How do you review a film that has so quickly become the record-breaker of cinematic history? You don't really, especially when you consider the awesome power of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Could Stan Lee have known his awkward, funky characters would change history so distinctly and dominate our cultural consciousness for so long? Endgame is, as we all know, the culmination of a lengthy series of fascinating films, and a lot of the anxieties going into (and out of) this flick revolve around what will happen next. Only time will tell.
But I'm going to voice some opinions to challenge this movie. Not because I like playing devil's advocate (I do), and not because I dislike it (I don't). When movies have this kind of universal, positive cultural impact, it's fairly useless to praise it. But, much like with Infinity War, it's important for me to step back from the amazingly visceral power of this movie in the context of its franchise and consider it on its own.
Because it's a mess of a movie. Mind-numbingly plodding through most of its first half, it creeps along through the lives of the survivors as they deal with a halved world five years after Thanos and his snap. Woeful and bleak -- Black Widow is a notable low point of the film's pathetic pathos -- and occasionally cutesy for no reason (drunken, fat Thor is a lot to take in), it drags us through worst-case scenarios for its still sizeable cast. Their early takedown of a retired Thanos is a chilling start to the lengthy doldrums, and it's not until they discover the miracle of time travel that things start to get exciting.
But then, "exciting" is perhaps the wrong word. "Confusing" is perhaps better, as the film attempts to explain its own method twice -- once through Tilda Swinton, once through Mark Ruffalo -- and still can't quite make sense. Every single person I've asked about the film's second half has a different theory about how time travel works in the MCU, or how it doesn't work. I don't mind a whole new schema, which is what Endgame proposes, but it needs to be more carefully laid out. Plot is always secondary to me in films, but if the film works because of that plot device, you better damn well make it clear. Even in post-release press conferences and public statements, the filmmakers each make wildly different claims about how MCU time travel works. This is madness.
Essentially, as I understand it, the Avengers go back in time to steal the Infinity Stones at convenient moments in history and return to the present (which is actually five years in the future). The Hulk uses the Stones to snap again, returning everybody who got dusted. But while they steal the Stones, Thanos from the past realizes their plan and leaps forward in time with his army. A climactic battle sees everyone (well, everyone still alive) engaging in one of the most astounding battle sequences on film. Then Iron Man snaps again -- it's more than a little bewildering that the assembled Avengers, armies of Wakanda and Asgard, and assorted other heroes still can't beat Thanos's army if not Thanos himself -- and dusts the foes, killing himself in the process.
That's about as detailed as you can get without getting lost in the confusion. The movie carries you along, and you fully enjoy it in the moment. It's filled (choking, really) with fan service scenes and gimmicks, marvelously balances its enormous cast, and still manages to be frightfully entertaining. It also manages to make sense only as a culmination of many other movies. Much like serial television that is increasingly failing to stand on episodic terms, this movie feels like an exaggerated fever dream of Marvel fans.
Which is marvelous! Just not a proper film.
Then again, it features my favorite scene in any film yet this year: on the climactic battlefield, all the female heroes (minus, and I'll never forgive MCU for this, a now dead Black Widow) teaming up to cut a swath through enemy ranks. The traditional Avengers may be over now, but please please give us an all-female team-up flick! I'm already crying about it.
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