Avengers: Endgame

Our Review

The payoff. Twenty two movies of set up converge on a three hour funeral, heist, and revival that functions as both a war picture and a victory lap for the biggest ensemble ever assembled. The boldness is in the first hour: the film opens on the heroes having already lost, five years past the snap, and lets grief sit on screen in long, quiet takes nobody expected from this franchise.

The time heist is the loving middle, a museum visit disguised as a plot, walking back through 2012 New York, Asgard’s last days, and 1970s Camp Lehigh to borrow stones from the franchise’s own history. The jokes about their old movies are earned, and the scene between Tony and his father in a stairwell is the series at its most humane. Fat Thor became the film’s most argued image, and deservedly: grief played as comedy played as grief.

The final battle, every surviving character pouring through portals to a chorus of ringing shields, was the cultural event of the decade, and the staging keeps it legible at a scale that should not be. “Avengers, assemble” finally gets spoken. Tony’s sacrifice lands the landing, a franchise ending by giving its first hero the last word.

Flaws exist: Natasha’s exit is rushed, Captain Marvel arrives conveniently. Our score: 9/10 anyway.