“Avengers: Endgame” marks the end of a generation of aging nerds like myself. It stirred up in me so much emotion that I wasn’t prepared for and I can’t wait to see the 3 hour finale again.
It’s the sort of movie that rewards the built-in fans, e.g. the Marvel comics fans that have stuck around for over a decade, watching all of these adaptations.
And yet, the themes covered in this behemoth of a blockbuster matches the themes in the series’ entirety: family, friends, loved ones are worth cherishing.
In a world where practically anything is possible, narrative necessities naturally tend to be jettisoned. For instance, true consequences of poor decisions or permanent loss usually are the first to go. When you have characters that cannot die or be hurt, it’s tricky to introduce any sense of conflict that makes the resolution all the more sweet and earned. As a result, most peoples’ legitimate complaint of superhero movies is that they feel boring. I can agree with them if there is no true loss or sense of change in the narrative.
But with Endgame, Marvel and Disney have taken their time (hence the 3 hours) very wisely. There is a palpable sense of true loss and sacrifice in nearly every iteration: loss of a child, loss of a spouse, loss of a parent, loss of a friend. And it’s all earned.
Crying multiple times in a bombastic superhero movie wasn’t really what I had in mind, but I’m so glad this is how it all ended. It was good for my soul.
[stextbox id=’warning’ caption=’SPOILER WARNING’]The following contain spoilers, be careful…[/stextbox]
- I loved the ingenious way of using time travel. It was a great way of taking us back over the previous movies in a fan-service way.
- I loved how they continue to take chances with the characters, showing us Thor at his worst, etc.
- I loved Thanos dies in the first few minutes, but is brought back later via the time travel. It’s all very original.
