Something to Avenge

Because of a stupid mistake I made, we finally got to see Avengers: Endgame (2019). On Weds night, I realized that I had forgotten to send back two of the Netflix DVDs, and I wasn’t sure they would get to Netflix in time for them to send our next movies. And indeed, they didn’t. But Netflix kindly sent us two DVDs from the top of our queue anyway. And Endgame has been at the top of the queue since Netflix moved it up from the Saved queue. But they’ve been listed as Short Wait. This next part is just a theory - if you send your DVDs back on Sat or Mon, like everyone else, you will never get the Long or Short Wait movies. They only ship later in the week. So we got lucky. Oh so lucky!

It starts just after the Snap. The Avengers are in shock, defeated. Tony Stark is stuck in a spaceship with Nebula, running out of oxygen. Then, a bright light - it’s Captain Marvel! She brings them back to Earth, and declares that it’s time to go after Thanos. They failed last time, but now they have her to back them up. They find him alone on a garden planet, and find out that he destroyed the Infinity Stones. So Thor kills him.

Wow, movie over? I thought this was going to be 3 hours long. Maybe just a long credits sequence? Cut to Five Years Later. The world is devastated. Cap is running a therapy group. Natasha is trying to run the Avengers, but nobody has their heart in it. Hawkeye is in Japan killing bad guys for his therapy. Tony has retired to a cabin with Pepper and their daughter - actually, he’s doing pretty all right. Everyone keeps telling themselves to accept it and move on. Then Ant-Man shows up, released from the Quantum Realm. For him, only five hours have passed. Maybe they can build a time machine.

So they get the team back together. Thor has been hiding out, drinking beer and playing video games and looks like the Dude Lebowski. Banner has figured out how to take Hulk form and stay smart - and he wears shirts now! Clint is brought back from Japan. Tony refuses to abandon his family, until he figures out how to build the time machine. And so the Time Heist is on. Steal the Infinity Stones before Thanos gets them and undo the Snap.

The cool thing about this movie is the tone. It’s depressed and desperate, what with half of all life gone. But it’s also quite silly, with Fat Thor, Smart Hulk, and goofy Ant-Man. When discussing the Time Machine, everyone asks if it is going to be like that movie - and starts listing the hundreds of time travel movies. But even when it’s goofy, it often has great heart, like when Fat Thor meets his mother just before her death. He’s drunk and out of shape, but at least he gets a chance to say goodbye.

And of course, everyone gets unSnapped (you knew they would because of the sequels). But there are also real stakes. Not everyone comes out of this movie (you might have known that because of actors who want to move on...).

There are a ton of great set pieces (The Ancient One meets Hulk! All the women heroes assemble! The Asgardians call Rocket a rabbit!) and fights - one on one and melee style. It’s three hours long, and that’s about right.

In conclusion, this sort of closes a chapter in this 20+ series of films. Can’t wait to see what’s next.