Wednesday, May 15, 2019

"Avengers: Endgame" (2019)

I've been writing this review in my head for days.  Weeks, actually.

First of all, let's be very clear:  I love this movie.  Love it with a deep, satisfied sort of love that I didn't dare hope for after Infinity War left me so, well, angry.

Maybe you remember how I said in my review of it that my sadness over Infinity War was not the same kind of sadness I feel by the end of Hamlet.  I love Hamlet, obviously, and it's tragic, but it's a tragic that leaves me feeling cleansed, washed clean, and at peace somehow.  Infinity War was not that.

You wanna know something crazy?  Endgame is not sad.  I mean, it has sadness, but it ends on an upbeat note.  But Endgame leaves me feeling a lot like I feel after watching or reading Hamlet.  Calm.  Washed clean.  Peaceful.  Serene, even.  And that's a huge part of why I love it.

I've seen it twice now, and I yearn to see it again -- maybe I can make that happen this weekend somehow.  I need Cowboy to see it, if only so I can talk about it around him.

SPOILERS from here on out.  I'm serious.  Lots of spoilers.


You know what else I love?  How much closure we get.  Totaly, true closure for so many character arcs, so many threads.  I'm a stickler for closure, and that's a lot of why middle movies in trilogies don't often please me -- no closure.  But this?  So much of it.  Thanos is for real gone.  Cap is for real married to Peggy.  Hawkeye is for real reunited with his family.  Thor is for real going off on new adventures and leaving the throne of Asgard to someone who is, if not more worthy, at least more interested.

Okay, so, speaking of Thor, let me just say that maybe now people will FINALLY believe me when I say that I love him not for the fact that Chris Hemsworth is hot but because of who Thor is as a person.  And man, do I love him in this movie.  He's despairing and depressed and hiding from himself, and I love him.  Nothing I love more than a character who genuinely needs help.  My poor darling.  I love that he works through his problems with his mom's help and is back on an upward trajectory by the end.

And I love that Captain American can wield Mjolnir.  Opening day, the crowd cheered there.  I had such a great crowd that first viewing -- so much clapping, cheering, gasping, laughing.  Wonderful.  I went to see it again a week later, and nada.  Boring people.  But anyway, I love that Mjolnir got to be in this again (Thor's "I'm still worthy!" moment is one of my fave Thor moments ever), and that he got to use both it and Stormbreaker together, and that Cap got to use it, and and and and... so cool.

Cap really just... was spectacular in this.  He's been my second-fave Avenger for years now, and I may have mentioned a time or twenty that he and I share an MBTI type, ISFJ.  While I actually identify more with Thor than Cap, I really understand him a lot, and I love that he stepped up and was just... exactly who he needed to be, who he could be.  In fact, the only character arc I was more impressed by was Tony Stark's.

And now here come the tears.  Man.  Maaaaaaaaaaan.  I never would have imagined that I'd love Tony this much.  That I'd be this affected by his loss.  Because I never expected that this is how much he'd grow.  Still the weisenheimer, still the genius, but gentler now.  Matured.  At peace with himself.  Ready to rest.  Wow.

Okay, but back to Cap.  Of all the things that happen in this movie, the absolute biggest surprise for me was that Cap found a way to be with Peggy at last.  I did NOT see that coming.  I could NOT be happier about it.  It was something I never thought they'd try to do, much less make work, and I'll never be able to listen to the song "It's Been a Long, Long Time" without tearing up again.  I mean, that song always made me kind of misty as it is, but now?  Find me a mop.

So many things I love in this movie.  That Sam gets to be Captain America now.  That Bruce found a way to make peace with the Other Guy.  That Black Widow wiped all that red out of her ledger.  That we get Gamorra back, but only sorta.  That Loki is now maybe not dead or something?  That Thor and Tony got to interact with their lost parents one last time.  That Happy is there for Morgan.  That we got that random cool shot of all the Marvel Superheroines together.  Just... so much perfection in this movie.  So much of it.

Okay, okay.  I think I'm done.  For now.  If I manage to see it again this weekend, I might have more thoughts, but basically... yay.  Yay, yay, yay.

And also whew.

(Look how severely sad he is!  Want to hug!)

9 comments:

  1. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS REVIEW.

    *throws confetti*

    I totally agree with you about loving this movie more than IW; I think Infinity War was just what it needed to be for its overall place in the franchise [the shocking, brutal 'next-to-last' installment in the Avengers saga]; but Endgame is a real, true ending and it's a peaceful ending and THAT is the kind of story I REALLY, REALLY LOVE.

    I love endings.

    Thor was awesome in this movie!!! At first when he came onscreen I squirmed a bit, like "uhhh are they just gonna make fun of him for three hours?" but very quickly I realized that NO, they were NOT going to make fun of him, they were actually going to delve seriously into his issues and help him resolve them. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS.

