Midweek Madness
May. 9th, 2019 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darksolezOkay, so we've got a subject title this time, and even a popular topic. Even if I'm two weeks behind everyone else. Even if the subject title is sub-par even by Harvey Norman levels. Spoiler warning ahead for anyone who hasn't seen Avengers: Endgame yet. I went to see this one in Cinemaworld Douglas, which I like to support since it's where my family and I would have gone prior to the other Gate/Reel/Omniplex cinemas opening. It's also in danger of being steamrolled in favour of another damn Aldi or Lidl, so it's well worth visiting, even occasionally, to demonstrate some solidarity. I vary which cinema I go to all the time, switching between Blackpool, North Main Street, Douglas, and Mahon Point. Blackpool is probably my favourite.
Anyway, Avengers: Endgame is an excellent film, by all accounts. The dexterity with which the Russos, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely have managed to interweave characters and items from the preceding twenty-one films is mind-boggling, considering that they didn't even direct or write the majority of them. Returning to previous locations (and, essentially, returning to the films themselves) was a masterstroke, and it made me want to rewatch the earlier films (particularly, say, Avengers, though maybe not the boring Thor: The Dark World) in order to pinpoint the exact path of the Infinity Stones. You also appreciate how long Kevin Feige & Company have been building towards this climax: most of the Stones are located in Phase One/early Phase Two films, between 2012 and 2014. The later Phase Two/Phase Three films are about setting up the characters that are lost in Infinity War... It's rather expertly crafted. Not without its problems or plotholes, of course (how did Tony Stark create his own Infinity Gauntlet, when even Thanos had trouble making his?), but these don't spoil or sour the experience by any means. If we're going to take it that seriously, then we should have stopped as soon as Tony revealed his Iron Man suit in 2008.
Speaking of... Iron Man is my favourite of the Avengers - Robert Downey Jr. might be playing himself, more or less, in these films, but he has charisma, and that's how Stark is portrayed in the comics (aside from the alcohol problem he has in those). Losing him didn't make me cry - I don't think it was that emotional, given that even the cinema attendant warned me I would be welling up - but it's just depressing. Obviously, he's been around the longest, his character arc had been more or less completed, and it was relatively easy to predict that he would be written off (as soon as they revealed his daughter, I knew that he'd be the one to stay behind or something), but he's been the heart of the Avengers, really, so without him it'll lose a lot for me, I think. Steve's ending was easier to accept, I think, and something I also foretold, generally, considering that other characters take up the mantle of Captain America in the comics.
The third of the OG Avengers that disappears in this film is Black Widow, and her death couldn't have affected me less, frankly. They've been promising development for her character since that early interrogation scene in Avengers, and never delivered; if there's a solo film planned, I'm not sure what to expect. There's a saying in comics: nobody stays dead - except Uncle Ben. And, I would add, Thomas and Martha Wayne. But technically, anyone else could return - especially given that Endgame's time heist will have created multiple, alternate universes, as evidenced by the Spider-Man: Far from Home trailer, where Mysterio claims to be from "another Earth." So perhaps this is how Black Widow could be revived? While they're at it, they should, as my friend Sarah noted, work on the female representation in the Avengers overall. Since Captain Marvel was filmed after 2018 and 2019's Avengers films, Carol is a poorly established character here - she's cosmically powerful but lacks any personality, which is disappointing considering we learned about her in March and was hyped as being the core of this film, almost, judging by Nick Fury's final message to her in Infinity War's post-credit scene. They needed to work that out more.
Overall, however, it's a very well-made film that - perhaps most importantly - doesn't feel its length. The three-hour runtime might be off-putting for some, but it's consistently entertaining and builds the momentum gradually, so that by the final battle, the action is well earned. Iron Man's death will always be a bummer, though.
Anyway, Avengers: Endgame is an excellent film, by all accounts. The dexterity with which the Russos, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely have managed to interweave characters and items from the preceding twenty-one films is mind-boggling, considering that they didn't even direct or write the majority of them. Returning to previous locations (and, essentially, returning to the films themselves) was a masterstroke, and it made me want to rewatch the earlier films (particularly, say, Avengers, though maybe not the boring Thor: The Dark World) in order to pinpoint the exact path of the Infinity Stones. You also appreciate how long Kevin Feige & Company have been building towards this climax: most of the Stones are located in Phase One/early Phase Two films, between 2012 and 2014. The later Phase Two/Phase Three films are about setting up the characters that are lost in Infinity War... It's rather expertly crafted. Not without its problems or plotholes, of course (how did Tony Stark create his own Infinity Gauntlet, when even Thanos had trouble making his?), but these don't spoil or sour the experience by any means. If we're going to take it that seriously, then we should have stopped as soon as Tony revealed his Iron Man suit in 2008.
Speaking of... Iron Man is my favourite of the Avengers - Robert Downey Jr. might be playing himself, more or less, in these films, but he has charisma, and that's how Stark is portrayed in the comics (aside from the alcohol problem he has in those). Losing him didn't make me cry - I don't think it was that emotional, given that even the cinema attendant warned me I would be welling up - but it's just depressing. Obviously, he's been around the longest, his character arc had been more or less completed, and it was relatively easy to predict that he would be written off (as soon as they revealed his daughter, I knew that he'd be the one to stay behind or something), but he's been the heart of the Avengers, really, so without him it'll lose a lot for me, I think. Steve's ending was easier to accept, I think, and something I also foretold, generally, considering that other characters take up the mantle of Captain America in the comics.
The third of the OG Avengers that disappears in this film is Black Widow, and her death couldn't have affected me less, frankly. They've been promising development for her character since that early interrogation scene in Avengers, and never delivered; if there's a solo film planned, I'm not sure what to expect. There's a saying in comics: nobody stays dead - except Uncle Ben. And, I would add, Thomas and Martha Wayne. But technically, anyone else could return - especially given that Endgame's time heist will have created multiple, alternate universes, as evidenced by the Spider-Man: Far from Home trailer, where Mysterio claims to be from "another Earth." So perhaps this is how Black Widow could be revived? While they're at it, they should, as my friend Sarah noted, work on the female representation in the Avengers overall. Since Captain Marvel was filmed after 2018 and 2019's Avengers films, Carol is a poorly established character here - she's cosmically powerful but lacks any personality, which is disappointing considering we learned about her in March and was hyped as being the core of this film, almost, judging by Nick Fury's final message to her in Infinity War's post-credit scene. They needed to work that out more.
Overall, however, it's a very well-made film that - perhaps most importantly - doesn't feel its length. The three-hour runtime might be off-putting for some, but it's consistently entertaining and builds the momentum gradually, so that by the final battle, the action is well earned. Iron Man's death will always be a bummer, though.
