Over a decade of Marvel movie magic, 21 films in the MCU, dozens of Easter eggs, and hundreds
of minutes of action and emotion — it has all led up to this moment: the release of
Avengers: Endgame.
Ahead of Endgame's theatrical debut, reviews for the superhero ensemble started hitting
the internet.
Critics near and far raced to let their thoughts about Endgame be heard — and you'll want
to lend them your ear.
Here's what the critics on Rotten Tomatoes are saying about Avengers: Endgame.
Don't worry: you're entering a spoiler-free zone!
There's a lot riding on Avengers: Endgame to be a worthy successor to Avengers: Infinity
War and a capstone to three phases of the MCU so far.
Thankfully, Endgame seems to have doubly succeeded.
Critics say it pays off everything within itself and much that preceded it: risks of
past movies, bets the heroes make here, the lengthy run time, the stakes and storylines,
the plot we won't spoil — everything.
Mashable's Angie Han wrote:
"The bet pays off.
The story feels more organic this time, the emotions more earned, and the interpersonal
dynamics richer and more lived-in."
Den of Geek called the film "a totally triumphant payoff," while Susana Polo of Polygon said
"there's nothing Endgame sets up that it doesn't pay off."
Said David Sims of The Atlantic:
"The film earns its length not by overstuffing the frame with opulent action, but by slowing
things down and basking in the charisma of its ensemble.
[...] Thanos's demand for a dramatic ending in Infinity War pays off here in all the right
ways."
Russ Fischer at Birth.Movies.Death. agreed: "Rather than closing things down, Endgame
opens everything up.
This is a genre film with layers of overlapping Big Ideas, character conflicts that could
be flat-out ridiculous if handled with less skill, and deep in-jokes featuring dozens
of costumed characters […] Ultimately, Endgame is an entire movie of payoffs.
It plays off and completes thoughts begun in Age of Ultron and Civil War, and even in
comics."
If you thought Avengers: Infinity War was heartbreaking, you apparently have a big storm
coming with Avengers: Endgame.
Critics are advising fans to pack some hankies and wear waterproof mascara when they head
out to see the film, as it's packed with tear-jerking emotions of all sorts.
Hey, it even reportedly made Captain America himself, Chris Evans, cry six times.
INSIDER's Kirsten Acuna wants moviegoers to hit the theater prepared:
"Bust out the tissues, Marvel fans.
Avengers: Endgame is going to make you laugh, cheer aloud, tear up multiple times, and cry.
By the film's end, there were audible sniffles throughout INSIDER's 10 AM press screening
Tuesday morning.
Endgame is an emotional punch straight to the gut.
[...] You're going to be too emotionally distraught by the film's ending to really nitpick at
anything in Endgame."
Viewers won't weep exclusively out of sadness, though.
As Rosie Fletcher and Richard Jordan at Den of Geek wrote in their joint review:
"At times Endgame is heartbreaking — expect to cry.
But there are certain scenes that border on the euphoric; certain character moments, surprises
and reveals that hit so hard in the heart and the head that it feels like you're MCU-drunk."
Even Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times couldn't help but be moved by Endgame:
"It's a serious contender for the crown and it's the undisputed champion when it comes
to emotional punch.
[...] Avengers: Endgame is as emotionally affecting as any Marvel movie has ever been."
Okay, so we know the movie will probably make you cry – but that doesn't mean the movie
is a sob-fest from start to finish.
Critics have indicated that Endgame features plenty of the MCU's trademark humor, which
helps steady the sentimentality.
Jake Kleinman of Inverse explained:
"Thor delivers some of the best jokes in Endgame (sometimes without saying a word)."
The Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan concurred, saying,
"As high as the stakes are in Endgame, it is also a very funny movie."
It seems one of the movie's most prominent strong points is its ability to mix emotion
with comedy — and avoid tipping too far to one side.
As The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote,
"The sheer enjoyment and fun that it delivers, the pure exotic spectacle, are irresistible,
as is its insouciant way of combining the serious and the comic.
Without the comedy, the drama would not be palatable.
Yet without the earnest, almost childlike belief in the seriousness of what is at stake,
the funny stuff would not work either."
National Review critic Kyle Smith might have said it best when he wrote, "[A] somber aura
gives Avengers: Endgame its gravitas, but the movie is also funny, rousing, and, above
all, endearing."
Where there are lovers, there are haters — or, in this case, people who didn't fall completely
head over heels for the feature.
Bold and beautiful as it evidently is, the film still isn't immune from critique.
Though the vast majority of reviewers basically gave Endgame full marks, a few critics took
a more, well, critical approach to the film.
Forbes senior contributor Scott Mendelson wrote that Endgame is "flawed" and feels as
if it "copied" certain beats of Infinity War, though it's still entertaining and ties up
the threads of the MCU nicely:
"It doesn't make a ton of internal sense, suffers from narrative claustrophobia, and
the action leaves a little to be desired.
[...] Avengers: Endgame is a merely okay MCU movie … [but] there is grace in its failings."
Donald Clarke of The Irish Times argued that Endgame "spends too long wallowing in its
own pomposity" and is "short on fun."
Christian Long at Glide Magazine called it a "subversive, compelling, and thoroughly
unsatisfying" film that "chooses to rely on vacuous fan service instead of taking the
time to put any real heart into its storytelling."
One certified rotten review came from Globe and Mail's Barry Hertz, who wrote, "The entire
endeavour loses any sense of emotional stakes or general meaning beyond the deliverance
of crass fan-service and incomprehensible visuals."
"Ouch."
It seems that for every fault one could find in Avengers: Endgame, ten times the amount
of merits exist.
Sure, a handful of critics weren't roused by the superhero ensemble — and that's A-okay.
But far more were moved enough to exalt it as a true achievement and stamp it with perfect
or near-perfect scores.
Why?
According to Germain Lussier with io9, the film is
"everything you've ever dreamed a Marvel movie could be" — and then some.
Inverse's Jake Kleinman wrote that the film definitely delivers on its promises of big
action and bigger heart, with its third act feeling, quote, "unlike anything we've seen
before" in the history of the MCU:
"As the movie finally ended, I felt different, almost as if I was glowing like Brie Larson's
Captain Marvel.
The result of 11 years of world-building has arrived, and it feels like nothing will be
the same again."
In his review of Endgame, Nick Johnston at Vanyaland said that the film is everything
a fan could want, and feels like an actual ending to the story, writing,
"It doesn’t feel like a teaser for another movie later on down the line [...] it’s
content with satisfying you, the devoted, in the here and now."
The Salt Lake Tribune's Sean P. Means offered a similar analysis, writing,
"Avengers: Endgame delivers everything Marvel fans will enjoy and not much that they expect
[…] Earth's mightiest heroes fulfill their promise, in an installment that takes a decade
of superhero storytelling and ties it together into an astounding, emotional conclusion."
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