Thoughts on 'Avengers: Endgame' and 'Spider-man: Far From Home'

It has been three months since my last blog, which can only mean one thing: I've got two new Marvel movies to review.

Yes, it's true. Two new movies have come out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since I blogged, and I'm ready to talk about both of them. Clearly, you should not continue reading any further unless you have seen "Avengers: Endgame" and "Spider-man: Far From Home."

We good? All right. Let's go.

Avengers: Endgame

I really enjoyed "Endgame." I saw it in theaters three times, for crying out loud, so I better have liked it!

There were a couple things that I didn't quite care for; the first half-hour was a little rough, particularly.

I didn't like that Tony was such a jerk to the other Avengers (specifically, Cap) after he was rescued, but I guess he was always arrogant, so this shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.

Captain Marvel still isn't my favorite character. At this point, she is incredibly overpowered - it's no wonder she had to be M.I.A. for 90% of the movie! It will be interesting to see who she ends up fighting in any forthcoming sequels. Whoever it is better end up being 40 times stronger than Thanos, or else the movie is only going to be 15 minutes long. And I understand that there are, apparently, legions of of cosmic threats out there that are diverting her attention, but it did come off a bit like she thinks Earth isn't important enough for her, and that was annoying.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of "Endgame," for me, was how easily they killed Thanos. We're talking the first time. Like, they literally just showed up and chopped his head off. I had joked for a year that, no matter what happened, they better go for the head - and they did - but, for it to happen that simply, not even 45 minutes into the movie, I was pretty let down. Thanos deserved better.

With that in mind, the final battle was fantastic. In my mind, the "Avengers Assemble" moment was one of the most glorious scenes in the history of cinema. Absolutely terrific. Cap finally lifted Thor's hammer - which we all suspected he could do, all the way back in "Age of Ultron," and that moment alone was worth the price of admission. Watching all the heroes join forces on screen was goosebump-worthy, and I couldn't have asked for anything more from the final hour of the movie. (The feminism scene was a bit too heavy-handed, though. Like, we get it, guys. Great.)

Going into the movie, I assumed Captain America would die and Iron Man would retire, but we got the opposite. Steve Rogers resigned himself to the life that he missed out on, which was the best ending he probably could have hoped for, and Tony Stark - the one who started it all - dealt the final blow to Thanos, losing his life in the process. It was a fitting ending for Tony. Admittedly, I was never "Team Stark," but his character changed my taste in movies (and Hollywood, at large) by leaps and bounds. Thankfully, I didn't cry over it, but I know many who did, including the woman one row behind me during my first viewing, who was uncontrollably sobbing. Also, this happened. Someone was actually hospitalized for crying too much. Just... just wow.

One more thing that I really loved about "Endgame" was that it made every single MCU movie feel important. Except for the Edward Norton "Hulk" movie. That one doesn't count. But there were Easter eggs and references to pretty much every other movie, with several scenes taking place in past movies, not the least of which was a shoutout to "Thor: The Dark World"! Eat it, haters!

I also need to give major props to Marvel for the "Endgame" elevator scene, which single-handedly gave a flashback to the tremendous fight scene in "Winter Soldier" and also turned one of the most controversial comicbook storylines from the past few years into a one-liner ("Hail H.Y.D.R.A.") that sent my opening-night theater into an uproar of approval. Great work.

I've got to accept "Endgame" for what it truly is: a love-letter farewell tour for the original crew (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye). This movie was about them. As such, most of the movie was focused on those particular characters. I'm not sure anybody would really have cared about a Hawkeye/Black Widow fight in any other movie, but, for "Endgame," it worked. Watching Tony Stark turn into a family man wasn't quite gripping entertainment, but, for "Endgame," we loved it (3,000). It's funny how, sometimes, when you finish a TV show or, for instance, a 10-year-long movie franchise, it makes us sad, like we're losing friends or something. But that's what happened here, too. This was the end of a chapter of entertainment, and it was a great run while it lasted.

With that said, Black Widow better stay dead. Iron Man better not come back. I don't want to see Vision or Gamora again in the future of the MCU. (Yeah, yeah, I know we're getting a Black Widow prequel that nobody I know actually wants to see, and that Vision is getting a spin-off on Disney+, and that Star-Lord was searching for Gamora the last time he was on the screen during "Endgame," but why can't Marvel just keep their characters dead for once? The original era is over, and now it's time to turn the page and move on with new characters.

Speaking of Star-Lord, can I just say that this was one of the proudest moments of my life?

I tweeted that out five days before "Endgame" hit theaters, so when Fat Thor said "Asgardians of the Galaxy" at the end of the movie, I was going crazy. I'm a psychic and I'm so dang proud of myself.

The final verdict:

Overall, "Avengers: Endgame" is a really great movie. Solid 9 out of 10 stars from A-Town. But, in the end, I just couldn't justify knocking "Infinity War" out of the top spot. Here's my main reason: because "Endgame" focused so much about the O.G. six Avengers, it didn't give much time to many of the other heroes. Take Drax and Mantis, for instance: they each got maybe a minute and a half of screen time, with two or three lines of dialogue, each. I loved the way that "Infinity War" gave each group of heroes their own time to shine. We got to see everybody in action for nearly three hours. I never thought that kind of a crossover, involving characters from that many movies, would work, but it did. Thus, I'm keeping "Infinity War" as the king of comicbook movies (for now, at least), with "Endgame" coming in as a firm runner-up.

Spider-man: Far From Home

I was not totally certain what to expect from the first post-"Endgame" entry in the MCU, other than the fact that Peter Parker and Nick Fury would obviously survive the final battle with Thanos. This was clear to the entire world, as those two, who were both "snapped" by the Mad Titan in "Infinity War" were shown, alive and well, in "Far From Home" trailers before "Endgame" even came out. So... that was pretty stupid. Good job, folks.

