Erupt: Avengers: Endgame — The (Spoiler-Free) Movie Review
“It seems like a thousand years ago, back when I fought my way out of that cave and became Iron Man.”
Over 10 years since the first movie came out, the Marvel Cinematic Universe now offers the Endgame, the grand conclusion to a monolith of a project that will go down in history as the first of its kind. Spanning 21 films across 3 phases featuring ensemble casts and involving massive production teams, every single character arc in the MCU has been impeccably crafted for this very moment.
The defeated Avengers, or what’s left of them, are seen to be grieving. This plays out as a central tenet in the movie, with different characters in various stages of grief of the Kubler-Ross model, albeit with one stark similarity: none of the characters reach acceptance. An inability on the part of people with superhuman abilities to solve this destruction ultimately signifies the base human emotion of frustration. Their eventual movement out of (and even their spiral back into) this helpless void is a worthwhile emotional investment for the viewer. For that is what the Avengers franchise is: an investment of time, sentiment and intellect.
To pull off a victory lap on a scale hitherto unheard of was never going to be easy, considering the arrays of characters present and the multitudes of worlds that the MCU has expanded into. As such, Marvel has employed a script that trimmed down the cast (by the events of Infinity War) and at the same time increased their sphere of influence throughout the movie, which makes the story less taxing for the viewer. This development helped emphasize the conflicts that plagued the characters and laid the groundwork for the decisions that they had to take. Along with this, the evolution of the said characters throughout the MCU makes the movie feel more grounded than any of its predecessors.
However, even in such a thought-out and thorough creative endeavour, the connection that a viewer requires to rationalize the said choice doesn’t often pan out or is not given enough time to pan out even with a 3 hour long run time. The movie also takes for granted the viewer to have seen the flagship films, leading to the casual (and even some active) fans to be lost for a while on specific motivations and drives of the heroes. However, one can see that it is a shortcoming that is inevitable for this Goliath of a production.
What does pan out smooth in the motion picture are the references to their previous works, a feat that Marvel nails consistently. Its fan service serves both as moments of euphoria or comic relief and as important plot points. The comics are well represented too, with key plot devices borrowed from the iconic Marvel issues of the past. It leaves even the most pretentious of fans scratching their head for superfluous usage owing to the deft manner of its incorporation in the script, which shows that Marvel has learnt from previous criticism on this matter.
While Marvel doesn’t commit the grave sin of over-emphasizing on “awe-inspiring” scenes as its ‘Distinguished Competition’ has been panned for, it nonetheless lets the script loose this time for some emotionally draining scenes. It has also left no stone unturned with respect to the CGI effects and visuals, having employed the world’s top graphic artists to create complex sets.
A roadblock that Endgame solves satisfactorily is the merging of the aesthetically different, sometimes in contrast, styles of the standalone movies while retaining its own signatures. The Russo brothers have done a commendable job on this aspect, as has Alan Silvestri’s score completing the puzzle and taking the viewer for a nostalgic ride, for the general atmosphere doesn’t make any of the characters look out of place in the various set-ups and permutations they have to be in and with one another.
Artistically, the MCU has become a cornerstone of the early 21st century, a filmographic epic that just is sure to find its name in the annals of history going further down the line, and we are witness to it. Endgame, then, in this contemporary timeline occupies a space that makes all other film epics seem tame in comparison. Even the uninitiated will appreciate Endgame, while hard-core fans will certainly be overloaded with constant doses of nostalgia.
What stands out in the end as one makes their way past the seats and into the real world, is the growth witnessed. From simple feature films that showed no connection at first to the zenith that is Endgame, it calls into reflection the ride that Marvel took us on. To not watch Endgame would be considered pop culturally sacrilegious.
So, when Iron Man reminisces about that day in a cave in Afghanistan “thousands of years ago”, he speaks for all of us, about the events that led to the ending and of the trials and tribulations that have occurred throughout the saga. Ergo, the reason why Endgame doesn’t have a post-credit scene is because it, in essence, represents the closure of both the Marvel story as well as a chapter in our collective pop culture lives.
This review was written in collaboration with Pujan Yadav, Murali Krishna, K Shreyas Mahesh, Abhishek Ramachandran and Antony Terence.
