WARNING: THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!
For years, we have sat in the cinema, as a community and watched our favourite superheroes fight villains after villains. We’ve watched Iron Man grow as a man, we’ve watched Captain America’s suit go through adjustment after adjustment, we’ve watched Thor with long hair and short, but nothing prepared us for the ending of Avengers: Infinity War. And now the wait is over as millions across the world sit for 3 hours and 2 minutes and watch our heroes have their final battle in Avengers: ENDGAME.
And boy was it an emotional rollercoaster. From start to finish. It was funny, it was heart-breaking, it was frustrating, it was nostalgic, it wasn’t the best Marvel film I’ve ever seen but it was everything I needed and more.
So where do I start? The film opens with the core avengers fighting to resurrect the lost as viewers clearly see a change in tone as our strong heroes are seen in shades of despair with heart-breaking scenes such as Tony struggling to cope with the loss of Peter Parker and Thor clearly not coping well with his failures.
But this film is made up of so much more. We get to see Tony and Steve finally get their issues out in the open, with both of them struggling to deal with the fact that neither was there in their time of need. It was truly inspirational and beautiful to see these two characters who have been through hell and back in Captain America: Civil War put their differences aside, shake hands and create a bond stronger than ever as they fight on the same side, with the same morals and goal.
And let us not forget Thor’s performance. This film saw the return of the God of Thunder’s long hair and long beard and some other not so beautiful alterations…Chris Hemsworth, I think you should stick with the muscles. He was his wonderfully humorous self, almost at times too funny and perhaps not needed. But what really stood out about Thor’s role in this film for me was his use of both his axe and his hammer. Yes, he got his hammer back and it was wonderful. He showed that he is in fact the strongest avenger and he is capable of the utmost strength as well as his comedic elements. I do feel however they tried to overdo the comedy due to the success of Ragnarok, to the point that it was almost cringe-worthy at times but nevertheless, Thor you still amaze me.
Then there was the nostalgia. A big part of the plot was the avengers going back in time to receive the infinity stones to put right what they got wrong and for the final movie, this was the perfect way for the Russo brothers to return to well loved scenes. We got to see the circle of the avengers from the first film, we got to see Loki in all his element getting arrested and we even got new clips of Gamora and Thanos before Infinity War happened. It was the perfect way to include fan favourite scenes without it being out of place or jarring. Bravo Russos, you made me cry.
But of course, it’s not an Avengers film if it doesn’t include dizzying action sequences and for the last hour of the film, we were blessed with one of the most astounding battles ever. It doesn’t quite beat Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones but it was brilliant nevertheless. There was a moment where I sat thinking, what about all the others? Maybe we won’t see them and while I was ok with that, I was disappointed. But of course, Marvel never disappoints. With one of the most epic entrances ever, fans got to see the return of favourite’s Black Panther, Spider-man, Bucky and Sam, and of course, who could forget Valkyrie.
The battle saw Black Panther absolutely kick ass, Dr. Strange literally hold up a tsunami on his own, Pepper Potts finally wear the suit Tony made her and kick-ass just as much as the rest of them. But, most of all, it saw our characters reunited as Groot and Rocket clutched at one another and Tony and Peter got the warming reunion they deserved and I got the relationship I never knew I needed.
This film saw Black Widow and Hawkeye finally holding their own as Avengers, a new form of the Hulk that combined muscles with brain and Tony Stark as a father (god bless his soul, I love him). But all good things must come to an end and that end was the death of Iron Man.
First of all, he did NOT deserve that ending. I 100% thought Cap was going to die, but prove me wrong; Cap got his happy ending with Peggy and Tony Stark sacrificed everything for his friends. The whole cinema was in tears and when he uttered those words “I am Iron Man”, we all knew it was the end. But in the wise words of Pepper, he can rest now.
While Avengers: ENDGAME is not the best Marvel film going, and I could have done with more Black Panther, Valkyrie and Bucky scenes and Captain America definitely shouldn’t have given his shield to Sam, come on bud Bucky is right there! This film tied everything up in the best way it could and definitely had the right tone to the end of an era. I’ll miss Tony Stark, I’ll miss all of them but I am glad this movie ended the way it did.
And yes, it didn’t have a post-credit scene. But of course I stayed. I needed time to wipe my tears away anyway.
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