First Take: Avengers: Endgame- some people move on, but not us.

Spoiler free as usual. Because we’re not spoiling the Endgame here for our American readers.

SYNOPSIS:  After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, 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.

10 years. 22 films. $4billion in box office revenue. Marvel really have done it all in this industry. And now, after the heartbreak brought on by the ending of Infinity War and the simple snap of a mad titan’s finger, this multi-franchise story is coming to an end. Boy howdy, did they nail this one.

The Russos once again deliver a masterclass in how to crossover characters from a variety of franchises, and working to a script from Marvel’s veteran screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the film capitalises on the plots of the 21 releases that got us to this point, perfectly balancing the humour and the drama to make the 3 hours go by very quickly indeed. There are moments that are genuinely powerful, moments that have been long awaited by fans of the comics, and moments that change the MCU going forward, in both good and bad ways. Each character has their time to shine, and the emotional payoff we get once the lights come back up is incredibly satisfying, adding to the ‘season finale’ style of story we have here. It’s shot fantastically by Trent Opaloch, taking advantage of the IMAX cameras that were used so well on Infinity War, and Alan Silvestri delivers the goods once again with another fantastic score, tying together the main themes for all of the characters, as well as that iconic main Avengers cue.

And then, the performances. This really is about the original 6 Avengers from that 2012 origin tale- and Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johannson and Jeremy Renner are the key to where this film delivers on the hype. Of course, the ‘Fallen’ are awesome too, but because of the size of this cast, we can’t name everyone. We’ve only seen around 8 minutes of the film in all of the promotional material, and the performances we have from the entire cast, although not quite award-worthy, are able to really bring this narrative home, with the final act in particular set to become cinematic history. To say any more would ruin it- what I can say is this: for those of you of an emotional disposition, bring tissues. Lots of them.

THE VERDICT

If I could go all Dave Meltzer and give this film 6 stars, I would. That’s a joke only a select few people will get- but Endgame really is a Game Changer. Marvel have another huge success on their hands, and now that the Infinity Saga has concluded, this truly feels like the end of an era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe; perfectly balanced, as all good things should be.

RATING: 5/5