Review: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ is a truly grand finale

This is the superhero film you’ve been waiting for.

It’s been over 10 years since the first “Iron Man” film came out. Since then, over the course of 22 films, we have grown to know and love every member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that started with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man, and we have wholly dedicated ourselves to this grand arc of storytelling.

The Avengers have been solidified as a pillar of modern pop culture. Parents will share these modern myths with their children for generations to come, much like my generation grew up on Spielberg films and Star Wars.

As many of you may know, “Avengers: Endgame” is truly self-descriptive. This is a large-scale conclusion of a massive story with a cast of amazing, incredible and uncanny superheroes, and it surely demands a load of expectations from longtime fans and kids who grew up with these larger-than-life characters.

It is also incredibly difficult to review what is truly an event film, as most people want to go in not knowing how this chapter will end. So, without any spoilers: Whether you have been a diehard fan of the MCU or even just casually enjoyed this long adventure we’ve all been on, “Avengers: Endgame” is about the most satisfying and rousing conclusion we could have gotten. It’s just incredibly entertaining all around. It is, however, a whopping three hours long — and the further you get into the film, the less likely it is that you are going to want to take that bathroom break just for how exciting the whole thing gets.

It’s also a bit of a slow burn, with the first and part of the second act advancing the story and character development before getting to the action but it keeps you constantly engaged. It also effectively examines the aftermath of “Avengers: Infinity War” with a grim lens, taking its moments to stop and notice what our heroes and the world have lost after Thanos’ master plan went into effect in the previous film. That being said, the last hour is nothing short of a rollercoaster for the audience. You will want to get up and cheer, you will recoil in horror, be put at the edge of your seat and there’s a darn good chance you will cry, if not come close to it, more than once.

Though maybe obvious to those who have followed the MCU, if you’ve only watched a few of the movies in the entire 22 film series or are just starting to think “Hey, maybe I should see what this whole Avengers thing is about,” then “Endgame” is not going to be very enjoyable for you. If you really want to make the plunge and suck in all of that information and backstory, then “Iron Man” 1 and 3 could be considered excellent to revisit, as well as the “Captain America” trilogy, all three other “Avengers” films, both “Ant-Man” films, both “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, “Dr. Strange,” “Black Panther,” “Captain Marvel,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and “Thor” 2 and 3 in particular. Plot threads, story beats and references you wouldn’t even think of are tied up and resolved so perfectly from all of these films that by the final moments it makes the entire package of it all that much more amazing.

If there is a point to emphasize here, it’s just how big of an event “Endgame” is in terms of how it has been built up to, how it has been constructed by expert directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and how hordes of audiences will flock to the theaters to see this for the next six months. If you haven’t followed the MCU diligently or missed more than several of the entries, you might lose out on some of the most hard-hitting and emotional moments that “Endgame” packs — and that can be a wallop by the time the credits roll.

Of course “Avengers: Endgame” gets my recommendation. This doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a few problems or moments that might make you scratch your head, but the nitpicking would be absolutely pointless upon something so all around amazing (and guaranteed to put butts in the seats). Turn your phones off and don’t spoil it for anyone after you get out of the theater — and be prepared to take in a lot of big changes to the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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“Avengers: Endgame” is playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.