My initial, no-spoiler review of “Avengers: Endgame”

(No spoilers in this post. I can’t vouch for the comments.)

I enjoy the Marvel super-hero movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has almost always managed to please, to a great or lesser extent. There have been films I’ve been less enchanted with (Iron Man 2 and Thor 2 come to mind), but even they had some bright moments.

So I went to Avengers: Endgame expecting to enjoy myself, thinking that this climatic Avengers movie will hit the needed emotional notes, blend tragedy and triumph, sacrifice and heroism, and probably wrap up one or more of the iconic characters in a satisfying, contract-closing, oh-my-god-no-more-extreme-conditioning way. There would be a few cameos, a few call to mind of past films, the good guys would triumph, there’d be a funeral, and we’d end on a note of hope for the future.

I trusted Kevin Feige and the Russo Brothers and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and the actors and Alan Silvestri and all the production crew would give us that.

They gave me that, cranked up to 12.

And not in a “loud, obnoxious” fashion, but as in hitting every single note they needed to, and the several more that I really hadn’t realized I wanted, and a few additional ones I never thought I’d see, and doing it in virtuoso fashion. I’ve never seen a franchise movie that more organically integrated the cameos it felt it had to have, to the extent that they weren’t just shout-outs, but key parts of the plot. I’ve never seen a franchise movie that called back to its predecessors in a way that wasn’t a cheat or fan service, but as a necessary and delightful way to make this movie’s plot all the richer.

We’ve got characters — heroes and villains — acting intelligently, reasonably, in line with their motivations. We have heroic, epic goings-on that most of the time feel like that’s exactly  how it should happen.

While not everything is perfect in Avengers: Endgame (and surely I’ll be having those debates with folk in the future), even the imperfections are still okay, and the rest of it is wonderful.

The movie ran for three hours and one minute … and it didn’t feel like it. They used the time to establish mood, to explain motivation, to provide a chance for action to be balanced with consideration, and to give the cast members the time they need to bring their characters forward or to an end. Characters follow a path that makes sense for them — some of their stories come to a close, while others have new beginnings opened up for them, in a variety of ways. If Marvel never made another movie again (no!), I could find this a fitting conclusion for most of these people.

My hat’s off to the creative team. I expected to enjoy myself. I didn’t expect something this good.

Overall rating:

(Note: the immediate post-movie credits are a lot fun. There is no post-credit scene, thought here is a … brief … thing at the end, which I’m sure people will be debating about. It’s worth sitting in the cinema while the credits role, both to appreciate the talent that went into the film, and to unwind a bit.)

Do you want to know more?

• Avengers: Endgame (2019) – IMDb (SPOILERS!)
• ‎‘Avengers: Endgame’ review by Dave Hill • Letterboxd (reprint of this review)