Avengers: Endgame

Endgame‘s pace is less frenetic, and some of the delicate mechanics of its plot are best not tested, but I found it totally engrossing, start to finish. It’s certainly a strong ending to a unique project Marvel began with Iron Man eleven years ago, the satisfying culmination of a single storyline stretched over twenty-three films. I’m so encouraged to see a film clearly not designed as a soulless cash grab make over a billion dollars in a snap. Marvel could have screwed this up and still achieved that billion dollar opening, but they had the integrity to make the final movie good, anyway. I hope this project becomes the new normal. My Avengers aware son and daughter have grown up in a world in which not just the first installment of a series is good, in which twenty-three largely coherent films have been part of a single, organized project. I hope their generation demands this kind of thoughtful film-making going forward.

The Good:
The opening scene of this film is so strong. Laughing to myself as I watched, I thought, “Right away, Endgame answers the internet’s most pressing question about Infinity War.” After the movie, I discovered that my mother actually found the opening weak and boring. I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree, but if you hate the opening, we can still be friends. I mean, I still love my mother. (I just think she’s wrong.)

I love the way this film gives more time to all the heroes that the last movie seemed to shortchange. I was particularly glad to see a more central role for Black Widow. And with no exaggeration, I can attest that Captain America’s part is ten zillion times better here than in Infinity War where his major contribution seemed to be having a beard and knowing people.

I’m not even particularly a Captain America fan. (I mean, I’m not not a Captain America fan. I used to love Chris Evans so much I daydreamed about naming a son Johnny–after the Human Torch, which is odd because I’m not crazy about those Fantastic Four movies. But Chris Evans is great in stuff like Cellular, Sunshine, Push, more recently Snowpiercer.) The weird thing is, in the whole Avengers’ Civil War, I sided decisively with Iron Man, so odd because the younger me was never one to swoon over Robert Downey, Jr., (though he is a brilliant actor). But I prefer Tony to Steve so much there’s really no contest, probably because I’m not imagining being rescued by one of them. (I’m always forgetting I’m a girl.) I’m imagining being one of them. I’d rather be Tony. There’s more room for imperfection in his worldview, and I actually think his choice is far more sensible than Steve’s. (See how I’m not giving spoilers? I’m barely even talking about the movie at all! I’m talking about a different movie instead!)

I do really love Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter, though. She’s one of my favorite Marvel characters, like a real life Wonder Woman. (I thought her TV show was terrific, and I hardly ever even watch TV!) (And actually, the Captain America films are some of Marvel’s best because they’re really just Avengers movies with a different title.)

The point is, Captain America gets a much, much better storyline here than I ever could have hoped for, and I find it immensely satisfying (whether it makes any sense or not). (And actually, it does make sense unless you want to be ornery. The ending may be a bit tricky, but ending his story in a different way given the plot of this movie would make absolutely no sense and would have made me go berserk with the mounting frustration I was feeling until the story did end that way.)

Tony also gets a fantastic storyline here, as he should since he is clearly the star of this ensemble piece/project. I expected much of what happens with him, but the Captain America stuff I did not think to anticipate, so it’s hard to say which character arc I liked more. Both characters get fantastic treatment.

What’s going on with Thor is a bit weird, but Chris Hemsworth is so funny, and I love him as the character so much. (Honestly, Thor: Ragnarok may be my favorite Marvel movie. It may not deserve the honor, but I can’t help liking it the best right now. It’s so fitting that the movie is about Ragnarok since my mother and I surprisingly feel the same way about it.)

I expected Endgame to give us more of the heroes we saw less of last time and less of the heroes we saw more of (most of whom are conveniently dust when the story starts). So I was happy that it does that. (That’s not a spoiler, surely!) (I’m not sure how I feel about Mark Ruffalo’s new thing, by the way. I might be with Valkyrie on that one. I’m not sure. It’s a lot to get used to.)

What I did not expect were so many appearances by familiar supporting characters from various other Marvel films, many of whom appear after exits which seemed pretty final at the time. These encounters are all delightful.

I also appreciated the intricate nature of the plot. Action scenes are sometimes hard for me to follow, but most of this movie is less battle and more scavenger hunt. I liked that a lot.

From my perspective, the film holds up really well as a work of fiction. It contains so many pronounced echoes from Infinity War. It would be fun to analyze in depth. Perhaps on a literal level some elements of the story are a bit of a stretch. But if you move past the literal, so much great stuff is going on. And each character’s behavior (and journey) is so complex and fulfilling, you could discuss them all the same way you would talk about real people. What the characters do matters less than what they are trying to do and how their actions affect their emotions and their growth. If you like characters, you’ll love Endgame.

Best Scene:
Does New York count as a scene? I love that entire portion of the movie. In particular, I love Captain America’s clever aside in the elevator. I also loved seeing Hulk’s interlocutor.

For my daughter, the best scene involved a child’s bedtime. I agree the character interaction there is wonderful and am considering stealing a line to use myself.

