Movie Review: Avengers Endgame (2019)

Avengers Endgame is a touching and delightful conclusion to the epic battle that began back when the group of superheroes first assembled to defend New York. And while the roster has grown since then, this movie focuses on the originals: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk. The action is intense, the one-liners hilarious, and the music persistent--I still have the Avengers theme stuck in my head, and I am okay with that.

In this adventure, our heroes try to undo the results of Thanos' actions from Avengers Infinity War. Since this review is spoiler-free, all I can say is that a lot of what follows is unpredictable, incredible, and sometimes hysterically funny. And while I was very nervous coming into this movie because I've become very attached to some of the characters and I don't want to lose any of them, I came out happy and satisfied. The journeys they all take--together and separately--lead to difficulties and agony, but also to victory, absolution, and redemption.

Perhaps most of all, this film is about second chances, about trusting and opening yourself to the risk of another failure. Cliché though it is, it's not about how often you fall, it's about how often you get back up. And the Avengers fell hard in the last movie. Avengers Endgame is the story of them getting back up, dusting themselves off, and hitting back. As Fragrant Hubby would say, And it is glorious.

Of course, heroes are only as good as their archnemeses (help? is this the plural of archnemesis?), and this movie delivers. To say more would be to spoil (she said, coyly), but let it be known that the Big Bad in the movie sure gives everyone a run for their money.

One last, slightly spoiler-ish point: there's a shot late in the movie that, to me, looked like Marvel excitedly saying, "Look! Look! We're woke! We listened!" Was it pandering? Absolutely. Did I love it? HELL YEAH. Am I gonna find a gif of it and save it on my phone to look at when I feel down? HEAVEN YEAH. Are both Junior and Juniorette going to be watching it with me? LIMBO YEAH.

Okay, I ran out of metaphorical constructs. Forgive me, we watched A Game of Thrones' The Battle of Winterfell episode right after watching this movie so my brain is a little confused about which end-of-the-world is which.

Overall, Avengers Endgame made over a billion dollars on opening weekend, so what are you waiting for? Get thee to a cinema and become part of the movie event of the year, nay, the decade!

In closing, I leave first-time goers some excellent advice I received from a friend: hold off on drinking too much beforehand, because this is a three-hour movie and you don't want to miss a second of it! I plan to watch it again, frankly because I missed a bunch of dialogue and also because it's really good and also Hubby and I keep arguing about which plot holes are in fact plot holes and which aren't.

TL;DR: GLORIOUS. EPIC. WATCH IT ASAP.

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Movie Review: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War is dark, raises the stakes, has music that is on point, frenetic action, and it features a competent villain. This movie assumes knowledge of every single MCU movie and thus doesn't bother to introduce any of the superheroes. Instead, from the very beginning it powers viewers through a helluva ride.

The newcomer here is Thanos, so we get to know his abilities and motivations. The "Mad Titan" wants to accessorize his Infinity Gauntlet with all six Infinity Stones. Thanos' goal is to wipe out half of the universe because overpopulation! It destroyed his homeworld!

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW ***

Apart from his convictions, different aspects of Thanos are revealed over the course of the movie. Initially, he's terrifyingly powerful, defeating the Hulk with ease. Then he's cunning, predicting Gamora's moves and laying two traps to extract her knowledge of the Soul Stone. Then he's surprisingly tender--y'know, before he hurls her into the abyss for what he sees as the greater good. And finally, he's effective--he gets what he wants! Behold:

1. Power Stone: Taken from Nova Prime
2. Space Stone: RIP Asgardians...and Loki (?) 
3. Reality Stone: RIP Knowhere Inhabitants...and The Collector (?) 
4. Soul Stone: GAMORAAAAAAA NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
5. Time Stone: Star Lord, you #$%$^$%!!!
6. Mind Stone: RIP Vision! Also, half the universe!

I mean, that is just breathtaking hyper-competence right there. And did I mention he's a single dad? (swoon)

While the film puts Thanos front and center, plenty of other elements make this movie shine. For one, the action is spectacular and practically nonstop. Again, a list:

• Thanos fights the Hulk; 
• Ebony Maw and Black Dwarf fight Dr. Strange, Iron Man, and Spider-Man;
• Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive fight Vision and the Scarlet Witch;
• Thor fights a star;
• Thanos fights Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Star Lord, Drax, Mantis, and Nebula.

There are a lot of crowd-pleasing last-minute saves in the action scenes, with the "Avengers" theme thundering in on cue. The battle in Wakanda during the third act is especially nuts, with awesome sequences like Bucky and Rocket becoming a murder merry-go-round, the Scarlet Witch finally taking the field ("Why was she up there this whole time?" Okoye exclaims), and Thor making a grand entrance.

In place of character building, the theme of choice and sacrifice is highlighted throughout Infinity War. "The hardest choices require the strongest will," Thanos declares, proving himself equal to the task at Vormir as he offers his beloved daughter in exchange for the Soul Stone. Meanwhile, Captain America is adamantly against sacrificing even one life to save countless others: "We don't trade lives," he says, a sentiment echoed by Vision, the would-be sacrifice.

Speaking of dialogue, there's plenty of humor to offset the darkness of the film. The music immediately becomes light when the Guardians of the Galaxy first come on screen, a parallel to their offbeat family dynamic. Among them, Thor continues his comic streak from Thor: Ragnarok, although the magnitude of all his losses finally hits him when he has a heart-to-heart with Rocket (whom he calls "rabbit" throughout the entire movie). Spider-Man is as endearingly clueless as ever, Drax even more so, and Mantis' "mean face" was the first LOL moment for Fragrant Husband.

Yet despite all the the fighting and the occasional laughs, the movie ends with Thanos' triumph, earning him an idyllic sunrise view, while our surviving heroes take in the enormity of their failure. I was particularly touched by Peter Parker's pleading as he fades away--"I don't want to go, please, I don't want to go, Mr. Stark." ;_;

***

"I finally saw Infinity War and now I am sad," I texted my dad.

"Why?" he replied. I was rendered speechless for a minute.

As it turns out, he was not indifferent to the fate of the unlucky half of the universe--he was simply convinced that they're all in an alternate reality--"otherwise the movie makers will get lynched."

I also believe that this is all part of Dr. Strange's long game--the one future where they win over Thanos. And it sure looked to me like Shuri did...something to Vision's synapses when her lab came under attack.

I'm so pumped for the next movie, because Captain America, Black Widow, and Okoye barely did anything in Infinity War except be badass, which means they get more screen time in the next movie!

In the meantime, Marvel fans have Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel to tide us over. And Deadpool 2 just came out! What a time to be alive!

***

TL;DR: Can't wait for part two of this tragedy!

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