The End & Beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Kaleidoscope's newest is on Disney's & Marvel's production of "Avengers: Endgame".  Directed by Anthony & Joe Russo, the movie stars, among others, Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlet Johanssohn, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Chadwick Boseman, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bradley Cooper, etc.  Rated 'PG-13', it has a running time of 3 hr., 1 min.

The film opens in a flashback, with Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Renner) experiencing the disappearance of his family due to Thanos's (Brolin) vaporizing half of the universe after he has taken possession of the Infinity Stones.  Transition to Tony Stark/Ironman (Downey) & Nebula (Gillan) as they are about to perish in deep space.  In the nick of time, Carol Danvers/Capt. Marvel (Larson) rescues them.  The 3 return to Earth & join the remaining Avengers: Steve Rogers/Capt. America (Evans), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Johanssohn), Thor (Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Ruffalo), Rocket (Cooper), & James Rhodes/War Machine (Cheadle).  Utilizing the knowledge of Nebula, the Avengers find Thanos, who has been injured, on a distant planet; they hope to get the Stones in order to reverse Thanos's damage to the  universe.  Unfortunately, Thanos infoms them that he has destoyed the Stones so that no one else may use them.  This enrages Thor, & he lops off Thanos's head.

The film leaps ahead 5 years; Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Rudd) has escaped the quantum realm.  He meets Romanoff & Rogers at the Avergers headquarters & explains that although 5 years have elapsed for everyone else, only 5 hours have transpired while he has been in the realm.  Lang theorizes, based on this experience, that time travel may be possible.  If so, perhaps they can travel back & retrieve the Stones before Thanos can.  The 3 then ask Stark if he will help them so that by traveling back, they may be able to reverse what Thanos has done in the past.  After an initial reluctance for fear of losing his daughter, & after talking it over with his wife Pepper Potts (Paltrow), Stark accedes.  Working with Banner--who has incredibly merged with his Hulk persona--they develop a way to stabilize traveling within the Realm.  Before attempting the travel feat, Banner & Rocket journey to New Asgard to convince an overweight, drunken Thor to join them.  Additionally, Romanoff travels to Tokyo to convince Barton--who has become a hard-driving vigilante--to also join the remaining Avengers in their quest to travel back in time & retrieve the Stones before Thanos can.  This complex first act sets up a long 2nd act as the various factions journey to accomplish their tasks which culminates in an action-packed 3rd act.

This is almost a critic-proof film as witnessed by its $1.6 billion take since last Thursday--so far, it is the 6th highest grossing film of all time.  The Russo brothers certainly know how to create thrilling action sequences as witnessed by their stellar work on 3 previous MCU films.  Even though this cast is enormous, they handle them well--especially with the veterans superheroes who may or may not be back for future installments.  Their only problem & only real criticism of the movie, is with what I call 'Harry Potter' syndrome--a 2nd act that sems interminable at times.  I understand that they are trying to tie up some character storylines, but some scenes & dialogue appear a bit repetitive & padded.  Die-hard fans will probably find quibble with this complaint--and may even want more--but I think the aforementioned scenes could have beem tightened successfully.  The screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely deserves equal blame for the film's length.  They wanted to give all of these major characters enough screen time as arcs come to a conclusion; however...  Their dialogue is extremely witty & holds up very well through their long association with the MCU, even though the film's structure has become somewhat formulaic.  Another small disappointment is that the writers should have given Danvers some additional screen time since she seems to have been crafted to play a more prominent role in the MCU.  What can one say about the long list of principal actors?  They are all very comfortable in their roles & have become, in many cases, synonymous with their characters.  They have all done fine jobs in this iteration.  Trent Opaloch's cinematography is excellent--clear & precise.  It is the opposite of DC's muddy murkiness.  Alan Silvestri's score is suitably thrilling, contemplative, plaintive at all of the appropriate times.  The exhaustive list of make-up, special & visual fx, art & production artists demonstrates that the film's budget of a reported $356 million was well spent.  

I give "Avengers: Endgame" 4 out of 5 nuggets.  With the exception of a somewhat overlong 2nd act, the film is an exciting addition to the MCU.  If you are one of the few who has not yet seen this opus, head over to your nearest cineplex asap to join the millions who have experienced this thrill ride.  You will not be disappointed!  Spolier alert--unlike its predecessors, there are no end credit scenes.  There is, however, the late Stan Lee's final cameo; that, alone, is worth the price of admission.  We salute you, Stan, & may you rest in peace.