Avengers: Endgame (Film Review)
Apr. 24th, 2019 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Scott Lang saves the universe, with a little help from his friends.
The movie starts surprisingly (or not) on a quiet note, not least because the drastic reducing of the cast per Snappening means there's room for a lot of character stuff in the first third before the action starts to gear up again, and even then I thought (imo as always) it kept a good balance between character scenes and action scenes. (Helped, again, by the fact the full gigantonormous ensemble isn't back until the last big battle sequence (and then each reappearing character got cheers in my theatre).
Mind you, there are about a thousand little supporting cast from various corners of the Marvelverse cameos spread through the film, some funny, some poignant. My absolute favouute was probably Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy version), not least because it was so unexpected. I had been pretty sure there would be a Peggy cameo (not least because the MCU producers, directors and writers love Hailey Atwell, as well they should), and Howard, too, was in my head listed as "more likely than not", but Jarvis, the non-AI one, had appeared exclusively on Agent Carter and thus wasn't even familiar to the movies-only watching crowd. But here he was, on the big screen! Definitely a big "awww" moment for me. Another set of cameos I appreciated far more than I had expected were of the Winter Soldier Hydra/SHIELD type (Alexander Pierce, Rumlow and Sitwell), because they provided the basics for an absolutely priceless Steve Rogers moment. Steve had not been very present in Infinity War, and what few character moments he'd had had more annoyed me ("we don't trade" became invalid the moment he expected all the Wakanda soldiers to lay down their lives for Vision while not accepting Vision wanting to give his life to prevent this), but he was terrific in this movie, and the gag with the Hydra crowd which I don't want to spoil worked both on a Watsonian level (it was Steve doing something clever) and on a Doylist one (because I very much suspect it was the Russons taking the piss off a certain recent very unpopular comics storyline. Most poignant cameo, otoh: Frigga. Whose scene with Thor was lovely and heartbreaking. (I know Natalie Portman said goodbye to the Marvelverse a while ago, but honestly, this worked to this movie's benefit because it felt right that Thor's big scene when revisiting his past should be with his mother, not Jane (or for that matter his father). "Wisest person in Asgard", indeed.
(On a similar note, Scott once he was out of the quantum realm and had found out what had happened looking for his daughter before looking for anyone else felt right. Antman and the Wasp had managed to sell me on Scott/Hope, but seriously, Cassie is his primary motivation. BTW, was the girl/young woman playing older Cassie indeed the previous little girl grown up, or did they recast?)
As you may have deduced from the above, everyone who'd guessed there would be time travel involved in the solution to the Snappening guessed correctly. Contrary to what I'd speculated, though, it's not used for a simple reset (i.e. so that the events of the previous movie never happened - they still happened) , and the most creative way time travel was used was Nebula's storyline. Which I loved. If Infinity War provided Zoe Saldana with a chance to shine, Endgame did so for Karren Gillan. And she did. Incidentally, those delightful Nebula & Tonyroad space trip stories written in the aftermath of Infinity War? Totally validated. Including him teaching her stupid games and the both of them engineering together. But Nebula's story wasn't about Tony, it was about herself and her sister, as it should have been. Her coming face to face with her younger self underlined both how she'd grown and how deeply her damage went, and that she turned out to be able to do for a younger Gamora what Gamora had done for her in the second Guardian movie made for a great symmetry. (I had gone into the movie thinking that Nebula should be the one to kill Thanos but probably wouldn't be; going out, in retrospect I was more satisfied by her saving Gamora (and symbolically defeating her own past) instead.) Oh, and some more Nebula moments I adored: bonding with Rhodey over losing body parts, and the way she and Rocket quietly sat together in the initial reunion on Earth early in the movie, with him touching her hand.
On to the darker stuff: two of the original Avengers die in order to undo the dusting and to save the universe from Thanos & Co. forever, respectively. But as opposed to, say, the death in the ST: Discovery s2 finale, these two felt earned, and I say this as someone who loves both characters in question. Mind you, not only had the second, final death been telegraphed in Infinity War already, which gave me time to adjust to the thought, but it does wrap up this decade of Marvel movies with how it started. It's the first of the two deaths, though, that I'm certain will be the controversial one. The reason why this one, too, worked for me is that I can't see the character making any other choice, it was in line with what the previous movie had established about the soul stone, and it brought things full circle with said character's story in Avengers.
Not dark, but probably controversial in terms of shipping: Steve's ending, which wasn't lethal, but definitely excludes a lot of him/other people scenarios. It hadn't occured to me until a few seconds before it happened, but of course he would, and that's another creative way beyond "fixing the snappening" in which the central gimick of the movie was used.
Could be controversial but I don't think so: Carol hardly being in the movie beyond tilting the battle against Thanos, twice. Not surprising, given it was filmed before her own movie was, and she's given a good reason for not staying on Earth in between but leaving it at two emergency visits. Probably more welcome than controversial: her sporting the short hair cut from current comics after the five year time jump.
Bit of dialogue that got the most nerdy cheer: the Scott-Rhodey-Bruce debate about time travel by naming just about every time travel movie franchise in existence. Incidentally, I wasn't completely kidding with my first line: Scott saving the universe - he's the one who has the key idea of how to bring everyone (dusted) back.
