Directors: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Screenplay: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the comic book The Avengers created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johnasson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurai, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin
Running Time: 181 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, action, superhero
This film is the 22nd entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series, which began with Iron Man (2008) and is pretty much the culmination of the whole series, and more directly concludes the story that began in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Note: In reviewing this there will be spoilers for Infinity War, so consider yourself warned. I would also definitely advise that you see Infinity War before you see this.
Alien superbeing Thanos (Brolin) has wiped out half of all life in the universe. When he is confronted by the surviving Avengers, Thanos reveals that he has destroyed the Infinity Stones, which were key to the genocide, and the only things that could undo what he had done. Five years later, Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, (Rudd) escapes after being trapped in the Quantum Realm for five years. He believes that the Quantum Realm could be used to travel in time. The Avengers decide to travel to various points in time and space and retrieve the Infinity Stones, before Thanos can get his massive purple paws on them.
This is a truly epic film, epic in scale and in length, with a large cast of characters, that takes in almost all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's funny, exciting, spectacular and surprisingly emotional. It's a fitting conclusion to this incredible eleven year project. It's easy to dismiss and be pretty cynical about the Marvel films, due to their immense popularity, as well as how many of them there have been, but it is an amazing achievement and one of the few really successful shared universes in cinema, tying in so many disparate characters and storylines. This film manages to balance a huge cast, and multiple plotlines, working in numerous fan-pleasing references. For the most part it works well, even if the final battle feels a little confusing due to the sheer number of characters in play. The performances are good, with each of the main cast having their time to shine, and Josh Brolin managing to find depths to Thanos beneath the prosthetics and CGI. If you have never seen any of the Marvel films before, this is not the one to start with, and, of course, if your a fan already you wont need me to recommend it to you.