Best Scene Visually:
One image that sticks with me is a random rat taking a stroll. So much happens because of that chance occurrence. I can think of another image that makes an impression, but it’s a spoiler.

Best Action Sequence:
I like Clint and Natasha’s fight. (I actually have some questions about that part of the story, but I certainly can’t ask them in a review attempting to be spoiler free.)

Obviously, though, the very end is the best, the climactic moment of the last big battle. (My husband, though, cited a slightly earlier moment as his favorite scene saying it drew applause from his audience which makes sense because it confirms a years old fan theory.)

On a random note, I asked my daughter which hero she liked the best in Endgame, and she shocked me by answering, “Spider-Man.” Her answer to my objections? “I know, but he’s just so cool, tho.” (I’m sure she spelled it like that in her head.)

The Negatives:
That this movie exists at all is a staggering achievement in storytelling and filmmaking, so I feel that any complaints seem petty. Still, there is something that fundamentally bothers me and probably always will.

Thanos makes a scary amount of sense. He’s not Loki with a scheme or the Joker sowing chaos or Lex Luthor making a power play. He’s Thomas Malthus granted god-like powers. As his name suggests, he’s Death personified. He’s what I imagine people deeply hostile to theism imagine God to be.

At first glance, his plan seems reasonable. He wants to cut the population of the universe by half, so the remaining half has adequate resources. And he selects people for termination at random, so he’s not some big purple Hitler. He may be committing mass murder on a universal scale, but he’s not committing a hate crime. He’s obsessively clear on that point. Granted if you think about the immense power the stones give him, you do start to wonder why he doesn’t just use the gauntlet to create adequate space and resources, surely a more creative and god-like solution to the problem. If you’re like me, you’ll probably conclude that Thanos is a little bit nuts with off-the-charts delusions of grandeur and a level of narcissism that would make him immensely entertaining on Twitter.

But here’s the problem I have with this plot. Once Thanos has snapped half the universe out of existence, then the threat vanishes, especially given ensuing developments in the movie which I will not spoil.

So….

Nobody likes it when their loved ones die. Few rejoice in the face of immense cataclysmic tragedy. (There are always some awful people who see natural disaster as a chance to profit, but they’re the extreme minority–which is how they get so rich.) But afterwards, those still alive move on. That is what must happen. That is how life works.

As we debated this point, my husband objected, “But this wasn’t a natural disaster. Thanos did this.”

“But he sees himself as Death,” I said. “Death is inevitable.”

“But he’s not actually Death,” my husband replied.

“Well, it’s what his name means,” I said.

I agree that Thanos is delusional. He is a false god. His will is not natural law. But from a human standpoint does it matter? Various wars and genocides have gutted the human population before, most of them orchestrated by beings who were not God. And even freak accidents and natural disasters (both of which do have causes, but there’s no need to get into that) have the same end result for survivors. Once people die, they’re dead. The living move forward.  

(Take note, if any of you gets attacked by Thanos, at least you’ll know from what I’m writing here not to wait for help from me.  I’ll be on the sidelines shrugging, “It’s probably fine.”)

Rocket has a line in this movie about how everybody dies, but some people died because of Thanos’s snap, and it is still possible to save only those people. I wanted to scream, “But why?” That’s the thing, though. If you’re going to enjoy the full emotional heft of this story, you’re going to have to accept its premise, conveniently summed up in this statement by Rocket.

But let’s face it. People’s lives are going to get screwed up by the Avengers’ tampering. Think of all those Thanos widows. Surely some of them have been able to move on. What if some of them were trapped in abusive situations before Thanos? “You’re welcome!” say the Avengers.

To be honest, I was initially horrified by their plan. “Oh no!” I actually gasped out loud as a certain scene began. I thought, “That choice is too terrible. That can’t be what they’re doing. There’s no happy ending there. The personal stakes become overwhelming. Hasn’t this character been tortured enough?”

But then they explained that nothing worked the way we thought it did, and I was hugely relieved.

Still, I’m left with some troubling plot-holey questions about what they actually did. My most pressing concern involves a huge loose end that I will reference only vaguely. What Hulk says to a certain magical person, the promise he makes, that can’t be fixed in every case. I’m fine with there being a B version of a certain character on the loose. That’s highly convenient for TV purposes, and what everyone was expecting to happen in some way I’m sure. But that means there’s also a B version of a certain rather important object. So what is going on there? Does an alternate timeline open up?

I’ll accept the movie’s premise that willful death in the form of noble self-sacrifice can’t be reversed (for humans) because I believe that’s the most human thing a mortal can do, sacrifice his life for another. In fact, only mortal beings can do that (though obviously beings who are all human and all God can also rise again, and, as we see in this movie, non human beings usually find a weird loophole). I do think, though, that the Avengers should have learned how to use the stones better before setting their plan in motion. I mean, they had time (as far as they knew). Maybe they’re not doing all they can with the stones. All they seem to know to do with them is one thing they stole from Thanos. Considering how much Thanos was able to do before he even put the stones into the gauntlet, I’m pretty sure their plan is needlessly limited.

