(film review) - Avengers: Endgame

I'm alive.  It's 2019 and I am alive to see the day when I can watch a Marvel Superhero movie that has 28+ characters (or so) fighting a great evil in a compelling storyline which has taken 11 years to do.  Now I don't mean, it took them 11 years to write the story, maybe 11 months, but the plan was to get to THIS POINT.  The 22nd Movie and the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War to finally complete the Infinity Saga which started with Ironman back in 2008.  Amazing.  I mean this is an amazing feat that nearly every movie studio and their grandparent with their pet has been trying to do as stated in my Infinity War Review.

Universal tried it with their 'Dark Universe', which was meant to be a combination of Monster Movies within the same universe.  Wannabe franchises are announcing first films and also mentioning sequels before they have even wrapped shooting of their first movie, like Power Rangers, because they want to be like the Fast and Furious franchise that has now spun off a Spin-Off with two of their most popular stars...and the trailer looks good! And then you get gems like John Wick.  A man who just goes around killing a bunch of people who were responsible for killing his dog...a present from his terminoloy ill wife.  Not a lot to that story or plot for that matter, but it doesn't try to be anything else.  Touching, I guess but not ground breaking... but they now have dates for a 4th Chapter!!!  Why, because John Wick is great!  I say that, to say this...People, the public, will invest their time and hard earned monies into good stories that has lore and connectivity within the world that they are built in and Endgame has done that over 11 years.  But is it any good you ask? Did The Russo brothers stick the landing and tie a nice tidy bow around the Infinity Saga!?  Considering the last movie, Infinity War was sooo jam-packed with information, some may even say dense; and with how it ended... the answer, is YES! YES! YES!

The film picks up moments after the immediate ending of Infinity War then time jumps to 5 years later when the world almost looks post-apocalyptic.  The world is trying to move on but our main heroes, they cannot.  So, with the surprise arrival of Ant-Man, our failed heroes collectively devise a plan and build up enough courage to band together and do 'Whatever It Takes' (like it says in the trailer), in order to fight for a better tomorrow...even if that means taking the fight back to Thanos no matter the cost.

If I say anything more than what I have just said, would spoil the movie entirely, but what I will say is, the accomplishment of successfully linking ALL 21 movies that came before it and possibly acknowledging all the heroes that came before, is most definitely Knighthood Territory.  Even the trailers didn't give you anything regarding plot.  How do you give service to possibly 28 characters in a 3hr movie, (yes 3 hours, pee before you go in and drink nothing all day) and have a film feel like it gave every single character reasonable time to shine or better yet, acknowledgement, yet not have the film feel like it is dragging to get to the end?  How do you successfully complete major and minor story-arcs for major and minor characters?  How do you keep viewers engaged?  How do you have every bit of dialogue or scene not feel like it is completely unnecessary?  Well, the Russo Brothers have done that and I can assure you, when the movie finishes (Unless you have small bladder issues), you will want more, especially if you are a fan!  It is a slow build up to an AMAZING end.  It is funny in the right places.  Sad in places.  But I kid you not! The EXCITEMENT and PURE SPECTICAL in particular scenes will have you cheering if you have been watching these movies from 2008 as there is a lot of connectivity.  My cinema lit up!  At this point, there is no point mentioning the acting...we are 11 years deep and where every film in their little pockets of trilogies and soon to be trilogies and/or stories, have been getting better over the years...bar Ironman 3 (as I didn't really like that one), it goes without saying that practically every character brought their A-Game.

Have a watch as this is the end of a story-arc that has been meticulously thought out and planned with a few hiccups in places over the years, but managed to stick the landing, probably the best way something like this could ever can.  This film is not exempt from being nit-picked to death, if that is your thing, but as a whole, this movie was very well done and those things you may want to nitpick in the grand scheme of things is likely, fan wishes - fanboy.  Come At Me Bro!  So, well done Russo's, well done.

(film review) - Shazam

It hasn't been long but Shazam is now here and since the last decent movie was indeed, Aquaman a few months ago, it seems as though the DCEU or whatever they want to call it is now ramping up.  There has been a few whispers of other films but it's interesting to see where they are going to be going considering there isn't a lot of great DC movies of late.  At the Moment it's Man of Steel, Wonder Woman and Aquaman.  One of DC's biggest flops, although it was alright, just (I mean I enjoyed it for the most part), was Justice League, but DC has a long way to go to keep pumping out excellence with consistency.  Maybe, just maybe we will have it here.

Billy Batson is a 14 year old foster child who has gone from home to home not being able to settle anywhere.  One day, Billy is pulled into a mysterious place and granted the powers of Shazam enabling him to change from boy to man in an instant with superhero powers, strength, healing, fire-proof, superhuman speed, superhuman reflexes, Electrokinesis, flight and with his friend Freddy Freeman, Billy must find a way to live with his new found powers and also take down Doctor Sivana who wants the power for himself.

I enjoyed this movie. It wasn't great, it wasn't wow, it was "Oh, ok, that was cool" There were some funny bits that made me chuckle and it is an overall decent movie, but if we were going to jump onto the comparison train, this movie does not hold a candle up to the recent comic book movies out.  I'd say it isn't as bad as Suicide Squad but that movie reeked of heavy studio interference.  the music and scores were decent and the visuals were also decent but if I'm honest, although not a jaw dropping movie, this movie does stand out as one of the better ones from DC, Aquaman, Wonder Woman.  It's been soo long since Man of steel and to think that Shazam essentially is pretty much equal to Superman, would be nice to see him in a future project or even, Black Adam especially as that has been mentioned a little while ago which seems like forever.

The acting is great from Zachary Levi and he bounces off Jack Dylan Grazer well. Asher Angel is also great and so in Mark Strong, as usual as he always delivers a great performance.  If they do choose to change some things should they do a sequel to this movie...I hope they tone down the suit as it literally looks like Zachary is in a muscle suit and the colour is wildly too bright.  And to not give any spoilers, but I would like to see more of Billy Batson's family in any future project too, especially as this could have been hinted by the end credits scene.  Give it a go, you might enjoy like I did.

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