At the end of the previous Avengers movie, Infinity War, bad guy Thanos (Josh Brolin) collected all six mystical Infinity Stones, snapped his fingers, then POOF-half the population of the universe turned to dust, and this includes many superheroes.
It's up to those who are left of the Avengers to fix all this by somehow reversing what Thanos has done. Scott Lang / Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) comes up with a "Time Heist," and it is up to Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Rocket Raccoon (voice of Bradley Cooper), and James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) to execute this plan. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) also turns up to help out, but she's absent throughout most of the movie.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, along with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, have achieved something special with this Marvel Comics property. They are able-for the most part-to juggle multiple characters, construct a clear plot, make a three-hour film move at a good pace, construct a seriously awesome final battle, and inject the movie with emotional heft.
There is much pondering of loss and the struggle to move on. Despite these heavy themes and some shocking moments, Endgame is not dour. In fact, it has a healthy sense of humor and lots of laugh-out-loud moments, many of them courtesy of Thor and how he has let himself go.
Avengers: Endgame delivers. Yes, believe the hype. This one is a crowd-pleaser-as well as a tearjerker.
