Movie Review: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ – The Ending We Didn’t Want But Needed

Movie Review: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ – The Ending We Didn’t Want But Needed

The challenge of writing a review for the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame, is that almost the whole movie is a spoiler. That said, there are some general things from the trailers and still photos from the film that do provide some widely available clues, so I am taking that route and giving away as little as possible.

Most everyone knows what happened in the previous film – Avengers: Infinity War – it’s safe to say that we start off close to where we left off in that film. Half of the universe has been eradicated by the dastardly purple killer Thanos (Josh Brolin), meaning about half of our superheroes also bit the dust. The world descends into turmoil and change, but humans resiliently move forward with their lives as do our beloved surviving characters.

Those Avengers who survive come together slowly – especially Tony Stark (the always terrific Robert Downey Jr.) and Nebulla (Karen Gillan) who are floating in deep space running out of fuel, food, and oxygen. If not for new superhero friend Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), they would have perished.

Marvel brings them back for a reunion with the rest of the survivors – Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Scott Lang/Ant Man (Paul Rudd) and Thor (the quite hilarious Chris Hemsworth) – and they are a bit divided as to how to proceed.

The reunion basically does not end happily – once again Tony and Steve are on opposite sides, and the group goes its separate ways. Five years go by and we discover a few of them think of a plan that involves trying to save those who perished, but not everyone is on board. Some of the characters have moved on with their lives, and after all things seem like they cannot be changed.

Tony, now a father of a little girl (Alexandra Rachael Rabe) and married to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), is finally a happy man, and he does not want to participate in a mission that could jeopardize that happiness. He’s living in the country, drinking healthy smoothies, and that past life is far behind him.

Eventually Tony comes around – thinking about the lost young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and joins the team as they prepare a plan that could change everything that happened and bring back their friends. While I cannot tell too much more, I can say that the plan involves funny pairings of teams – the best being Rocket and a now overweight, beer drinking Thor – but that plan is dangerous and involves the possibility of death for all team members.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo have crafted a film that goes beyond the sometimes pedestrian label of blockbuster – the feel of this movie is more gargantuan, and the sense of enormity runs throughout the movie in the opulent settings and exquisite vistas – cinematographer Trent Opalach captures the stunning beauty of planets along with the bloody horror of war – along with pounding, grinding, and sometimes soaring score by Alan Silvestri. 

Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley had an enormous task in creating a screenplay that took the threads and loose ends and brought them all together. Amazingly, the 21 films that came before this one all have some sort of part in the puzzle that they piece together assiduously, though throughout there are moments that will break hearts and cause tears, but that is to be expected in what is truly a fitting denouement for the Avengers films.

Despite its epic 181 minutes, the film goes rather quickly after a slow but necessary first act that puts all the plot's elements into place. The longer film format actually works in favor of the characters – and there are so many – affording them opportunities to develop in a way that a shorter film would not allow.

The Russo brothers have made this a spectacle that will please viewers who are longtime fans because they will appreciate the touches big and small that check all the boxes, cross all the t’s, and dot all the i’s. The confrontation they have wanted – to stop Thanos once and for all – is just one of the many rewards in this emotional but thrilling cinematic cornucopia.   

Go see this film before someone spoils if for you, and it is so large in scope that it is meant to be seen on a really big screen. As usual with MCU films, I suggest you stay until the end of the credits. You may not get what you expect, but you will get something you need – an especially apropos moment that connects with ending of the film.

'Star Wars: Episode IX' Trailer – Shivering Me Timbers

I just saw the trailer for Star Wars: Episode IX and, while it only runs 2:07 minutes, I found myself smiling, shaking, and crying as I watched it. There are so many little and rather big things crammed into those 127 seconds, including seeing an old friend and hearing an old enemy. I am cautiously optimistic, but this trailer suggests that there is much to look forward to in this final film that ends the current trilogy and the nine-movie Skywalker saga.

