Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame
Kuvaus:
Trent OpalochSävellys:
Alan SilvestriNäyttelijät:
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch (lisää)Suoratoistopalvelut (3)
Juonikuvaukset(1)
The fourth instalment of the Avengers series is the once-in-a-lifetime culmination of 22 interconnected films and the climax of an epic journey. Earth’s heroes will finally understand how fragile our reality is – and the sacrifices that must be made to uphold it – in a story of friendship, teamwork and setting aside differences to overcome an impossible obstacle. (Disney / Buena Vista)
(lisää)Arvostelut (16)
I'm not a big fan of comic book CGI coloring books, but I have to capitulate here. Especially thanks to the middle section, when it clicks together beautifully like a sophisticated jigsaw puzzle that recalls all the previous Marvel movies, and the film rolls out such incredible fan service that it's almost admirable. That and the last nostalgic quarter of an hour will actually show how the suits from Marvel have it perfectly thought out in advance, even ten or fifteen years in advance. A perfectly tuned machine that is unparalleled in today's film studio constellation. Kevin Feige is a stud.
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Though not outright admiration, Endgame does at least deserve sincere recognition for how the creators managed to link the more than twenty films of the Marvel Universe so far, developing motifs from pretty much every one of them, but still holding things together somehow. And also because, even though the result was clear in advance (that end of Infinity War would be reversed), the way there managed to surprise more than once. The time travel scenes are really quite original. On the other hand, the effort to show at least for a moment almost every single character that’s had screen time in the ten-year history of the Marvel movies ended up hurting it. I felt it was way too overcrowded (both in the number of characters, as well as in the motifs, styles and moods), and I wasn’t able to fully focus and immerse myself in it. It also carries on with the typical problem of the Avengers films, the lack of a face of their own (which doesn’t apply to the solo outfits). It’s simply aesthetically uninteresting. I’m also giving it a 7/10, and the lower rating is because of what they did with Thor. That wasn’t humour, that was pure cringe.
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There is no doubt about the fact that the realization possibilities of a Hollywood blockbuster are at their peak. An expertly crafted ride that has no time to hesitate or fumble. But it lacked emotionally for me more than I was willing to admit at first. The anticipation of Thanos' uncompromising body count disappears at the snap of a finger, and where others had tears rolling down their faces, I just sat nervously. In that spectacular wringer of emotions, I actually enjoyed one very unexpected emotion when the two grown men just chat on the way to the car. The rest passed me by. Kevin Feige will be taught about someday. Hats off to him.
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Years ago, Marvel films were all the same for me. It is unbelievable how much the whole Marvel universe evolved, and I’ve gradually grown fond of even the characters I originally disliked. The climax came with this installment of Avengers, which I consider worthy of the walk of fame for films in Hollywood Boulevard. This is the ultimate filmmaking epic. For ten years the American filmmakers shower you with comic-book-based movies, just so everything connects into one endlessly awesome final battle against Thanos, probably the scariest adversary of comic book heroes ever. His goal is not to create evil, but to establish neutrality and the worst thing is that he has some solid arguments and fully believes in them. I had so much respect for this guy. I have also enjoyed the three hours long experience that had a good premise and message, entertained me and most of all, it gave enough space to every hero, which deserves applause. To put together all of this must have taken an enormous amount of work and I am happy I can award it today with the ultimate five stars. I could try to find some faults with it, but why would I do it? It was awesome!
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On the one hand, I'm glad the Russos broke the sequel rule of "cram more in than last time" and went a different route. But the truth is that this path is going more towards comic book fans than people who have no idea what Ant-Man's real name is... but they're not going to the cinema anyway, so what? Endgame manages to shock a few times in the first ten minutes, only to evolve in a direction that the trailers practically didn't even hint at. The directing duo conceived the whole thing in a much more intimate fashion this time around, relying heavily on fan service and clearly wanting to give each of the superhero veterans plenty of space. The humour is not absent this time either, but it's nice that the heroes are still aware that they screwed up last time and everyone has to deal with it in their own way. This more intimate mode suits the Avengers and makes things happen that even the most optimistic fans probably didn't hope for. Ironically, though, it's also the biggest problem, because it doesn't really start to get spectacular until the end. In sheer magnificence, Infinity War probably trumps Endgame, but I still felt like the whole thing could have come a little sooner. I enjoyed it a little more last time, but I can't imagine putting Infinity War on in a few years and saying I don't give a shit about Endgame. All in all, it works practically perfectly. And as a farewell to an era of cinema, more than worthy as well.
