meteordust (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
meteordust) wrote2019-04-25 10:25 pm
meteordust) wrote2019-04-25 10:25 pm
Avengers: Endgame
I've been away from Dreamwidth for a few weeks, and I've got quite a bit to catch up on. But I just watched Avengers: Endgame, and I wanted to get my thoughts down before reading everyone else's reactions and reviews.
I have a lot of feelings about it.
SPOILERS BELOW
General
* I'm not sure when was the last time I saw a movie the day after release. It really does add to the experience to be in a full house, everyone else watching for the first time too, and hearing the gasps, the cheers, the laughter, and the silences.
* I was lucky enough to avoid any spoilers, and even avoided the trailers, so it was all surprising and new to me.
* I've seen most of the MCU movies, but there were a few I decided to skip: Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. But there were scenes that would probably be more meaningful if I'd seen them all. So I might eventually go back and watch the ones I missed.
* This was always going to be a swansong for the original Avengers, and a big part of my feelings are about that.
Natasha
* I did not realise I had so many feelings about Nat, but it turns out I do. If this post becomes an essay, it's because of her.
* As soon as Nat and Clint met the guardian of the Soul Stone, I knew what they were going to do: try to sacrifice themselves for each other. I really really hoped that they would both fling themselves over the edge, and their selfless sacrifice would mean they'd proven themselves worthy of living, or they each could give up half their soul to satisfy requirements. And they did try to make that sacrifice. I know Clint was the family man. But I didn't want Nat to die with so much story still to tell. So, no Black Widow movies about her future, ever? Only flashbacks to her past? And surely the writers wouldn't have two women dying at the bottom of a cliff, so that two men could get the Soul Stone and cry about it?
* Her teammates said, "She's not coming back," but honestly, I didn't know how to react. Was I supposed to believe it was a comic book death, that gets reversed later on? If it was a fakeout, I didn't want to waste anger and sadness on it. But if it was real, I should feel sure about it. I kept wondering if there was going to be some sign of ambiguity, like her body has disappeared when they go back for it, to set up a future movie about her starting a new life.
* I guess I feel sad that all her life she felt like she was a weapon, whether for good or evil, and all her life was a sacrifice. She missed out on getting to live as a normal person. I didn't want that to be her end. I wanted her to have an arc about finding something more. Like that trope where you retire to a peaceful village to grow a garden, only to pull out your badass skills when danger threatens your new friends.
* In retrospect, if this was about closing out her story, then fair enough, maybe it was a heroic end. But I would have telegraphed it clearly: big epic leap off the edge, slow motion, dramatic music. Not this confused wrestling tumble off the cliff. And I wouldn't have had the last shot of her being her dead body sprawled on the ground. It would have been a Thelma and Louise moment, a leap of faith into eternity.
Tony
* Meeting his daughter broke my heart, because I really thought it was going to be a big plot point that changing the past would erase the present. And it would be a huge moral dilemma! All the people born since the Snap, traded for all the people who had died then. I know they wanted to have their cake and eat it too, but I was so surprised that they didn't debate the risks. And for Tony, who still feels so personally responsible for Peter, but now knows and loves Morgan, it would have been a heartwrenching choice.
* "I am Iron Man" was an amazing callback. This sequence of movies began with him, and in a way it's fitting that he ends with it. What a journey it's been.
* That said, I'm still not a fan of the trope "man dies heroically while woman is left behind to raise their child". But apparently some people must be.
Steve
* I have so many hearts for him getting to live out his life with Peggy! At last, at last, at last. I don't have any clue about time paradoxes, and frankly I don't care.
* Handing the shield over to Sam was a lovely passing of the torch.
* Bucky had fuck all to do this movie, but oh well, we'll always have The Winter Soldier.
Thor
* He's been through so much tragedy, that it seems fair enough for him to hand over leadership of the Asgardians to Valkyrie, and go adventuring with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
* I'm not invested in him being cool and princely, and I liked Ragnarok most of all his movies, so I was fine with him being played for comedy. But I can imagine it might be disappointing for his fans.
Bruce
* I'm glad he's managed to integrate the man and the Hulk, and found some measure of peace.
