Avengers: Endgame ★★★★
FOR once the Hollywood hype is actually true.
Marvel vowed to deliver a fitting closure to the initial stage of its cinematic super-hero universe.
Avengers: Endgame manages to top all 21 of the films that have come before, delivering three hours of solid entertainment including great characters, a formidable final battle and a couple of emotional finales.
Fans could hardly have wished for a better conclusion with the creative team led by directors Anthony and Joe Russo resolving some story-lines with callbacks to the very beginnings of the franchise and ensuring maximum bang for the cinema-goer’s buck.
Do you need to have seen all the previous films to enjoy this one? It’s definitely preferable but not essential. A handful of the key ones (an ironman, a Thor, a Captain America and Infinity War of course) would provide enough back-story and context to keep most viewers entertained.
If you walk in completely blind to this universe, the story is still told in a relatively uncomplicated and straight-forward manner, despite the time-travelling elements. That is not a spoiler by the way; how else can they try to save everyone who was killed at the end of Infinity War?
Having said all that, the fans are the big winners and so they should be, having invested close to 50 hours of their film-viewing lives. The sheer sight of certain characters all together on screen will be enough to have them salivating and cheering.
The leads have all played their characters multiple times but still step up their efforts, determined to pay homage to the late Stan Lee’s creative vision and the thousands of people who have worked on the franchise.
To avoid venturing into spoiler territory, I’m only going to mention Robert Downer Jnr whose performance as Ironman has always been effortlessly engaging. He almost seems born to play the part.
Downey Jnr leads one of the biggest casts in film history. I counted 30-odd recognisable actors with the appearances of many, however minor, bringing constant smiles of recognition to the face.
The Russos and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are all Marvel alumni and assured hands who take the material exactly where and at what pace they want to reach a completely satisfying conclusion.
There is little point in nit-picking a deliberate crowd-pleaser like this one. I’m not a huge comic book film fan but I recognise a significant event in cinema history.
I enjoyed all 180 minutes of this pure Hollywood, big-budget spectacle that still retains some heart.