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seventheI've seen it. I have thoughts. I have a lot of thoughts, many of them meta, too many for one post: and even though the internet is saturated with people talking about Marvel right now, I'm gonna try to write a lot of them out. It isn't often I get to participate in a big fandom thing as it happens - I'm the queen of walks in 5 years late to this fandom with Starbucks - and so for me, this isn't just a big cool thing, it's part of this cultural phenomenon going on around me in real-time which is its OWN big cool thing.
my tl;dr non spoilery take on Endgame is: I thoroughly enjoyed the hell out of this movie, but I'm also kind of mad at it in a lot of ways?
Part 1 here is gonna be an overview, a general take on the thing, and then I intend to talk about each of the 6 OG Avengers separately, as well as a couple other characters / pieces / parts. Or, I think I am. Partially depends on how interesting people find it; partially depends on whether I remain engaged/enraged enough to do so.
Onward, Part One: Endgame
So Endgame comes as the final movie in the 22(? 23?) movie arc of the MCU. It was pretty definitively hyped as such, and that's tough billing: not just because of the scope, but because that scope in itself is complicated, inconsistent, and fragile, even if it's the biggest movie event since, like, Star Wars. And I think that's part of measuring it, part of determining whether the payoff works for people, and in this case I feel like it's a key point to what Endgame was successful with.
For me: it was fun, enjoyable, intense but not overdone, engrossing. There were so many things I loved about it, and many of them were little things: Carol! Rhodey! Professor Hulk! Going for the head! The contrast of the 5 years after the snap, Nat's desperation, "It's definitely Barton / I don't know if I want to find him after all", versus Tony's happy little house on a lake with his daughter!! KORG, all hail Korg. Everything Scott Lang. Cassie!! And this is all in the beginning!
Even when things start to get rough, there's so much I loved. The intensity of Clint and Natasha fighting on Vormir, the most poignant minutes of the entire movie for me, the echoes of that in all the other times they've fought in the MCU. The reflection of the elevator scene; Steve whispering Hail Hydra made me feel literally gross. The Gamora-Nebula reflections. Thor finding out he's still worthy, and not needing some kind of warrior montage. Clint protecting the Gauntlet. Steve with the hammer (my theater burst into applause)!!! WANDA, at the end: "I dont even know who you are" / "You will" and how much fucking ass she kicked in her few seconds onscreen. "On your left." ugh there were so many GOOD BITS.
And in terms of more overarcing narratives -- hmm. Again, I'm partially content and partially not, and I think there are particulars to talk about, but also like, hmm.
So I think Tony's worked, although I was expected Steve to die, not Tony -- but having seen it, I'll admit how well it worked for me, even though I was sad to see him go. Tony Stark started the MCU out and he ended this long chapter of it the same way he did everything: as the center of attention. Note I'm not saying Tony did it for attention; I'm admiring the way the writers put him there, an echo of his characterization taht I really liked. Tony had this 5 year miracle window, while most of the rest of the world was suffering and struggling - and how do you think Pepper enjoyed managing a company in that landscape? - and he got to enjoy the quiet life, his daughter, his wife. did he deserve more than that? Sure, of course, and that's for more specific talk about Tony. In this case, I think it makes his own death more meaningful, and it works for me in the greater context of the MCU. That's sad to say. I love Tony. But that arc was good closure for me and a really noble way for him to go out.
For Steve and Thor both I was surprised, and again, that's why I kind of want to talk about them separately. I think the decisions of both characters can make sense and be satisfying on a more micro-scale, but within the full narrative arc of the MCU, they fall flat for me. I like Thor's message of doing what you want, rather than what you may be expected to do -- but I don't think it was handled well, overall, after everything in Ragnarok and even IW, all the pain he felt for his people, and while on one hand I'm like hell yeah King Valkyrie on the other hand she never expressed any desire to do that kind of work either so??? And Steve's ending has a similarly disappointing feel to it, where I can understand it on a smaller scale and am yet feeling like it takes away from the MCU as a whole. I feel like they spent movie after movie making fun of Steve not being able to move on and having him fight and do it anyway, learning to look forward, learning to find home where he is - saving Bucky, then letting Bucky go to do what's right for both of them - and I expected a message of that sort. I didn't expect the message "well, sometimes you can't move on, and it's okay to go back in time and marry your lady love instead." I feel like that robbed Steve of a lot of characterization, even if it was his 'happy ending.' Both of their stories left me feeling oddly incomplete, and I think part of it is that they work within a smaller context, but not necessarily the broader one.
Bruce/Hulk barely ended up with a plot since all of his work was done off-screen - that made me sad, because I would have liked to see that.
and Clint and Nat -- they just fucking gutted me this movie. Y'all know I'm weak for my boy Clint Barton, in any form, and all I can say without diving too deep into it right now is: Clintasha is endgame, it's confirmed, whether you want it platonic or romantic, Clint and Nat are the most important person in each other's lives, send tweet. I'll acknowledge Clint's family but just look, look at all the shit between them in every movie, look at this movie, I am ride or die for the Clint and Nat duo and haters can stop at the door.
Anyway. Part of what made this movie's context rough for me - and part of why I'm judging on multiple scales here - is just because the time travel bit did not really please me. okay, let me specify: Time Heist???? fucking loved it. The intricacy of the planning, the individual scenes, the jokes? A++ work would watch again. But I didn't quite buy the hand-waving explanations of time travel and how it can - or doesn't - affect the reality we've seen; I didn't understand it enough to write it off, and what that meant was I felt like they created rules for their universe to make it easier on their story, not to make it believable, and to me that's poor writing. It means I can't understand Steve's ending, I can't understand a lot of the other weird stuff, and I don't mean explain it to me: I mean I'm already questioning the writing on principle, let alone for characterization purposes.
I have plenty else to say but I've worded myself for right now, so let me end on another high note:
Bucky Barnes in that skinny emo jeans outfit was an entire snack and was worth three hours of anything to watch my boy do that.
