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Last year, when Avengers: Infinity War came to an end, it left a lot of questions about the fate of some of our most beloved Marvel heroes. And after a long and suspense-filled wait, it’s finally time to pick up the story again in Avengers: Endgame.
The long-awaited follow-up finds the band of heroes short staffed following their battle with Thanos (Josh Brolin). While dealing with their feelings of loss and defeat, the heroes try to move on with their lives and their work without their friends. But when Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) returns from a death-defying, time-bending mission with an idea of how to rescue their friends—and half of the world—by undoing the destruction that Thanos caused, the remaining Avengers must risk everything to fix what went wrong.
In more than a decade since the Marvel Cinematic Universe came into being, fans have looked forward to returning to theaters to meet new heroes and fight alongside their old favorites. These aren’t just characters in a movie; they’ve become our friends. We know their personalities, their weaknesses, and their relationships. And each introduction of a new character, each battle, each conversation over the last 11 years has built up to this epic adventure.
This latest Avengers film isn’t really like the others before it. Sure, it’s big and dramatic and filled with action and adventure. Sure, the stakes are high. But while most have been fun-filled and often playful, this one has a very different tone. Instead of a bunch of heroes banding together to save the world while spouting out clever one-liners, these are heroes who have lost so much. They’ve lost family and friends and an entire way of life. The Earth they live on has changed—replaced by a place of sadness and despair. That sometimes makes for a heavy and emotional drama—and it would be even more so if it weren’t for Rudd’s lovably bumbling Ant-Man. But the heaviness only emphasizes the critical nature of the mission.
Endgame isn’t just a heavy movie, it’s also a long one. It’s loaded with twisting, tangled storylines, complicated relationships, and years of history. It’s dramatic and heavily nostalgic. But while it isn’t a film for newcomers to the MCU, it also isn’t as complex as others have been—thanks, in no small part, to the depleted cast. And that makes it less overwhelming than some earlier films in the franchise. It also allows this film to focus on a handful of characters—to give them the attention and development that they deserve as they band together to fight for their friends.
Anyone who’s devoted days of their lives to watching the 21 previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will enjoy the action, the drama, and the nostalgia of Endgame. It’s definitely an emotionally exhausting experience, but it’s also an entirely fitting—and satisfying—one.
Blu-ray Review:
Avengers: Endgame is an epic film—and a pivotal one in the franchise. For that reason, the Blu-ray release is filled with profiles and tributes. In fact, there’s a whole disc just for extras, with a collection of featurettes that fans won’t want to miss. Here, the tributes begin with a tribute to Marvel’s Stan Lee through a look at his cameos. But there are also tributes to some of the franchise’s most beloved characters. Other featurettes include a look at the women of Marvel—and their one (too) brief but memorable scene together in Endgame—and a fun look at one of the film’s favorite characters, “fat Thor.”
Other extras include a fun gag reel, an audio commentary track (the one feature included on the main disc), and a collection of deleted scenes—some of which are entertaining throwaways, while others will have you in tears all over again.
The Endgame Blu-ray isn’t loaded with in-depth features about the making of the film—about the music and the effects. Instead, it focuses on the characters—the people who make this franchise the success that it is. So fans of the franchise—and the characters—won’t want to miss the extras.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