The other thing that came as no surprise to me was that Mysterio, played wonderfully by Jake Gyllenhaal, ended up being a villain, despite the trailer's best effort to coax us into thinking that he would be playing a mentor figure for young Mr. Parker. Everybody with half a brain that is even remotely familiar with the Mysterio character knows that he is one of our favorite web-slinger's greatest nemesises... nemesi... nemesee... Never has a plot twist been so telegraphed since I saw Batman and Superman fighting each other in a movie that was subtitled "Dawn of Justice." Like, you know, the Justice League, which was founded by none other than the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel.

I wasn't the biggest fan of "Spider-man: Homecoming." No, no. That would be my co-worker, who I believe honestly thinks that Spider-man is real. It wasn't a bad movie. It just wasn't my favorite. And, at the time it was released, I still wasn't too keen on the fact that we were getting another Spidey reboot with a brand new actor in the lead role. (Technically, he first appeared in "Civil War," but let's not get nitpicky, people.) As with Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond, it has just taken me a second to adjust to Tom Holland as Peter Parker. He does a nice job and he is finally settling into the role. I still don't like Zendaya as "M.J.," but Tom has finally grown on me.

I didn't mind all the references to the now-deceased Tony Stark, who was the closest thing that this iteration of Peter has had to a father, but I was glad to see that Iron Man didn't physically appear in any (presumed) new footage in "Far From Home." We did get a little glimpse of what Peter is capable of while designing his new suit, which was fun. Let the boy spread his Spider-wings and fly!

Despite the aforementioned plot twist, I really liked Mysterio as the villain. I thought that the way they translated the comicbook character onto the big screen was relevant, with the ongoing development of virtual reality and holographic imagery. I thought the Mysterio "illusion" scenes, especially that one toward the end where it looks like Spider-man has been stuck inside a snowglobe, were incredibly well done. I thought that Gyllenhaal was perfect for that part. I have generally liked him in most of his movies, and I was glad to see him get a "Nightcrawler"-esque freak-out at one point, during that scene where his assistants are struggling to run their drone program to perfection. That's good stuff. In my book, I'd put Mysterio as a Top-Five Marvel villain, at the moment.

"Far From Home" felt organically funny, too; the humor wasn't forced like the MCU tends to get from time to time. There were a couple moments that genuinely made me laugh out loud. It's also, hands down, Happy Hogan's best movie to date.

Let's talk about those post-credits scenes

• The first post-credits scene showed footage of Mysterio moments before his demise. An awkward quote from Spider-man was taken out of context, painting him as a murderer, followed shortly thereafter by Mr. Beck revealing to the world the true identity of Spider-man - Peter Parker, including a photo of his face. That's intense. Really, really good moment right there. It will be very interesting to see how this affects the future of the universe, now that they not only know who Spider-man is, but they also think that he's a bad guy.
• Can we also raise the dang roof for that brilliant cameo by J.K. Simmons, reprising his role as the superhero-hating J. Jonah Jameson? Oh man, that was so good. JJJ is amazing.
• The second post-credits scene revealed that the Nick Fury we had seen throughout the entire movie was actually the shape-shifting Skrull Talos, who had been disguising himself as the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. the entire time, which Fury was, it turns out, just chilling up in space. I hadn't heard any spoilers about "Far From Home," but I did see a tweet a couple hours before my showing that said something like, "Can we just talk about that second post-credits scene??" ...as if it were a good thing, I assume? Well, guess what? I didn't like it. In fact, I thought it was pretty dumb and confusing. There. I said it.

Was "Far From Home" the best Spider-man movie ever made
? I'm not positive. Certainly, it was more enjoyable than "Homecoming." I'll leave "Into the Spider-verse" out of the conversation for the time being. MCU Spidey is way better than anything Andrew Garfield did. I'd put it above "Spider-man 3," which I didn't care for, although the Emo Peter Parker stuff just gets better with age. I remember walking out of "Spider-man (1)" and "Spider-man 2," legitimately thinking that they were the best movies I had ever seen. I didn't have that same feeling as I left "Far From Home," although I did think it would wind up high in my rankings. I could quickly spout off a bunch of MCU movies that were worse, including good, recent ones like "Captain Marvel" and "Black Panther." I'd willingly see it again in theaters, provided that the MoviePass gods smile upon me in upcoming weeks. All in all, it was a very good movie - probably about an 8.5 out of 10 - and it was definitely more enjoyable than I anticipated it to be.

The final verdict:

There are a couple movies, right now, that are untouchable at the top of my rankings. Not that it was bad, by any stretch, but I would never say that "Far From Home" was as good as or better than "Infinity War," "Endgame" or the original "Avengers" movie. Then there are a couple others that I just love too much to bump down right now: "Winter Soldier" and "Civil War." The best comparisons I could give it while walking out of the theater would be "Iron Man (1)" and "Guardians of the Galaxy." After thinking about it for a while, I like "Guardians (Vol. 1)" better, simply for the lasting impact that those characters have had on me. I love the Guardians. And I've always loved "Iron Man (1)," as well. That movie, as I've stated many times before, was a complete game-changer (and I hate the way that phrase is overused these days). But, given the choice, would I rather sit down right now, this very second, and watch "Iron Man" again or go see "Far From Home" for a second time?

This very second, I'm officially putting "Far From Home" ahead of "Iron Man."

*****

So there you have it! Did you like "Avengers: Endgame"? Have you seen "Spider-man: Far From Home"? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter or whatever you feel is most appropriate.

To view my full, updated list of movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, click here.

For more on "Avengers: Endgame," click here.