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If I were to look at it as a separate film, then I would have reservations about the lengthiness of the first (dramatic) third. God forbid, I could get bogged down in the time paradoxes of the second third, and God forbid I could be offended by the sentiment of the final third. But The Avengers are in a category for themselves, and blaming them for not being coherent doesn't make much sense. The films combine so many characters, positions and partial motifs that I can't think of a better solution than the similarly conceived 182-minute catharsis. If we start to see Endgame as a season finale, everything suddenly makes perfect sense. The focus on the key characters in order to give their existence absolution, the way in which elements of nostalgia (Endgame is a matrix of memories of previous films) are humorously inserted into the action, and even the epic climax that has the emotional impact of a falling meteorite. There is a feeling that there is a plan behind everything, which is so lacking in DC. The individual pieces fit into a jigsaw puzzle, and if you want one example, use Thor. I don't expect ground-breaking thoughts, formal stimuli or psychological depth from Marvel. I expect satisfaction. If anything comes after Endgame, it's a feeling of pleasant satiety. It may not be a generational Star Wars caliber event, but it's still more than a dignified end to hours of fun and years of honest work. If Nolan's Batman showed us that a super protagonist must be human to the point that he ceases to be super, the Avengers insist that he can be both. It may be naive, but it is uplifting.
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The culmination of the year's and indeed the century's cinematic event (the last time Harry Potter ended this way), the film lived up to its hype and delivered a perfect farewell to filmmaking so mature that I'm not afraid to call the Russo brothers a directorial powerhouse alongside Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino. With trailers that give almost nothing away, you will be surprised, shocked and emotionally wrung to the max for two and a half hours. Even though the film feels more like a heart-pounding drama for two hours (the action proper doesn't until the end), it doesn't matter at all because story-wise the film offers a lot. The time travel in particular presented in a very creative and entertaining way. The Hulk along with Thor take care of the humour, and the emotions work very well, too, at least three scenes had me in tears. Once the epic finale starts, I was absolutely buried in my seat, enjoying the ecstasy with orgasm so much that I still had trouble getting up ten minutes after it was over and I was also half paralyzed to the point of having trouble picking up my drink. Yeah I can't even remember such an experience I took away from the cinema. I can't imagine kids having fun with this movie. 100%.
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Avengers assemble! A crushing beginning, a pile of iconic moments, where whispers of disbelief mixed with deafening silence spread through the cinema, three movies in one, the best performances in eleven years (Robert Downey, Jr., Jeremy Renner), and a phenomenal conclusion that defies even the most daring expectations. In a way, three hours is too little, because those three hours are so full of glory that even a few days after the screening, I am still only retrospectively recalling fascinating scenes that were cautiously concealed under my first impressions. Definitely the movie of the year and, in terms of its pop culture impact, also a well-deserved, undeniable, extremely moving, and – precisely due to the intimacy of individual interactions – the unrivalled event of the decade.
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SPOILERS INCLUDED: Every long-running franchise matures with its viewers and incorporates motifs that resonate with their current ages. Just as Harry Potter advanced from children’s adventures to teen angst and turmoil, Marvel advanced through 22 movies. However, it is rather humorous that the longed-for culmination is dad cinema in spandex. Unfortunately, this does not pertain only to the central dirty trick on the female audience in the transformation of the physiognomy of the whole series’ main hunk, but primarily to the central motif of Endgame. It’s nice that a certain percentage of male viewers will proudly admit that they shed tears, but is that actually evidence of their supposed sensitivity or even of the film’s qualities? Do we rather have nothing to do with the fact that the film’s creators captured the pain of the current crisis of masculinity, where men themselves have made the whip in the form of accepting the diktat that they have to provide for their family and, concurrently, that they do not have to abandon their own self-fulfilment? What does it say about our society that if, in bidding the hero farewell, we hear the standard “I love you”, that would be an object of ridicule, but if hear “Don’t worry, we’re taken care of”, young fathers and husbands shed emotional tears? I also said to myself that hiring Alan Silvestri was a fine attempt to add a bit of a melodic background to a series afflicted with the curse of forgettable music. However, I did not expect that the master would steal from himself, resulting in a programmatically intentional copy of Forrest Gump. While you don’t know what you are going to get out of life, everything in this box of chocolates is by the book, including, unfortunately, the development in the style of the oft-ridiculed cliché “I have two days until I retire and I am the only character who has a private life in which something like this could happen”. But it is clear that these are merely the bitter words of someone who is not invested in the series as a true believer. After all, the individual scenes cannot be appreciated because there is no