So that’s the only real issue I have with the movie. It asks quite a lot as far as willing suspension of disbelief goes. My other nit-picky little quibbles cannot be discussed without extensive spoilers, and none of them matters much anyway because if you’re going to accept this unlikely premise, then you’re already willing to embrace the film on its own terms.

And now I will move on to my mother’s complaints about Endgame, of which there were many. (It’s always fun to discuss the movie afterwards, though I find it stressful that she calls it “your movie” as if I were on the creative team responsible. This always makes me feel like I need to defend a film, even when I don’t particularly care, sometimes even when I actively dislike a movie myself.) In this particular case, despite my Marvel fatigue, I did enjoy the movie much more than she did. Others may share her view of Endgame‘s shortcomings, though, so I find her points of critique worth mentioning.

First of all, she did not care for Thor’s new look, and I knew this would bother her because she’s in love with Chris Hemsworth. I will agree with her that jokes about Thor do get run into the ground. He has a much better part in the first movie (though that’s kind of the point).

She also found Hawkeye’s initial reaction disproportionate and pointless. I would argue that both the Thor alterations and the Hawkeye storyline are meant to convince us that this new reality isn’t working. The movie has to hammer that point home because, as I mentioned, for the movie to work, we have to accept the (basically untrue) premise that the Avengers cannot admit defeat and just let things continue as they are. I also think Hawkeye’s storyline gives far more significance to Black Widow’s overall series arc (actually extending beyond her first appearance in the films). As an Avenger, she wants to save everyone’s life. She wants to save Clint in a more personal and profound way.

My mother also found the opening of the movie slow. I didn’t. In fact, I thought the opening was extremely strong. She thought the Black Widow parts were boring. I disagree. I was glad to see more of Black Widow, a character I’m far more invested in than say, Scarlet Witch. (Both my mom and I feel the same way about Scarlet Witch as Thanos does when he first re-encounters her. I like Elizabeth Olsen. I’ve just never been able to get invested in the character, whereas, when Scarlett Johansson comes on screen, I immediately think, “Oh, there’s Nat!” like I’ve been on intimate terms with Black Widow for years.)

I agree with my mother that the story loses narrative tension and seems almost unfocused after the first confrontation with Thanos. But she’s viewing that as the beginning of the movie, while I’m looking at it as the middle of a movie which happens to be in two parts. Besides, I think the film deliberately evokes the sensation the audience feels at this point. It’s quite disorienting and disheartening for us, and we’re only watching. Imagine how the characters feel!

“It was very convenient that X wanted to do Y, so suddenly he did it in a night,” commented my mother, though far less opaquely. I see her point, but I do have some questions about that particular scene which may make the eureka moment less of a surprising fluke.

Now my both mother and my daughter complained afterwards about the insufficient use of a particular character, but I think overuse of that character would have been far, far worse. As a writer of fiction and an English major who spent years being force fed enormous quantities of literature (consensually), I have to say that some sort of dea ex machina ending to the final battle would have been a catastrophic disaster from a creative standpoint. The conflict ends perfectly, and they certainly took their time setting it up. Had it gone another way, all of those whiny horrible guys who complain about everything would have been right to complain.

My dad had a complaint, too, about the lack of military presence once a certain event happened, but I had to protest, “That isn’t what happened, though. X didn’t come from Y, X came from Z, remember?”

My husband really loved the movie. He said he went in with off-the-charts expectations and wasn’t disappointed. But he did have one small concern that my daughter shared, and it was about Nebula. If you’ve seen the movie, you probably know what I mean. We can’t think of an easy answer for that one, but we can think of about forty-five complicated answers.

When my son got home from the movie, he told me, “Well, the part with Superman was great, but there was a love scene between Gandalf and Voldemort that confused me, and I wish Snape had been in the movie more.” We didn’t have the chance to talk again after my showing.

Maybe we should have gotten a bit more Nick Fury. He’s really not in either of these movies in a significant way. I know we just saw him a lot in Captain Marvel, but is it right that in an Avengers movie, [actress’s name redacted] has more screentime than Samuel L. Jackson? Honestly, I think we see Natalie Portman more than Samuel L. Jackson, and I thought she vowed never to work with Marvel again. (Maybe that seems like a spoiler, but I’ll make up for it by leaving you with this confusing question, “Did Natalie Portman actually work on this movie?” I’m not completely sure even now.) (But she’s in the showy part of the end credits, and [actor’s name redacted] isn’t! And we’ve known he actually worked on this movie since stills were leaked from the set a hundred years ago!)

Overall:
This is the kind of movie that justifies spending $10 for a bag of popcorn, the kind of movie I grew up waiting for because I wanted the experience of going to see a big, fun blockbuster. If you like that experience, too, then you’d better go see this generation-defining pop culture event because there’s not another good popcorn flick coming out until Detective Pikachu on May 10th!