Avengers: Endgame

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Infinity Saga

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Edit Coming 06/01/26

Well, here it is! Eleven long years in the making, this is the final chapter in the 'Infinity War' saga, all starting with 'Iron Man' back in 2008. The results are well-established. People are saying things like "best Marvel movie in the MCU" and "One of the greatest achievements in cinematic history" and "I laughed, I cried, I cheered". IMDb already has it as #5 on their 250 Top Rated Movies, sandwiched between 'The Dark Knight' and '12 Angry Men'. Rotten Tomatoes currently rates it with a whopping 96%, and it's set to be the #1 Box Office opening weekend of all time, only behind its predecessor. Needless to say, it's a massive hit! But is it REALLY that good?

Of course we know that this covers the events that occur after "The Snap", which decimated half of the population of the universe. And honestly, if that's a spoiler for you, go away, you shouldn't be here. Anyway, this film largely covers how the remaining Avengers deal with their losses, deal with Thanos, and deal with trying to set everything right, and that's ALL I'm gonna say about that with the risk of entering spoiler territory at the drop of a hat.

I'm happy to say that, at least speaking for myself, I can pretty much agree with what everyone else has to say about it. At best, it's probably the all time greatest superhero movie I've seen in my entire life, and I am not just kissing its ass. At worst, it's three hours of a lot of fun. This really is the coming together of all 21 of its predecessors, and it does it beautifully. Callback after callback is executed, and it wraps it all up in a nice, neat, little package.

The performances are everything they need to be, with characters like Cap (Chris Evans) and Widow (Scarlett Johannsen) being the heart and soul of the movie while characters like Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) provide the comic relief and characters like Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) are given some great development on their respective characters. I'm telling you, every character serves a purpose here, and no one completely gets pushed to the background.

The action sequences feel as if the sudio just said "You know all that money we made over the past 11 years? Let's make it into something awesome!" I feel like the climax of this film ends up being well worth the wait, and the way the film ends puts a nice, solid lid on the contents of the past decade.

The action is also beautifully balanced with the drama and comedy alike. There really is something here for everyone, and my inner geek was thoroughly satisfied. Any criticism I actually have for this movie is what I would call a nitpick, and I just can't bring myself to do it because this still gave me more than I expected - an I expected a LOT. I laughed often, I teared up a few times, I even clapped and cheered along with the rest of the audience, sporting a massive smile on my face the whole time.

For me, it's a damn near perfect execution of a superhero movie, even though even I can admit that it's not an all-around perfect film. But again, I just can't bring myself to start nitpicking. I had the most fun in the theater that I've had in a very long time with this, and the cheering audience really added to my experience. I will most definitely be seeing it again, and I can't wait to own this on blu-ray so I can watch it and rewatch it time and time again. This may very well be my new all-time favourite superhero movie - a bold statement, but seriously, watch it. It's a Marvel geek's dream come true!

POST-CREDIT SEQUENCE: As the credits finish rolling, you can hear the sound of hammering metal. Presumably, this is a call-back to 'Iron Man', fashioning his first suit, symbolizing the beginning of this saga.

5/5

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