‘I am inevitable…’
The problem is I am on team Thanos. Sure, wiping out half of the world’s population feels controversial, but in the long run it would actually be the best thing for everyone. So when Endgame began with Thanos, who only wanted to enjoy his retirement in the countryside of a remote planet, having his head chopped clean off by Thor, not to mention the iffy deus ex machina that is Captain Marvel showing up at the start to save Iron Man, I was pretty underwhelmed. Bad start.
Endgame did eventually win me over however, despite the fact that it is three chuffing hours long. In fairness, that running time is mostly justified, although the Lord of the Rings style ending did drag on a little bit. Nobody needs another thirty minutes after the climactic final battle has finished.
So, Thanos has wiped out half the universe except he hasn’t because time travel. This is a dangerous game to play as the X-Men franchise showed us when they stank the place out with an attempt to shoehorn time travel into their ailing franchise. While this does render the incredible conclusion of Infinity War a bit redundant, I’m going to put that to one side and focus on the positives. Of which there are many.
The whole time travel element works here simply because it is a lot of fun, and it gives us plenty of opportunities for characters who don’t normally interact to have their own little side mission. Who doesn’t want to see fat, drunk Thor running around Asgard with a talking racoon? Sure, the set up takes a little too long, I didn’t really need thirty minutes of each character having a sad off to show just how damn sad they are, but when we finally reach the time travel bit, it works.
The final battle is also impressive if a little low stakes seen as we have already seen most of these characters die once already. Having said that, we do see some big characters bite the dust (or simply turn to dust) and that is satisfying, but nothing here matches the stupefying effect of The Snap in the last Avengers movie.
Of the two conclusions, this film’s predecessor had the better way to end the franchise. But therein lies the rub, they don’t want the franchise to end. So, as with James Bond, none of it really means anything. Pure popcorn escapism that exists to make money first and provide artistic integrity second. And that’s kind of fine I guess but let’s not equate these movies with real cinema. Scorsese was right, these films are theme parks. What he failed to point out however, is that theme parks are frickin’ awesome.
My love of cinema comes from creating some kind of emotional connection and while, in terms of entertainment, these films are undoubtedly a success, they don’t make me feel anything. But I guess I’ll dutifully keep watching them forever and that’s why they will keep making them.
#TeamThanos