Clint
* The scene with him and his family was a great opener, and hit home what the Snap meant. The cynical side of me is pretty sure they gave him a family several movies ago just to set up this exact moment.
Other stuff I liked
* I did not expect that in the first 15 minutes, they would find Thanos and kill him, and then fast-forward to five years later. It was a great twist from what I would have guessed the main plot to be.
* I love time travel stories, and I love how it gave us a reason to revisit key moments in the MCU. And while it's a bit "why grow as a person when you can fix the past?" I'm still a huge sucker for closing the loop on unresolved emotional issues. Thor and his mother! Tony and his father! And Steve glimpsing Peggy at SHIELD! I realised what was going to happen about 30 seconds before it happened, and I was both stoked for and aching for Steve.
* I loved the "getting the gang back together" sequence.
* I'm glad New Asgard is a thing. I'm glad Thor wasn't a total hermit and at least had Korg and Miek to keep him company. I liked that it was Rocket and Bruce who went to find him.
* Okay, I know it was cheesy, but I did love the two Captain Americas fighting each other. It's plausible past!Steve thinks future!Steve is Loki. "I can do this all day--" Yeah, even Steve is over it. "Bucky's alive!"
* I loved when people were being genre savvy, like discussing time travel movies and temple raiding movies.
* I loved the "These Are The Women Of The MCU" moment. Especially thinking back to how it used to be just Natasha on her own.
* I loved that they brought so many people back for cameos.
* While I was watching the final battle, I was thinking, "They better spend at least half an hour on dénouement." And they did! It was a very satisfying closing sequence.
Other stuff I disliked
* It was a clever way to get hold of the Mind Stone without bloodshed, but I could have lived my whole life without hearing Captain America say "Hail Hydra".
* So, we don't get the original Gamora back. She's still dead. That kind of sucks?
Miscellaneous
* So Peter's been gone for five years? And three months from now we're going to watch a movie about his school trip to Europe, like the apocalypse never happened? I hope this is set in the past, because otherwise his classmates would all have graduated already.
Conclusion
* There's probably a lot more I could say about this movie, but I've already written more for this post than for my current exchange fic. The main sore point for me is Nat, but apart from that I really loved this movie. So many wonderful character moments and interactions. The writers did a good job tying everything together. The end of an era.
I have a lot of feelings about it.
SPOILERS BELOW
General
* I'm not sure when was the last time I saw a movie the day after release. It really does add to the experience to be in a full house, everyone else watching for the first time too, and hearing the gasps, the cheers, the laughter, and the silences.
* I was lucky enough to avoid any spoilers, and even avoided the trailers, so it was all surprising and new to me.
* I've seen most of the MCU movies, but there were a few I decided to skip: Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. But there were scenes that would probably be more meaningful if I'd seen them all. So I might eventually go back and watch the ones I missed.
* This was always going to be a swansong for the original Avengers, and a big part of my feelings are about that.
Natasha
* I did not realise I had so many feelings about Nat, but it turns out I do. If this post becomes an essay, it's because of her.
* As soon as Nat and Clint met the guardian of the Soul Stone, I knew what they were going to do: try to sacrifice themselves for each other. I really really hoped that they would both fling themselves over the edge, and their selfless sacrifice would mean they'd proven themselves worthy of living, or they each could give up half their soul to satisfy requirements. And they did try to make that sacrifice. I know Clint was the family man. But I didn't want Nat to die with so much story still to tell. So, no Black Widow movies about her future, ever? Only flashbacks to her past? And surely the writers wouldn't have two women dying at the bottom of a cliff, so that two men could get the Soul Stone and cry about it?
* Her teammates said, "She's not coming back," but honestly, I didn't know how to react. Was I supposed to believe it was a comic book death, that gets reversed later on? If it was a fakeout, I didn't want to waste anger and sadness on it. But if it was real, I should feel sure about it. I kept wondering if there was going to be some sign of ambiguity, like her body has disappeared when they go back for it, to set up a future movie about her starting a new life.
* I guess I feel sad that all her life she felt like she was a weapon, whether for good or evil, and all her life was a sacrifice. She missed out on getting to live as a normal person. I didn't want that to be her end. I wanted her to have an arc about finding something more. Like that trope where you retire to a peaceful village to grow a garden, only to pull out your badass skills when danger threatens your new friends.
