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| By Eileen Steinbach |
This movie is a work of art! The Russo Brothers certainly have made some of the best MCU installments to date, but the soul sapping Infinity War was an extremely horrendous gut-punch that left the world (both real and MCU) in a dark place. We just needed to see how things were meant to end. They had to tie up a lot of loose strings.
Gladly, they followed up with Endgame. I am not going to do a blow-for-blow recap of the movie, but I will address some salient points that really stood out to me. I am happy that they put us in the thick of things, pretty much shortly after Thanos' snap: the world was awry, and the Avengers were still scrambling to make some sense of the world, finding some sort of solace in heroics. By the time that arc is resolved (shortly afterwards), they are plunged into true despair, and it is only then, after a well placed time jump (ahem... "Venom") that the mechanics for righting the world finally show up with the appearance of Ant-Man (yep, the Quantum Realm).
The seamless integration of all the various MCU characters started earlier, but cemented in Infinity War, continues to shine through in this movie: the Guardians of the Galaxy (GoTG) roster is basically only Rocket and Nebula, Tony's basically retreated into family life and has abandoned the Avengers (specifically Captain America); Black Widow is basically running point for Avengers operations, Hawkeye has become the anti-hero Ronin, and Bruce Banner has managed to bring forth the Professor Hulk identity thanks to some Gamma experimentation.
Thor has a really sad arc to his story (it's just been a steady decline), but the Russos can't resist the urge to poke more fun at the character, in much the same way that Taika Watiti started off in "Thor: Ragnarok". After the jump, Thor pretty much turns into "The Dude"from "The Big Lebowski" (I managed to catch the "On your left..Lebowski" on rewatching the movie). I haven't even watched that particular movie yet, but I recognized the character immediately he strapped on some shades and a cardigan. They really did Thor dirty!
The movie is not as fast paced as Infinity War in the beginning, but that is certainly not a weak point; Infinity War was pretty much a heist movie that was moving to the beat of Thanos' frenetic plans. This movie is a character study of the survivors, many of whom are dealing with "Survivor's Guilt", the pain of loss, and ultimately DEFEAT. People need to pick up the pieces before they can really become the heroes that we need them to be. Thor is about the worst possible manifestation of how far someone can fall; however, wise words from his mother Frigga end up putting him on the right track.
"Everyone fails at who they're supposed to be. The measure of a person, a hero, is how they succeed at being who they are"
The trippy mechanics of the Quantum Realm gave the directors a wonderful opportunity to reinsert future characters into a lot of past moments with future hindsight as something of a boon. It was also a chance to flesh out some going-ons that were merely glossed over/ segued out of in prior MCU installments. It was great to see that the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) did her part to protect NY during Loki's siege. It was also a joy to see the Shield/Avengers politics that played out regarding Asgard's jurisdiction with regards to Loki's judgment. All in all, it was just wonderful to see the vast roster of characters - villainous and heroic - that have been a part of this MCU-world reprise their roles, even if only for short cameos. Not only was it great fan service, but any excuse to heap more layers on already developed characters is a worthy endeavour in my books.
As with any movie that focuses on time travel, this movie sought to put its own spin on the time travel trope and put a lot of previous time travel movies on blast (usually through Ant-Man/Scott Lang). It did set us down some confusing paths in the process. I can understand that they returned the Infinity Stones back to the past from which they stole them to preserve the timelines as the Ancient one had hoped. (Definitely couldn't have Dr. Strange "bargaining" with Dormammu without the Time Stone!) But what about them taking Mjolnir away from Thor in his Dark World outing. Mjolnir was pretty important in Thor's battle against an overpowered Malekith. Or are we just meant to consider that Odin might have commissioned "Storm Breaker" to be made earlier in the new setting?
(Addendum: Cap just returned Mjolnir when he went back in time. Y'know, for a moment there, I'd thought that Mjolnir had become his new weapon of choice, but in all likelihood, he returned it just like he did the Stones.)
Also, they never let us know how Valkyrie, Korg, Miek and the other Asgardians were able to escape from Thanos' clutches between the events of Thor: Ragnarok and Infinity War. I mean, I knew New Asgard was definitely going to be included in this continuity, but they owe us a resolution to that little missing bit of info (along with the whereabout of Lady Sif). It is plausible that he could've just killed half of them and let the other half go, but if they could show us that for Gamora's world, they could certainly have shown it for Thor and the Asgardian remnant. Another thing that was also glossed over was how Thanos was able to steal the Power Stone from the Nova Corps. Infinity War just had a Power Stone wielding Thanos show up to obliterate Thor's ship, and Thor - while talking shop with the GoTG crew - mentioned that the Power Stone was stolen from the Nova Corps and that Thanos would be headed for Knowhere to get the Aether (Reality Stone). It seemed sad that this important event was relegated to the realm of exposition in such a summary fashion. I had hoped that this movie's time travel plot would at least have given us a glimpse into the raid on the Nova Corps
The Black Order is also a very overlooked element; their role was even smaller this time around (though Ebony Maw is an enticing character no matter how little screen time he receives). It would have been insightful to see how they came to serve the mad Titan, but that would have taken this movie beyond the epic length it already had. We know what their final destiny is, but I hope that there are plans to continue to use them in MCU stories about the past - similar to what was done with Capt. Marvel - and that way a full story can be told about the denizens of the Black Order.
Anyway, these few questions/ruminations aside, this movie remains a work of art. We have received fitting ends to the character of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. Tony suffered character assassination under the reins of Shane Black, but his appearances in Russo movies (Civil War, Infinity War) and Spider-man: Homecoming actually made him a more well-rounded and likeable character; and here, he shines like never before. Cap finally got his last dance, and to live a fully realized and enriched life - no longer that fish out of water. He's handed the Capt. America mantle over to Falcon, but it could just as easily shift over to Bucky (something that's already happened in the comics). It seems like it was curtains for Black Widow, but then we know she has a solo movie in the works; I pray that it contains a team-up between her and Hawkeye, and we can finally get to see the "Incident at Budapest" that they've been referring to since the very first Avengers movie.
Hawkeye and Nebula got the biggest character boosts from this movie. On a team of superpowered individuals, having someone who's merely an olympic-level athlete at peak fitness with no other augmentation means that Hawkeye typically has gotten overshadowed. However, as Ronin, he was very much in his element, taking the fight to street level thugs and handing out summary justice on the fly. Just like Age of Ultron, he now has another death on his hands, and it'd be interesting to see how things progress; he probably will name one of his children after Natasha...but first we need to see him in a Widow movie. Nebula on the other hand usually had limited range as an angry sneering individual. This time around we see the full switch with her bonding with Tony, and then Rocket, and even becoming part of a team. Everything comes full circle when her present self is juxtaposed against her subservient past. I think she will make a great anti-hero.
As for Hulk, the MCU needs to do him justice. The Professor Hulk is interesting, but he is not the strongest Hulk incarnation there is. Louis Letterier's Incredible Hulk was a travesty to the character, and managed to do much less with the character than Ang Lee's seminal Hulk movie. (Besides have Hulk utter the line "Hulk Smash!"). Perhaps they should consider a similarly serious approach to the character as was the case with Ang Lee; they could always throw in Joe Fixit for added measure. There's a lot to unearth here, and I'm sure the MCU could do it right.
In summary, my biggest highlights from this movie:
- "On your left"
- "Avengers assemble"
- Captain America is worthy!
- "Hail Hydra"
Here's to the close of one chapter, and the promise of a new and better lineup of movies with great stories to tell.
God Bless
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