First of all I started shivering when I saw the title – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If nothing else, this gives me a great deal of hope on a number of levels. For one, I never bought Kylo Ren's (Adam Driver) story that Rey (Daisy Ridley) was a nobody as he tells her in The Last Jedi. This is a story I believe he concocts to get her to join him on the dark side of the Force. But the light shines in Rey, perhaps more so than even in young Luke (Mark Hamill) in A New Hope, so it is pretty clear that Rey is indeed somebody and that she will find out that she is a Skywalker. 

The title suggests someone new as a Skywalker – some people have even suggested that Broom Boy (the kid in the last scene of The Last Jedi) may have been unknowingly a Skywalker. My bet is that it is Rey because Luke's lightsaber called to her so deeply in The Force Awakens, and from the trailer it appears that she has reconstructed it after it was destroyed in her duel with Kylo in The Last Jedi. That iconic blue lightsaber belongs in the hands of a Skywalker – it originally belonged to Luke's father Anakin (Hayden Christensen and Jake Lloyd in the prequels) – so it makes sense that it will belong to Rey.

How Rey is a Skywalker is interesting to think about because Anakin supposedly had no father and was born through the Force. His mother tells this story to Qui Gon Jin (Liam Neeson) in The Phantom Menace, so if we take this as truth there is a possibility that Rey too was born out of the Force, but to whom? Could she be a child Leia (Carrie Fisher) had when she was separated from Han? Or perhaps she is Luke's child that he did not know about. Whatever is the case, JJ Abrams has an opportunity to make this an important aspect of the story line.

The trailer also reveals Billie Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian at the helm of the Millennium Falcon with Chewbaca (Joonas Suotamo) and this caused more shivers and shaking. It is such a delight to see Williams as Lando, and the feeling for me is a real connection to the original trilogy that makes sense as the nine-movie saga comes to an end.

There is also a scene where Rey, Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac), and Finn (John Boyega) come upon the remains of the crashed Death Star from Return of the Jedi. Talk about making connections with the original trilogy, this reminds us of how the Empire ended and the Rebel Alliance won; however, it is also how the First Order would get started.

At the very end of the trailer the most haunting thing is not a visual but a sound  – a very familiar and blood curdling one – Emperor Palpatine (the terrific Ian McDiarmid) laughing.  JJ Abrams has confirmed Palpatine will be in The Rise of Skywalker, so we can all swallow that lump in our collective throats and wonder just how he will fit into the story. 

Never has a short trailer done so much to delight and scare me as this one has. Since standing on line as a teenager to see A New Hope to taking my kids to see the new films, I have felt deeply connected to the story. Even in the last films, to see Luke age as I have gives a deeper perspective and understanding to how much I feel for him and the other characters. Many people were upset when they believed Luke died at the end of The Last Jedi because they took it personally, as if they lost a member of their family.

I am not the only one in my family to be excited about the trailer. I showed it to my son and his eyes glowed, and at the end when he heard Palpatine's cackle, his eyes widened and he shouted, "The Emperor's back!" Yes, the guy behind all the misery generated in the original films and the prequels is back – hopefully with a vengeance. Nothing would be more delightful than to see his Force ghost (I know, the Sith weren't supposed to become Force ghosts, but you never know) battling Luke's. It's a long shot, but I can dream, right? 

The anticipation for this film will continue to grow, with no doubt more trailers coming out and toys appearing in stores and online. Sometimes the toys give us clues as to what characters will be in the films and their importance. Before The Last Jedi my son and I saw a nice action figure in the store of Supreme Leader Snoke (played by Andy Serkis), and we had high hopes that he would have a duel with Luke in the movie, but he was quickly dispatched in a disappointing scene, so a great toy doesn't always connect to importance in the film.

We should all be looking forward to all the things that will be coming our way about the film as we await its premier in December. For now, check out the trailer below. 

May the Force be with you!