* In retrospect, if this was about closing out her story, then fair enough, maybe it was a heroic end. But I would have telegraphed it clearly: big epic leap off the edge, slow motion, dramatic music. Not this confused wrestling tumble off the cliff. And I wouldn't have had the last shot of her being her dead body sprawled on the ground. It would have been a Thelma and Louise moment, a leap of faith into eternity.
Tony
* Meeting his daughter broke my heart, because I really thought it was going to be a big plot point that changing the past would erase the present. And it would be a huge moral dilemma! All the people born since the Snap, traded for all the people who had died then. I know they wanted to have their cake and eat it too, but I was so surprised that they didn't debate the risks. And for Tony, who still feels so personally responsible for Peter, but now knows and loves Morgan, it would have been a heartwrenching choice.
* "I am Iron Man" was an amazing callback. This sequence of movies began with him, and in a way it's fitting that he ends with it. What a journey it's been.
* That said, I'm still not a fan of the trope "man dies heroically while woman is left behind to raise their child". But apparently some people must be.
Steve
* I have so many hearts for him getting to live out his life with Peggy! At last, at last, at last. I don't have any clue about time paradoxes, and frankly I don't care.
* Handing the shield over to Sam was a lovely passing of the torch.
* Bucky had fuck all to do this movie, but oh well, we'll always have The Winter Soldier.
Thor
* He's been through so much tragedy, that it seems fair enough for him to hand over leadership of the Asgardians to Valkyrie, and go adventuring with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
* I'm not invested in him being cool and princely, and I liked Ragnarok most of all his movies, so I was fine with him being played for comedy. But I can imagine it might be disappointing for his fans.
Bruce
* I'm glad he's managed to integrate the man and the Hulk, and found some measure of peace.
Clint
* The scene with him and his family was a great opener, and hit home what the Snap meant. The cynical side of me is pretty sure they gave him a family several movies ago just to set up this exact moment.
Other stuff I liked
* I did not expect that in the first 15 minutes, they would find Thanos and kill him, and then fast-forward to five years later. It was a great twist from what I would have guessed the main plot to be.
* I love time travel stories, and I love how it gave us a reason to revisit key moments in the MCU. And while it's a bit "why grow as a person when you can fix the past?" I'm still a huge sucker for closing the loop on unresolved emotional issues. Thor and his mother! Tony and his father! And Steve glimpsing Peggy at SHIELD! I realised what was going to happen about 30 seconds before it happened, and I was both stoked for and aching for Steve.
* I loved the "getting the gang back together" sequence.
* I'm glad New Asgard is a thing. I'm glad Thor wasn't a total hermit and at least had Korg and Miek to keep him company. I liked that it was Rocket and Bruce who went to find him.
* Okay, I know it was cheesy, but I did love the two Captain Americas fighting each other. It's plausible past!Steve thinks future!Steve is Loki. "I can do this all day--" Yeah, even Steve is over it. "Bucky's alive!"
* I loved when people were being genre savvy, like discussing time travel movies and temple raiding movies.
* I loved the "These Are The Women Of The MCU" moment. Especially thinking back to how it used to be just Natasha on her own.
* I loved that they brought so many people back for cameos.
* While I was watching the final battle, I was thinking, "They better spend at least half an hour on dénouement." And they did! It was a very satisfying closing sequence.
Other stuff I disliked
* It was a clever way to get hold of the Mind Stone without bloodshed, but I could have lived my whole life without hearing Captain America say "Hail Hydra".
* So, we don't get the original Gamora back. She's still dead. That kind of sucks?
Miscellaneous
* So Peter's been gone for five years? And three months from now we're going to watch a movie about his school trip to Europe, like the apocalypse never happened? I hope this is set in the past, because otherwise his classmates would all have graduated already.
Conclusion
* There's probably a lot more I could say about this movie, but I've already written more for this post than for my current exchange fic. The main sore point for me is Nat, but apart from that I really loved this movie. So many wonderful character moments and interactions. The writers did a good job tying everything together. The end of an era.