Avengers: Endgame - Review Thread (Spoilers!)

Better late than never, eh, Neverending ?  Dracula, take note for The Golden Stakes.

It's hard to choose where to begin with this, so it's probably best to just jump right in.

This movie's awesome. Back in the early days of the MCU, I wasn't sure how it was all going to pay off, but pay off it has. And in a big way. Obviously, where Avengers: Endgame succeeds the most is in the characters and emotional beats, because that's where the film is focused first and foremost. And rightly so. The stakes here are so big and important not just because the scope of the story dictates it, but because we've become so invested in all of these characters throughout the course of this sprawling series. The fact that Endgame takes the time to allow these characters to grieve and spend a significant amount of time in that grief hammers home what this movie is going for and lends everything more impact. As a result, we get some of the best performances from a number of these actors in these roles to date, Robert Downey Jr. in particular, with certain moments sure to go down as some of the best in the franchise's history.

But then what about the overall, big picture? Despite running three mammoth hours, Avengers: Endgame moves like a freight train the more the story unfolds. A big part of this movie involves time travel, and the way it's incorporated into the story is pretty cool while simultaneously honoring everything that's come before. Thanos continues to be a more-than-worthy adversary, which makes the quest that the Avengers go on in this movie to fix everything that much more exciting. And the big climax here is hands down some of, if not THE best action the MCU has given us to date. Just awesome all around.

How fitting that the culmination of the first 11 years of the MCU is the best film in the franchise so far.