Avengers: Endgame

I’m going to keep this short and sweet for a couple of reasons, chiefly being that I’m dead on my feet after going to a very late / very early showing of Avengers: Endgame at my local IMAX but also I want to keep it as spoiler free as possible, though I will assume you’ve seen the other MCU films.

The Russo brothers, who brought us Captain America and Infinity War previously, were handed the task of directing the latest MCU film and it’s a biggie, in every sense it’s big.

As what’s left of the Avengers assemble at HQ to make plans, it’s clear they don’t have one. They try to carry on with their lives, as most of the world does, but they can’t let it go, not really. Each Avenger handles it differently, none of them particularly well.

However, all is not lost when Scott Lang, Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man“, “Sausage Party”), arrives surprisingly back on the scene and, he’s got this idea. It involves all of the Avengers that remain, including some who have managed to move their lives on and who you perhaps wouldn’t consider Avengers at all now.

Anyhow, a bunch of trips are taken – I won’t spoil the where and who and how – things are put in place, loved ones lost, all in the name of returning those that they lost in the first place, and most of the planet.

There are lots of surprise cameos, from the MCU, but still a surprise. There are characters who have a much, much larger role in things than you would possibly have guessed, and some who do not.

Whilst the Russo brothers will no-doubt take the plaudits, and rightly so, the film looks stunning and that three-hour run-time, don’t worry, it doesn’t feel like it at all. I’ve recently seen films half the length that felt longer, somehow the brothers have managed the opposite.

But really, if we’re being honest, the plaudits should go to both Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (both: “Thor: The Dark World”, “Avengers: Infinity War“) who are the writers of the film.

What the pair have weaved together, bringing all of these characters, all of these worlds together, is nothing short of genius. Perhaps, most of all, they should be applauded for the direction they take with Avengers: Endgame, for this is not the movie you will be expecting.

Sure, there are large-scale, epic battles, of course there are. There are individual fights, naturally, but the movie is so much more than that. There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of emotion in Endgame, a lot of heart, of feelings and all of the actors pull together to make it work.

Whilst you will laugh, there’s a good chance you may also cry, right from the opening scene even, which, for a Marvel film, is some win.

This doesn’t mean it’s a total flip from the other films: Thor still provides the laughs, with his new surprise friends, The Hulk too as well as some zen-like calm (I know, right), whilst it’s left to Captain America, Black Widow and Nebula to provide the steely raw emotion.

In Thanos, Josh Brolin (“Deadpool 2“, “Sicario 2”), the Avengers may just have met their match. But for one final time, for one last hurrah, they’re getting the gang back together, and you really should come along and see.