Avengers: Endgame

The Marvel Cinematic Universe, up to this point, comes to an end with an installment that easily ranks among the best in the series, with the film, which runs longer than any of the entries preceding it, detailing the titular heroes’ ongoing efforts at both stopping Josh Brolin’s villainous Thanos and somehow resurrecting their departed comrades. There’s little doubt that Avengers: Endgame benefits substantially from a reflective, somber opening stretch that’s focused almost entirely on the surviving characters’ grief, and it’s clear, too, that the narrative’s first major surprise upends the viewer’s expectations to an almost shocking degree (ie one can’t help but wonder where the story could possibly go beyond that point). It doesn’t hurt, certainly, that filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo have elicited uncommonly strong work from their various performers – Robert Downey Jr, for example, hasn’t been this good in quite some time – while the picture’s comparatively lighthearted midsection is as fun as it is engaging (although, having said that, it’s during this portion of the proceedings that the 181 minute runtime begins to feel a little padded out). By the time the picture charges into its expectedly action-packed and thoroughly crowd-pleasing (yet occasionally pandering) third act, Avengers: Endgame has definitively cemented its place as a better-than-average capper to as middling a series as one can easily recall.

*** out of ****