VIDEO: Tim reviews “Avengers: Endgame” with Adrienne Broaddus on “KARE 11 News at 11.”
“Avengers: End Game” (PG-13)
The end is here at last for the first sprawling saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Avengers: Endgame,” an exhilarating and emotionally charged wrap-up of the 22-film saga that began with Robert Downey Jr. and “Iron Man” in 2008.
Of those 21 previous MCU films, three involved the gathering of the Marvel’s mightiest superheroes to form the Avengers – lighter films that took a deathly serious turn with “Avengers: Infinity War” last year. In it, of course, the omnipotent villain Thanos acquired all six Infinity Stones, which together gave him the power to wipe out half the universe’s population with the snap of his fingers.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s spoiler-free review of “Avengers: Endgame” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM.
Now, avoiding spoilers at all costs, it’s safe to say Earth looks holy hell in the wake of Thanos’ purging, and the surviving members have a choice to make: To cut their losses and embrace what little life has left for them — or take a risk and act on a couple glimmers of hope that emerge that will give them a chance to turn the tables on Thanos.
While “Avengers: End Game” is 3 hours and 1 minute long, it surprisingly doesn’t feel any longer than “Infinity War,” which was 2 hours and 29 minutes. The extensive run time allows for “Endgame” a more human story than we’ve seen from “The Avengers” before, and a much larger and yes, very complicated build-up to an inevitable showdown in the film’s third act.
The great thing about “Endgame “is that it doesn’t take the obvious route I thought the film would take assessing the ending of “Infinity War.” Instead, it goes with a much more challenging route, and despite the plot’s complexities, “Endgame” still manages to be extremely entertaining from an action and comedy standpoint before it packs some serious emotional wallop to wrap up the film.
Downey saves his best performance as Iron Man for last, shuttering his wise-ass, billionaire industrialist attitude to become a broken yet grateful man humbled by events of “Infinity War.” Instead, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) are the scene-stealers this time around from a comedic standpoint, surrounded by familiar faces from the “Avengers” films who keep the story in a proper balance. The film also includes an appearance, naturally, from Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), the latest MCU member who promises to lead future films in the franchise.
Despite the overly ambitious narrative that drives the film (that will no doubt challenge its audiences as they try to unpack it all), fans will no doubt be enamored by “Endgame.” True, some tough creative decisions were made to give this chapter of “The Avengers” some emotional weight, but in the end, they were necessary to serve the story; the culmination of one of the greatest superhero franchises of all time.
Lammometer: 8 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
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