    Endgame made me love Tony Stark as much it is humanly possible for me to love that character--which is not a HUGE amount, but it's still decent. I definitely teared up a bit at the hologram scene, where he told Morgan "I love you 3000."

    My absolute favorite things about this movie are tied at a) Nat sacrificing herself for the people she loves (*MANY FEELS*) and b) Cap going home to be with Peggy (*EVEN MORE FEELS*). Both of those things are such perfect endings to their respective character arcs, you know??? Black Widow changes from a person haunted and weighed down by guilt to a person brimming with Christ-like love. Steve changes from a person who can't ask for anything for himself to a person who willingly lays down his burdens and walks away to pursue his own happily-ever-after.

    I AM SO PROUD OF MY CHILDREN. <333

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    1. I don't love partings, but I love good endings. Does that make sense? Maybe that's why I love this so much -- there aren't a lot of partings at the very end. It's not all, "And they all went their own ways and never saw each other again." We said goodbye to Tony and Steve and Nat, but everybody didn't say goodbye to everybody. They haven't lost each other. I love that.

      Anyway, um, yes. I was a little worried in Thor's first 5 Years Later scene that they were going to let Hemsworth embrace his comedic side TOO much, but they didn't. They let him play Thor as real and flawed and goofy and strong and, well, human, which is something he excells at.

      I can't even read the phrase "I love you 3000" without tearing up. Ouch. Right in the feels.

      I have a friend who basically can't stand Tony Stark... and she cried over his funeral. She was like, "I think I can like him now. I think I get him now." She still finds him annoying, but... now she can like him. Which is a little like my journey with Loki where, by the end of Ragnarok, I was finally able to like him. Still annoying, but I'll deal.

      I think Steve was finally able to accept that... he's not Superman, if that makes sense? That he couldn't save the world on his own, and that others will be able to save it without him. Just because he's special doesn't mean he's all the world has. And so I love that he was able to feel like he'd fulfilled his duty and could go home.

      SO many things I have left to say about this movie! I need to write another post. I want to see it again first, tho.

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    2. Yes, that definitely makes sense! I actually do love partings, when they're done right--but I felt like the (few) partings in this story WERE done right and given plenty of emotional weight, so I was very happy with that.

      Right. For me, Tony is just never going to be a character I LIKE; but I can understand and respect him as a human being, now, to a much greater degree. Which is good.

      YOU PUT THAT PERFECTLY. He's not Superman. He's not the only one who can protect the Earth, and it's not his job to protect the Earth forever without resting. It's OKAY for him to hand it off to other qualified people. That is such a shatteringly important lesson and I love, love, love how they illustrated it here.

      I may need to write another post myself, haha! My original review was super long & complicated as it is . . .

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  2. Oh, this movie was spectacular! Really wonderful ending. Oh, Happy being there for Morgan made me so incredibly, well, happy!!

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  3. Loved reading your thoughts on this! I was happy about all the closure too. It was so good. It met all my expectations, actually it exceeded them. It's awesome that you were able to write a post on it, I have a hard time writing anything about stuff like this.
    too many feelings XD

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    1. Skye, I feel the same! Expectations exceeded.

      "Too many feelings" is why it took me so long to finish this!

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  4. I just watched this and had to come back to find some of the reviews I avoided (I did great on spoiler avoidance). I spoiled Infinity war before I watched it (intentionally) and didn't really fully focus on it (it felt like filler, plus too many battle/action scenes), but maybe I should rewatch it and Endgame together at some point? Anyway, I wish I'd seen Endgame in Theater. I like individual Avengers, but I've never cared for the Avenger movies. I liked Cap Am: Civil War though with all of them. I LOVED Endgame. So many details, everything, and everyone was done so perfectly.

    No character was spoiled. The characters who get on my nerves all had excellent parts. Every detail, every thread was tied up, and not hastily or sloppily either. I'm better at criticism that praise. It was just so good. The timing, the perfect mix of humor with humorous music with deeper themes (that is hard to do without being jarring or devaluing the deeper themes).

    I love Thor, that is an interesting point. I still wish he'd go back to fit. Though not as bulked as he was before, that was too much. Yeah, Thor's personality and character are great. He was awesome in Ragnarok, for some reason he seems to be underrated? Or people just didn't like all the Thor movies. He and Cap are definitely the most honorable, most heroic of the superheroes.

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    1. Livia, glad you got to see this at last! Yes, everything was done so perfectly in this. Mmmmm, so good in every conceivable way.

      I like what you say about the humor. MCU has been pretty good at using humor to help relieve tension, not deflate it, and that really shone so much in this.

      Since Chris H is obviously still super-ripped, I'm sure Thor will come back to some level of fit, eventually.

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