Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, and Josh Brolin
Backstory
Well, here we are. 11 years and 22 films comprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it all comes to a close. Last year’s Avengers: Infinity War became a pop culture phenomenon, with one hell of a cliffhanger ending not seen since Han Solo was frozen in carbonite. So the question, as always, is how will our heroes recover from this?
Plot
After Thanos used the power of the Infinity Stones to snap half of all life out of existence, the remaining Avengers regroup at Avengers Headquarters. The newly-arrived Captain Marvel suggests they just take on Thanos head-on, take the Infinity Stones from him, and use them to undo the damage. But, they’re too late, as Thanos has already used the power of the stones to destroy themselves. Five years later, most of the Avengers have gone their separate ways, and are wallowing in various degrees of self-pity. But then, the newly -returned Ant-Man shows up, and the key to his re-appearance may hold the key to undoing what Thanos has done. This begins a new journey for the Avengers as they travel across time and space to re-gather the Infinity Stones. Will they succeed? Or will history repeat itself?
What I Liked
Everything. “Avengers Assemble.” Been waiting the whole franchise to hear that line, and when it’s finally spoken it is a payoff that brought me to tears. The focus comes back to our original six Avengers, and they all have really nice character arcs that bring their stories to an end. And I hope you did some kind of marathon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe going into this, because there are a ton of callbacks to the other films.
What I Didn’t Like
Seriously, I can’t think of anything
Final Verdict
Eleven years of filmmaking ends in one of the most satisfying conclusions ever. Truly a fantastic film.