Possibly my favourite bit of dialogue:
Younger Gamora (re: Peter Quill and her older self): Him? Seriously?
Nebula: The choice was him or a tree.
Most heartrending "I know I'm being manipulated but what the hell, I'm all there for it" moment: Tony and undusted Peter Parker. Also the much earlier reveal that Tony kept a photo of Peter and himself around for those five years, and the implication that Peter is a key reason to agree to what he then does.
Unexpectedly poignant moment: Natasha's and Clint's "we're far from Budapest" giddy delight at being in outer space when it hits them how crazy and fantastic that actually is.
And the "this was not popular on BSG, what makes you think it will be popular here?" award goes to: Thor, like Lee Adama in the first six episodes of season 3 of BSG, having aquired a lot of weight. I mean, it does make sense as the result of five years of beer drinking and brooding without any physical exercise, but as shirtless Lee and shirtless Thor were previous favourite siights in their respective fandoms, this also had a bit of nah, nah on the part of producers in it. Otoh, the audience I was with seemed to love it, so what I know? And the scene with Frigga I mentioned earlier was played completely straight. As was his scene with Valkyrie much later after the dusting has been undone. (Valkyrie wasn't dusted at all, it's just that her earlier appearance was sans Thor.)
Ha! My headcanon is validated moment: In addition to the Tony and Nebula road trip, Howard Stark, nervous about impending fatherhood, observing in 1970 that he'd rather have a daughter than a son because with a daughter, there's less danger she'd turn out to be like himself, with "becoming like me" the last thing he wants for his kid. (Echoing the "I wanted to be like you"/"And I wanted you to be better" moment between Peter and Tony from Homecoming.) Not that Howard's correct about sons and daughters, of course; in a movie where parent/child relationships (both biological and not) get ample display, the most dysfunctional and abusive involve Thanos and his two "daughters", while on the other end of the scale of parenting you have Scott and Clint, dedicated dads to their daughters (and in Clint's case, son as well), Frigga, freeing her son from his crippling guilt... and, as an example of how to finally break a cycle, Tony with his and Pepper's daughter. Meaning: it's the parent's behaviour that makes the difference, not the gender of the kid, duh.
In conclusion: it worked for me as an epic finale to this phase of the Marvelverse. But I think I'll avoid much of online fandom for a while, since there's bound to be a lot of disagreement on that from many a fan, and I'd rather enjoy the sense of being at peace for a while longer.
The movie starts surprisingly (or not) on a quiet note, not least because the drastic reducing of the cast per Snappening means there's room for a lot of character stuff in the first third before the action starts to gear up again, and even then I thought (imo as always) it kept a good balance between character scenes and action scenes. (Helped, again, by the fact the full gigantonormous ensemble isn't back until the last big battle sequence (and then each reappearing character got cheers in my theatre).
Mind you, there are about a thousand little supporting cast from various corners of the Marvelverse cameos spread through the film, some funny, some poignant. My absolute favouute was probably Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy version), not least because it was so unexpected. I had been pretty sure there would be a Peggy cameo (not least because the MCU producers, directors and writers love Hailey Atwell, as well they should), and Howard, too, was in my head listed as "more likely than not", but Jarvis, the non-AI one, had appeared exclusively on Agent Carter and thus wasn't even familiar to the movies-only watching crowd. But here he was, on the big screen! Definitely a big "awww" moment for me. Another set of cameos I appreciated far more than I had expected were of the Winter Soldier Hydra/SHIELD type (Alexander Pierce, Rumlow and Sitwell), because they provided the basics for an absolutely priceless Steve Rogers moment. Steve had not been very present in Infinity War, and what few character moments he'd had had more annoyed me ("we don't trade" became invalid the moment he expected all the Wakanda soldiers to lay down their lives for Vision while not accepting Vision wanting to give his life to prevent this), but he was terrific in this movie, and the gag with the Hydra crowd which I don't want to spoil worked both on a Watsonian level (it was Steve doing something clever) and on a Doylist one (because I very much suspect it was the Russons taking the piss off a certain recent very unpopular comics storyline. Most poignant cameo, otoh: Frigga. Whose scene with Thor was lovely and heartbreaking. (I know Natalie Portman said goodbye to the Marvelverse a while ago, but honestly, this worked to this movie's benefit because it felt right that Thor's big scene when revisiting his past should be with his mother, not Jane (or for that matter his father). "Wisest person in Asgard", indeed.
(On a similar note, Scott once he was out of the quantum realm and had found out what had happened looking for his daughter before looking for anyone else felt right. Antman and the Wasp had managed to sell me on Scott/Hope, but seriously, Cassie is his primary motivation. BTW, was the girl/young woman playing older Cassie indeed the previous little girl grown up, or did they recast?)
