Avengers: Endgame - Review
The wrap-up of for most of the original MCU characters was a hit and miss production. I will get to the details of whether it was more hit than miss in a moment. The story did warrant the three hour running time, as each lead-in to a solution was drawn out, only for a character (or two) to have their
"Eureka!" moment.
GOOD: There were just a few good to strong moments to be found in this outing:
- Thor's "I knew it!" Yes, that little contest in Age of Ultron had to have been Steve pretending he could barely move Mjolnir to avoid embarrassing Thor. Just another one of Cap's traits that made him one the few beings in the universe worthy enough to lift/wield Mjolnir--and as effectively as Thor himself. His beatdown of Thanos perfectly merging his Cap-tactics with the power of the hammer was a sight to behold. ...and a bit of mockery aimed at those endless fans who saw the Infinity War trailer of Cap holding back Thanos' gauntlet as being evidence of Cap's impending demise
- Falcon's "On your left" Who else (other than Bucky) would be the one voice he needed to hear? / as the first sign of the dusted members returning
- Captain Marvel's smile as Peter introduced himself. It almost seemed she thought he was trying--in his clumsy, teenage manner--to put on his best face for her
- Pepper joining the final battle, now apparently as adept at using the armor and its bells and whistles as Tony
- Wanda assuring Clint that Natasha is aware of the heroes' victory. Some are already speculating that her soul is "trapped" in another version of the Soul Stone...somewhere, as she was the sacrificed being, thus suggesting the possibility that she could return at some time in the future. That, or Wanda has the power to sense the active souls of those who crossed over to the afterlife. While I would like to see Natasha return, her sacrifice would hurt her own as well as Clint's development, considering her effect on his life in the wake of his being possessed by Loki's scepter.
- All things Clint. The most marginalized character in the MCU held the MVP status more than once in this film, and seeing his family life makes him one of the most human, appealing of the MCU heroes.
- Thor meeting his mother. That's all one needs to know about how personally / psychologically destructive time travel to one's own past can be. This was no Marty McFly romp
- The funeral scene has been analyzed to er..death...but it's pretty clear that the camera ending on Maria Hill, then Carol, and finally Fury meant a couple of things: one, Danvers is set up as the future of the MCU (obviously), along with one of her closest allies/friends in Fury, but it was expected that the shot would end on the man who set up the Avengers in the first place, the perfect coda to this Thanos v Avengers conflict. I wanted to see a moment between Carol and Fury--her response to his return (after the despondent look on her face as she learned he had been dusted)
- I've always appreciated Clint acting as Wanda's surrogate big brother (Age of Ultron / how quickly she joins him in Civil War), but I wish they had more screen time together, with both now needing a shoulder to lean on
- The signature of the core / original MCU cast had the feel and intent of the scene which seemed to inspire it--the signature of the main cast at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
BAD: For every great Steve/Cap moment (culminating in the Mjolnir scene), his entire multi-film arc was upended by his decision to stay in the past:
- Steve refers to Peggy as the love of his life, but in reality, the timeline of Captain America: The First Avenger did not establish that he knew her long enough to have more than an intense crush; there was not enough time for the two to bond to support how he expressed himself in this film. At least with Tony and Pepper, we were able to see their development, the ups and downs--the trials which tested the foundation of their relationship so with every word, one could see how bonded they were.
- Part of Steve's arc was that he had to accept the hand that fate dealt to him and move forward; in The Winter Soldier, he was able to visit the bedridden Peggy, but he must have known that she did--in fact--move on to marry and have a family, but not with regret, As she pointed out to Steve:
"The world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes, the best that we can do, is to start over."
- ..and he appeared to be prepared to do that. Even as he discovered Bucky was alive, his trying to save his friend was not about reliving the past, but giving his friend a chance to escape the trap that was the Winter Soldier program (and the crimes he committed). His fighting for Bucky in Civil War is an extension of that. Further, in meeting Sam, he found yet another surrogate brother / best friend who seemed to understand him in a way even the other Avengers did not, with the possible exception of Natasha. That's Steve not just moving on (contrary to what he said in this film), but being in the process of making a solid, new life for himself (and whatever happened to his interest in Sharon? Even after Civil War, his working in a unofficial capacity did not mean he had to drop the burgeoning relationship with her).
