Spoiler-ish Review: Was "Avengers: Endgame" Good?
Well, it depends on what you're looking for. If you just want all the people who disappeared last year to come back, you'll be overjoyed. However, if you want how the surviving heroes go about getting those people back to make any sense, well, you may end up tearing your hair out.
It's no big spoiler at this point to say there'll be some time travel, and this is where the movie, which had me going up to that point with the surprising twists and strong performances, unravels completely. The kicker is the characters make a point of mentioning several time travel movies that did it way better, like Back to the Future, while ignoring the one thing that made those movies better - there are rules you must follow, and a failure to follow those rules could screw up the entire timeline. I think Banner made a couple of attempts at explaining why this didn't apply to the Avengers, but after watching this movie twice his explanations still don't make any sense. These guys played so fast and loose with past events I'm surprised they didn't destroy the universe worse than Thanos. Seriously, by the time one character actually killed their own past self, without causing their present self any apparent harm, I just threw my hands up.
But that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie. For all that superhero movies depend on the big action sequences, this one's fueled almost entirely on the character development scenes, making it one of the more emotionally satisfying installments in the MCU. Watching each hero's unique grieving process had me glued in my seat and my eyes riveted to the screen. Seriously, every actor with more than five lines to say knocked it out of the park like they never have before - their performances alone make it worth the movie ticket. Some characters had me ready to cry, and even those who offered some much-needed laughs did so with a kind of gallows humor, the depression and despair underwriting everything they did. And when some characters ultimately got their happy endings, I didn't care about the convoluted time travel plot that delivered them, I cheered loudly with the rest of the audience.
And yes, some characters and actors will say their final goodbye to the MCU here. I can't say the exits are all fitting or satisfying, but I'll give the writers this: they didn't kill who I thought they'd kill, or write out the characters I thought they'd write out, or write them out in the manner I thought they would, and after a solid year of fan theories, being able to still surprise us counts for something.
All in all, it's certainly not the best of the Marvel movies (that honor still goes to Winter Soldier and the 2012 Avengers movie, IMO), but it was funny, and thrilling, and touching, and overall I liked it. Just be prepared for some big plot holes on this road, but it leads to a heartwarming destination.
It's no big spoiler at this point to say there'll be some time travel, and this is where the movie, which had me going up to that point with the surprising twists and strong performances, unravels completely. The kicker is the characters make a point of mentioning several time travel movies that did it way better, like Back to the Future, while ignoring the one thing that made those movies better - there are rules you must follow, and a failure to follow those rules could screw up the entire timeline. I think Banner made a couple of attempts at explaining why this didn't apply to the Avengers, but after watching this movie twice his explanations still don't make any sense. These guys played so fast and loose with past events I'm surprised they didn't destroy the universe worse than Thanos. Seriously, by the time one character actually killed their own past self, without causing their present self any apparent harm, I just threw my hands up.
But that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie. For all that superhero movies depend on the big action sequences, this one's fueled almost entirely on the character development scenes, making it one of the more emotionally satisfying installments in the MCU. Watching each hero's unique grieving process had me glued in my seat and my eyes riveted to the screen. Seriously, every actor with more than five lines to say knocked it out of the park like they never have before - their performances alone make it worth the movie ticket. Some characters had me ready to cry, and even those who offered some much-needed laughs did so with a kind of gallows humor, the depression and despair underwriting everything they did. And when some characters ultimately got their happy endings, I didn't care about the convoluted time travel plot that delivered them, I cheered loudly with the rest of the audience.
And yes, some characters and actors will say their final goodbye to the MCU here. I can't say the exits are all fitting or satisfying, but I'll give the writers this: they didn't kill who I thought they'd kill, or write out the characters I thought they'd write out, or write them out in the manner I thought they would, and after a solid year of fan theories, being able to still surprise us counts for something.
All in all, it's certainly not the best of the Marvel movies (that honor still goes to Winter Soldier and the 2012 Avengers movie, IMO), but it was funny, and thrilling, and touching, and overall I liked it. Just be prepared for some big plot holes on this road, but it leads to a heartwarming destination.