Spoilers alert! (Is there anyone who hasn’t seen it yet!)
A complete ode to the fans and a fitting reward for us being glued to the screens for over a decade, religiously watching every one of those 22 films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The grand finale of a journey that made the franchise perhaps the most valuable in the world.
The story picks up from where Infinity War left us - half the universe is gone, including our beloved superheroes, but Nick Fury’s last pager to Captain Marvel gives momentary hope, as with her help they find Thanos and kill him, but not before he has destroyed the stones. Depressed after the realisation that it is indeed all over, hope again returns with Ant-Man coming back from the quantum realm, bringing the possibility of time travel and undoing what Thanos did 5 years ago. With a plan to steal the infinity stones right from their source before Thanos gets them, and bringing back all who are dead, the leftover Avengers embark on a journey through time and space, giving us an enjoyable nostalgic ride of some of the last 10 years of MCU. Easier said than done of course. With many obstacles in the past, classic Marvel action, and clever lines, making us smile throughout, we get the much desired grand climax and the epic battle (once again) between the Thanos army and all our favourite superheroes. Many moments of cheer, adrenaline, humour, and wow!
Is it good action? Yes. Good special effects? Yes. Big screen entertainer? Yes. Paisa Vasool? Yes.
A mind-blowing the-end of an iconic Avengers saga worthy of its epic-ness? Not exactly.
In many ways, Endgame suffers from what I call the “curse of the sequel”. When the first movie is so good, the sequel always disappoints, even though by itself it may have been a perfectly good movie. And we know so many of these underwhelming sequels. In that sense, the Avengers series peaked with #InfinityWar, where we saw all superheroes together for the first time, each flexing their special strength against an undefeatable enemy, and failing spectacularly. Because we had Infinity War, by the time we came to Endgame, we had seen-there-done-that all superhero action. What more could there be?
And that’s why what Endgame needed was a more powerful story that led to the inevitable endgame. We all knew how it would end, what we wanted to be wow’ed by was HOW it got to the end. Unfortunately, that’s where the makers took a lazy path, with a simple time-travel plot (masked as complex quantum theory!), mixed with dollops of self-indulgent MCU nostalgia, and with emotional shockers of a few unexpected deaths. The emotions that the audience feels with our loved superheroes becomes a substitute for a good story. And that’s where #Endgame disappoints and comes as a distant second to #InfinityWar
The other thing that made Infinity War was Thanos, the complex, multi-layered villain who is chasing the larger purpose of making the universe a better place (and not a selfish egotistical power trip). He was so good at being bad that his victory was inevitable. But Endgame misses this vital part of the plot and reduces Thanos to just another villain, who simply must be destroyed. Such a miss!
Despite all this, #Endgame needs to be watched and celebrated as the culmination of an epic decade with MCU, that has given us THE defining mythology of our times.
#Endgame is indeed the end of an era. But, that can only mean one thing... the one thing that comes after the end.. a new Beginning. Marvel, we’re ready...
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