After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos’ actions and restore order to the universe.
21 films in the making, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ marks the culmination of the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, picking up events directly after the conclusion to ‘Infinity War’. The plot concerns the remaining Avengers coming together to attempt to undo the destruction caused by Thanos and the Infinity Stones, and bring back their friends and fellow Avengers, not to mention all the poor civilians vanished by that fateful click of fingers. Over the course of the 11 years since ‘Iron Man’ came out I’ve seen every film in the MCU and I’ve had feelings ranging from high praise (‘The Winter Soldier’, ‘Black Panther’) to mixed (‘The First Avenger’, ‘Doctor Strange’), to outright disappointment (‘Age of Ultron’), but ‘Endgame’ is the perfect balance of everything good about this series of films, and it delivers a satisfying ending (of sorts) to the films and characters we’ve followed from the start.
It’s fitting that the fate of the world lies back in the hands primarily of those characters who shaped the MCU and who first came together in 2012’s ‘The Avengers’ and this is as good a showcase for Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth as any of these films since their initial appearances. The MCU has introduced so many characters over the years, many of whom appear, and despite the narrative spending time with a lot of characters and moving around multiple locations, the story never buckles under the weight and credit has to go to the Russo Brothers who have firmly established themselves as Marvel’s most reliable directing pair. ‘Endgame’ feels like a fusion of all of the different elements that have made these films so successful and the balance between humour, heart and action is judged perfectly, never becoming too comedic to impact on the drama, nor becoming too dark to forget the strength of levity. Its centered around the characters who made this all possible and the performances are superb from everyone, from the core Avengers to every small supporting part.
‘Avengers: Endgame’ is every bit as good as I hoped it would be and any of my criticisms would be minor and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. This is a spectacular piece of blockbuster cinema, bringing together some of the best acting talent in the business alongside thrilling action, great special effects and I thought this was a satisfying and incredibly entertaining movie.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chadwick Boseman, Brie Larsen, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Holland, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Sebastian Stan, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Letitia Wright and Josh Brolin
'Feeling is not selective, I keep telling you that. You can’t feel pain, you aren’t gonna feel anything else, either’ Ordinary People (1980) 
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