- Then, there's the tossed-against-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks time travel theory (and that's putting it nicely); if Banner's hypothesis is true:
"If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't now be changed by your new future--"
- ...then Steve could not meet Sam and Bucky as an old man in what was once his original, shared timeline with them, since Banner is suggesting one cannot return to said original, shared timeline, when in fact, he (I'm addressing as First Timeline Steve, or FTS) forever altered it simply by traveling to the past. Ah, but the problems have not even taken off the launchpad: Steve committed a major act of temporal tampering by going back to Peggy--who in the original timeline, ended up with a family. With Peggy now presumably married to Steve, that is definitely a new timeline, which also takes a divergent course by the time of Civil War, where Peggy's funeral was attended by First Timeline Steve, Sam and Natasha.
- Now, either one believes time will play out as seen in Civil War, or Sam and Natasha will not be in attendance at the funeral, since there's no First Timeline Steve to draw the to the service, and in fact, the damage is even greater, since unlike the original, shared timeline, Sam would never have met First Timeline Steve and become the Falcon, there would have been no one to reach Bucky to restore his true self, etc.
- Some have already theorized that First Timeline Steve should not be able to exist in the altered past, since there would still be a version of that man frozen in the wreckage of The Valkyrie, waiting to be discovered some seven decades later. If and when he's discovered (again), FTS would be an old man, but his younger self is supposed to simply slip right into that same series of events starting with the conclusion of The First Avenger? If Banner was correct, that frozen Steve--the Altered Timeline Steve (or ATS) would be waking up in a very different reality--and one not shared by original timeline Sam and Bucky--therefore, Bucky would not expect to see the old Steve on the bench, no matter what FTS told him before the trip.
- Additionally, someone might ask what's to stop FTS from trying to locate the facility where Bucky was being transformed into the Winter Soldier and perform a rescue operation, which would not only restore his friend to a fairly normal life in or around his natural time, but possibly spare the lives of endless assassination victims, including Tony's parents? I'm sure someone would say, "Hydra would just send someone else to kill them..," but what would stop the already time-manipulating FTS from continuing to alter history, since he did exactly that by being with Peggy? He knows when the Starks were killed, and could easily work to prevent that from happening. He should not see this as a problem, as he would have no expectation of the timeline he created to have any bearing on the First Timeline he left behind/ahead.
Aside from the many plotting and character problems surrounding Steve's decision, the trip to 2012--the New York battle sees Steve create yet more problems; not only does he tell his earlier, FTS self that Bucky is alive; even if earlier FTS did not believe him, the mere fact that the idea was floated out there would alters some decisions--perhaps inspire him to look into the possibility of Bucky surviving.
Then, there's the
"Hail Hydra" line; unlike the original, shared timeline, were Pierce, Sitwell, Rumlow, et al., were convinced Steve was an enemy who (ultimately) needed to be killed though the Project Insight program, FTS convincing the Hydra moles that he was a loyal member alters the future drastically. In this altered timeline, Cap would either have the protection of Hydra, or his earlier, unaware self (post 2012) would eventually be tested and exposed as a threat, as each member would have had no previous knowledge of Steve joining Hydra (in other words, no verification from Pierce and Co.), thus,that little ploy from FTS would stand a good chance of costing his earlier self his life.
Finally, Steve--loyal as he seems to be in the MCU--should not even consider leaving behind his two best friends/surrogate brothers, after all they've been through not only in battle, but as friends They were/are his true family, and provided a support system for Steve to continue his journey as part of the present--doing exactly what old Peggy suggested. In the end, that decision was just a poor way of getting Cap out of the MCU (becoming an old man) without killing him off.
Although
Avengers: Endgame made many a joke about the time travel tropes of TV and movie sci-fi productions, it read as if the screenwriters trying to play a little psychological game with the audience, meaning, if they have characters write off nearly every popular media interpretation of time travel as nonsense, Banner's theory would be critic proof (from fans injecting their own challenges to his theory based on other films), and as a result, seem plausible. Well, if that was the intent, it did not work, as explained above. I would say 95% of time travel stories make little to no sense whatsoever, including the one used in A:E.
Its as filled with eyebrow-raising theories as any I've seen before, generating more challenges to / questions about it than anything else (much like Admiral Kirk selling his eyeglasses to a pawnshop in the otherwise great
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, only to confidently state the glasses were--and would be a gift again, when he could not know the glasses' historic chain of possession, and if his sale forever altered it ever coming into McCoy's possession).
No Netflix Marvel characters. That was a major missed opportunity.
So ends the adventures of the original core group of MCU characters. I'm not sure how the next phase will play out, and if there's anyone left with a character (and actor interpretation) as effective as the best of the original group (Evans as Cap/Steve above all others). Further, I am very interested in checking out the Falcon/Bucky series, and if its less buddy cop format, and more about how they must carry the weight of the world on their shoulders (and live up to Steve's expectations), in a new, somewhat depressing world.
GRADE: A tightrope-walking balance between
C+ / B-
