WASHINGTON -- This weekend, I, along with millions of other people around the world, went to see "Avengers: Endgame" -- the climactic finale in the 11-year, 22-film saga contained within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It wastes no time diving right into the action and jam packs every second of its 3-hour-2-minute runtime.
It’s worth noting that this is not a movie you should walk into blindly. The Russo Brothers don’t waste any time trying to catch you up to speed -- all the key information you need to know is in the 21 previous films. At the very least, you should see "Avengers: Infinity War" before "Endgame" to understand the basic premise of where this film picks up.
The writers and directors faced a monumental task of balancing a massive amount of characters with very strong fan bases and were successful, for the most part. There will always be fans who wish their favorite character had more screen time, but even with a 3-hour runtime, there must be cuts in order to focus on the core of the story. I think the final battle, however, will please any fan who had been previously missing their favorite characters. It is an epic scene that will probably go down in history as one of the greatest battle scenes of all time.
The most challenging part of the movie to wrap my head around was the time travel. Most of the second act of the film featured our characters jumping back to key points in time and potentially creating diverging timelines. It's obvious that lots of thought went into the mechanics of time travel in order to avoid creating plot holes, but in my opinion, it may be different to comprehend all at once.
Above all, the film is overwhelmingly emotional. It's bittersweet to watch the finale of 11 years worth of storytelling. Watching something that you love end with awesome finality is a tough pill to swallow. It's a satisfying ending, but that doesn’t erase the fact that is an ending.
Though the Marvel Cinematic Universe will continue, it will be without some beloved main characters. I’m excited to see where Kevin Feige takes this franchise in the future -- after delivering 22 extraordinary interconnected films thus far, I trust that Marvel has a few more tricks up their sleeve.
Without a doubt, I give this film a 10/10. I have no doubt it will go down in history as having one of the most significant cultural impacts alongside "Star Wars" and "The Lord of the Rings." This is an absolute must-see movie.