As you may have deduced from the above, everyone who'd guessed there would be time travel involved in the solution to the Snappening guessed correctly. Contrary to what I'd speculated, though, it's not used for a simple reset (i.e. so that the events of the previous movie never happened - they still happened) , and the most creative way time travel was used was Nebula's storyline. Which I loved. If Infinity War provided Zoe Saldana with a chance to shine, Endgame did so for Karren Gillan. And she did. Incidentally, those delightful Nebula & Tony
On to the darker stuff: two of the original Avengers die in order to undo the dusting and to save the universe from Thanos & Co. forever, respectively. But as opposed to, say, the death in the ST: Discovery s2 finale, these two felt earned, and I say this as someone who loves both characters in question. Mind you, not only had the second, final death been telegraphed in Infinity War already, which gave me time to adjust to the thought, but it does wrap up this decade of Marvel movies with how it started. It's the first of the two deaths, though, that I'm certain will be the controversial one. The reason why this one, too, worked for me is that I can't see the character making any other choice, it was in line with what the previous movie had established about the soul stone, and it brought things full circle with said character's story in Avengers.
Not dark, but probably controversial in terms of shipping: Steve's ending, which wasn't lethal, but definitely excludes a lot of him/other people scenarios. It hadn't occured to me until a few seconds before it happened, but of course he would, and that's another creative way beyond "fixing the snappening" in which the central gimick of the movie was used.
Could be controversial but I don't think so: Carol hardly being in the movie beyond tilting the battle against Thanos, twice. Not surprising, given it was filmed before her own movie was, and she's given a good reason for not staying on Earth in between but leaving it at two emergency visits. Probably more welcome than controversial: her sporting the short hair cut from current comics after the five year time jump.
Bit of dialogue that got the most nerdy cheer: the Scott-Rhodey-Bruce debate about time travel by naming just about every time travel movie franchise in existence. Incidentally, I wasn't completely kidding with my first line: Scott saving the universe - he's the one who has the key idea of how to bring everyone (dusted) back.
Possibly my favourite bit of dialogue:
Younger Gamora (re: Peter Quill and her older self): Him? Seriously?
Nebula: The choice was him or a tree.
Most heartrending "I know I'm being manipulated but what the hell, I'm all there for it" moment: Tony and undusted Peter Parker. Also the much earlier reveal that Tony kept a photo of Peter and himself around for those five years, and the implication that Peter is a key reason to agree to what he then does.
Unexpectedly poignant moment: Natasha's and Clint's "we're far from Budapest" giddy delight at being in outer space when it hits them how crazy and fantastic that actually is.
And the "this was not popular on BSG, what makes you think it will be popular here?" award goes to: Thor, like Lee Adama in the first six episodes of season 3 of BSG, having aquired a lot of weight. I mean, it does make sense as the result of five years of beer drinking and brooding without any physical exercise, but as shirtless Lee and shirtless Thor were previous favourite siights in their respective fandoms, this also had a bit of nah, nah on the part of producers in it. Otoh, the audience I was with seemed to love it, so what I know? And the scene with Frigga I mentioned earlier was played completely straight. As was his scene with Valkyrie much later after the dusting has been undone. (Valkyrie wasn't dusted at all, it's just that her earlier appearance was sans Thor.)
Ha! My headcanon is validated moment: In addition to the Tony and Nebula road trip, Howard Stark, nervous about impending fatherhood, observing in 1970 that he'd rather have a daughter than a son because with a daughter, there's less danger she'd turn out to be like himself, with "becoming like me" the last thing he wants for his kid. (Echoing the "I wanted to be like you"/"And I wanted you to be better" moment between Peter and Tony from Homecoming.) Not that Howard's correct about sons and daughters, of course; in a movie where parent/child relationships (both biological and not) get ample display, the most dysfunctional and abusive involve Thanos and his two "daughters", while on the other end of the scale of parenting you have Scott and Clint, dedicated dads to their daughters (and in Clint's case, son as well), Frigga, freeing her son from his crippling guilt... and, as an example of how to finally break a cycle, Tony with his and Pepper's daughter. Meaning: it's the parent's behaviour that makes the difference, not the gender of the kid, duh.
In conclusion: it worked for me as an epic finale to this phase of the Marvelverse. But I think I'll avoid much of online fandom for a while, since there's bound to be a lot of disagreement on that from many a fan, and I'd rather enjoy the sense of being at peace for a while longer.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-26 11:02 pm (UTC)Except that since Thanos discovered the Avengers' plan before GOTG, then doesn't that mean he's vanished himself and all of his henchmen/armies/ships from that timeline? The stones have all been returned, but there's no Thanos, no Gamora, no Nebula or cronies to search for them, so no gauntlet, no snap.
An alternate timeline without Thanos and any subsequent consequences has now been created as of 2014 (the year Nebula was sent to). All of the planets devastated by Thanos since that point are fine in the new timeline.
So the timeline as of 2019 is now five years divergent from the new one created in 2014 with the sudden absence of Thanos, et al.
Gamora can still exist, because she's from the past, but now she only exists in the post-Snap timeline.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-27 08:26 am (UTC)...Time travel plots and reason never are friends, is what I'm saying. (Well.I thought the Farscape ep in which they really can't bring the original timeline back and have to live with the nurses being killed etc. was logical, but other than that.