continuity. Seriously? Isn’t this pseudo-argument simply a justification for the time invested, because the mechanically cranked-out scenes of absolute exertion without structure simply cannot in any way enrich any memories? The fact that Iron Man argues with Captain America is no deeper than when your parents argue for the millionth time. Not because you have seen them go through a relationship crisis, but because in both cases only those affected play transparent roles and act in accordance with automatically accepted formulas. Let’s stop kidding ourselves that the MCU is anything more than a brilliant PR victory over viewers and critics because it was able to create the impression of an event and a unique experience of something that is calculated to the smallest detail, not from the bottom up by individual artists, but by seasoned corporate creatives from the top down. And that it was a wild ride and not at all a sure thing from the beginning. Does anyone still remember Hulk today? Not Ang Lee’s version, but the one with Edward Norton. That was a critical moment in the whole Marvel campaign, because for the first and last time, the creatives let go of the reins and lost their control over the result, after which they deleted the film and destroyed Norton’s career. This was followed by a strictly managed one-sided campaign in which the directors were either no-name assemblers of a puzzle pre-designed by the showrunner, or craftily chosen names that, long before the premiere, lent themselves to shaping the viewers’ acceptance of the film as something serious (Branagh), dark and gritty (Black) or refreshingly light-hearted (Waititi), even though all Marvel movies are always built based on the same foundation. Those who resisted were not allowed in at all or were promptly sent packing (Wright). In this there is something unique, a value and place in the history of the cinematography of this mammoth endeavour, regardless of the fact that the emperor not only has no clothes, but struts around for his fans. The icing on the cake is the vanity found in the closing credits, where the stars of the series even condescend to sign autographs for their admirers. While, like every proper manipulator, the true creators and geniuses of the MCU enjoy their position in the shadows.
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At first I though I understood this, but then I realized I don’t. Basically it doesn’t matter, because this was a farewell with all the trimmings. If Infinity War was a showcase, Endgame is a nostalgic way back to the sentence where it all started. I am Iron Man.
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For the first time, Marvel has made a solid comic book drama with existential overtones instead of a flat CGI fest about the destruction of the world, and everyone's completely stoked. Easily watchable, character-driven, with a delightfully sentimental finale. The catharsis of Captain America's character outweighs the others, though it's hard to say whether intentionally or not, while the time travel with all its paradoxes – equals an annoying pile of bullshit, as usual.
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A great finale literally brimming with surprises. Don't let anyone give anything away, go for it and then don't give anything away either, because it's really worth it. Along with the constant twists, though, Endgame has thrilled me with how it not only continues the story fromInfinity War, but also makes various full stops, exclamation points, and question marks for the stories that preceded it, somehow uses just about every worthwhile character (even from a series), and punctuates one joke from Age of Ultron with an incredibly epic scene so awesome... it's a must-see.
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Dozens of characters, more than three hours of runtime, time travel, the farewell to an era and the positions set up for the next, Avengers: Endgame is the most ambitious and massive blockbuster the world has ever seen. This is also thanks to the fact that it’s a very different film from Infinity War, it works with more genre templates and more narrative perspectives and has lots of moments and twists that will surprise most viewers, and amazingly, everything works. What surprised me the most is that this time they know how to slow down the story, in the tense moments they rely on the expressions of the actors and stay with them, even in situations that in previous films would have been quickly cut to another storyline. Though this does not generate an impression of expansiveness, it reinforces the personal stories of each of the heroes, all deeply marked by Thanos’s snap, and builds a superbly strong basis for the inevitable final clash. The film rides a lot on a wave of nostalgia and the time travel greatly strengthens its connections with previous episodes, where we get to see several confrontations that will warm the heart of any fan. At the same time, however, it differs significantly from other works in its construction, and triumphs in what the MCU has been successfully doing for a long time: oscillating between genres and narrative approaches. Up until now, that mix was spread only externally and not inside the films (the second Captain America is a spy thriller, the third Thor is a colourful comedy and Captain Marvel is a buddy movie), but here the genres alternate on the go to support the events in a reasonable way. The first 15 minutes basically bring the characters together exactly where Infinity War left them, and, after an unexpected twist, the story settles on a drama about a group of mentally normal people (though that normality is quite shaky in some cases) coming to terms with their failure and trying to restore the hope of a possible reversal. That is followed by a thoroughbred heist movie where the heroes have to outdo each other and carry out a difficult mission where everyone has their role, and the plot alternates more