(Review by our Guest Critic: The Movie Knight)
On May 25, 1983 the movie event of a generation took place with the release of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. After the Empire Strikes Back where Luke finds out Darth Vader is his father, Han Solo gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett and the Rebels just got their butts kicked, fans could not wait to see the conclusion of the trilogy. Parents took their kids out of school early (mine did) and lines stretched down city blocks as there were no presale tickets at this time. Now, another generational experience is taking place with Avengers; Endgame.
For ten years Marvel movies had followed a very simple successful formula. We meet our hero(s), a villain(s) rises and while they are almost defeated our protagonist(s) overcomes and defeats said bad guy(s). That is until last year when the long-awaited Avengers: Infinity War, based on the famous “Infinity Gauntlet” comic book storyline, came out. With a snap of his fingers Thanos (Josh Brolin) killed off half the universe, including some of our favorite characters. Then the lights came up and the movie was over leaving many in a state of silent shock as they left the theater.
After 10 year and 22 movies, this is the movie all comic book fans have been waiting for and it delivers on all levels! There will be superhero team-ups we haven’t seen before, long awaited reunions, action, fight scenes on a grand scale, there is even a real story being told too. This is not some mindless bubblegum, summer movie affair. It’s probably one of the most complex plots conceived for this type of story. It’s three hours long, but it will go by so fast.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo was given an impossible task, which was just to meet expectations of the fans. Not only do they accomplish this goal, but they exceed it! By the time it is all done you will likely cheer, applaud, find yourself at the edge of your seats and maybe even shed a tear or two.
Avengers: Endgame will no doubt be a record breaker at the box office. Some are predicting a $300 million opening weekend. Fans will likely be going back for multiple viewings as there is so much to see. The final battle is on such an epic scale that it is certainly worth paying the extra money to experience it on an IMAX or other large format screen. It is unknown if there will ever be an event movie like this again in our lifetime, but if this is the last it is going out on the highest note possible.
3.5 Tiaras