amazing. My big question is I’m not sure if I’m to infer Loki (or *A* Loki) is now out there and still villainous but with the potential for reform we know he has.
The Hail Hydra was such a jab at that awful story idea. Plus a callback to the elevator scene in Winter Soldier.
Just like all the women leading the charge in the battle was clearly direct revenge for the designated chick fight in the previous.
I’m really upset that Nat is dead. I’ve got nothing against Hawkeye but she was just so much more interesting.
The other reason I really appreciated how they reset things, they didn’t treat the new future as expendable. Tony’s family stood for everyone that had been born since and everyone who had grown or moved on, and how undoing things completely would ensure none of that happened.
I really liked how, just like Tony opened the MCU as we know it, he also closed it.
It’s an amazing movie.
Rest in Peace, Tony, and Nat. You earned it.
And Cap, enjoy your retirement.
It was truly incredible. A decade of movies culminated in a spectacular finale. I'm really looking forward to the future of the Marvel movies.
Captain Marvel destroying that ship felt straight out of One Punch Man — minus the self-awareness.
I loved the first two acts. The big battle at the end felt overwritten and superfluous. I enjoy the fanservice, and there are nice things in there, but everything between Thanos summoning his army and Tony doing the Snap himself was more for the sake of spectacle, than advancing the story in any way.
The only plot-hole that really bothered me is Thanos dying twice. They make sure to mention repeatedly that they would go back to return the things they took from the past, but then his whole empire is snapped out of existence. Wouldn't surprise me if this was a plot point in future movies.
Also, they do set-up for the return of Loki (who escapes with the tesseract) and Gamora (who was likely not snapped our of existence).