dynamically between them. But I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll jump straight to the climax, the most insane blockbuster carnage you can imagine. Yeah, the final battle is a visual and emotional barrage that perfectly completes the movements of the characters over the massive chessboard of the story, culminating in a check-mate that will cause unavoidable ecstasy. And even though there are moments when they joke too much, and not very tastefully at that, and there are a couple of scenes that make you say “come on, go on”, everything works brilliantly together, with the most important characters completing their arcs in an impressive fashion, and, though fans will shed tears over the closing of a beloved era, the ambitious structure of the film will also make them tremble in anticipation for the beginning of the new one. The epilogue is a bit too protracted, but I had long wished for a popcorn movie that would tell me more about the future fate of the characters instead of ending right after the climax. But this is not your average popcorn flick, it’s a fully respected form of the art of filmmaking that can entertain, impress and bring goosebumps all over the body, able to bring together dozens of characters and a massive world in a precisely organised narrative rhythm and to also be unpredictable and original. 90%
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What everyone thought was going to take three hours in Avengers: Endgame is actually over in twenty minutes and shrouded in total depression. The rest is a heist comedy in the style of Ocean's Eleven featuring Back to the Future 2 and featuring The Big Lebowski under the baton of Marvel in its best form and with an epic finale, the last fifteen minutes of which fans will be sure to cry over. The end of an era as it should be, despite some confusing games with time paradoxes. In any case, I have not left the cinema happier this year.
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Eight years ago, the Potter universe left us (which it's trying in vain to bring back through Fantastic Beasts) and now we're forced to say goodbye to the MCU saga that's been with us for over a decade. So for my generation, who grew up on these films, this is another bittersweet end to a hugely successful franchise that, while it will have a few reverberations, won't be the same. Like many here, I have to bow deeply to the people who have managed to bring together so many characters and films into one grand and truly epic conclusion, unparalleled in contemporary cinema, without making a silly and inconsistent mess of it all. (SPOILERS!) A devoted fan, such as myself, could have gone into the previous films, which were purposefully interwoven with each other in such a way as to leave them reeling, yet it all worked and didn't feel clunky or artificial in any way. I was really amused by Thor and the typically Marvel banter between the characters, which balanced out the tragic scenes that were unfortunately unavoidable. There were two moments during the film where the concentration of onions in the theater was pretty high, the latter of which was a very strong and heavy quarter of an hour where they may have played on emotions a little too much, but I still ate it all up. I was still somewhat groping over the role of Captain Marvel, which functionally seemed like the eagles in Lord of the Rings. Aside from that inter-series association, I couldn't help but draw a similarity to Harry Potter at the end – Thanos as Voldemort. As for the end of the film, it wouldn't be the Americans if they hadn't stuffed in some blatantly politically correct insert regarding the racial issue, but whatever. (END SPOILERS! ) If you wanted to nitpick the film, you’ll find a few screenwriting and logical quirks, but they fly in the face of the overwhelming preponderance of huge action and tragicomic moments that make Endgame an amazing spectacle of unprecedented proportions, and that's what cinema is all about. P.S. Whatever it takes!
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For the casual passerby: you can bend over backwards and it still won't work without knowing the previous films. To enjoy Endgame and fully appreciate all of its references and many of its secondary themes, you simply have to watch those previous 21 films before watching. However, the overseas reviews didn't lie, as Endgame is an epic conclusion to one huge comic book saga with all the fanfare. Many viewers will compare it to the previous Infinity War (myself included), but Endgame is actually a pretty specific film within the universe. After all, the Avengers got their asses kicked in Infinity War, and they have to fix it in Endgame. When you think about it, that fact alone demands a continuation of the story. That's what I thought before viewing – that it would actually be very hard to surprise increasingly demanding fans in any significant way. Yet the opposite is true, because Endgame's paths are often truly inscrutable, and there will be extremely intense, stunning, shocking, and damn moving moments. Still, there were a few things (but really only a few) that rubbed me the wrong way and unfortunately, compared to Infinity War, I had a slightly weaker sense of wholeness and compactness. But if I'm going to rate this as the culmination of a still-for-me incredible cinematic/comic book era (which I've been watching for 11 years), I can't go below 5 stars. As a "standalone film" (which of course it can never be) it would probably be 4 stars. On the other hand – compared to the previous installment, I have to appreciate that Endgame really goes to the bone in working with the characters and more than one moment here was a fan dream come true for me. It's damn admirable that the entire gigantic creative team around Kevin Feige can still surprise, shock, and move their most loyal viewers, even at this advanced stage of the MCU.
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