Avengers: Endgame Parent Guide

Starting a few weeks from where Infinity War left off, Endgame sees the Avengers in their most desperate straits yet. Reeling from the loss of some of their strongest allies and best friends, the survivors of Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) massacre band together to try and undo the damage. Led by Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Ant Man (Paul Rudd), the Avengers seek out the rest of their comrades and prepare for the fight of their lives.

I’ll be honest: I’ve never been the biggest fan of superhero movies. Marvel tends to make the better ones in that category, though, so I was cautiously optimistic that they could turn their monstrous three hour runtime into something interesting and entertaining, And, wonder of wonders, they did.

As with Infinity War, Marvel is banking on the fact that their audience has seen at least 90% of their other movies. If you haven’t, parts of this movie aren’t going to make a lot of sense. With a huge cast of characters and plot elements to weave together, Endgame doesn’t have much time to go back and explain the details. The payoff for seeing all of the previous films is in this production’s ability to wrap up at least a couple of its bigger character arcs in a surprisingly satisfying way. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but I will say that there was an equal amount of crying and clapping in the theatre for the last 20 minutes of the movie.

Surprisingly, the pacing isn’t as bad as it was in Infinity War, which spent so much time zipping between characters that it felt like a slideshow being played at triple speed. Endgame’s advantage, weirdly enough, is that it’s a bit longer. This, combined with the fact that half of the characters died in the last movie, means that the plot is a lot more cohesive, and individual characters feel more developed. Or they at least have enough lines to almost earn the massive multi-million-dollar paycheck they’re getting.

In order to rake in the maximum possible amount of cash from this movie, Marvel has been careful to keep it at a PG-13 rating. What this means for parents is that, even though the show might be more emotionally intense, it’s not going to be much you haven’t already seen in a superhero movie. The usual stylized violence and a smattering of profanity are about all the film is going to bring. That said, with that whopping three-hour runtime, younger kids might get restless. For adults, the biggest problem is going to be picking when it’s safe to run off to the bathroom after accidentally finishing that large drink just after the two-hour mark.

Endgame may not be Citizen Kane, but frankly, it’s not trying to be. As a remarkably emotional action flick, with a lot of big set-pieces and CGI explosions, it provides the return fans expect for their investment of time and patience. Even I’m half curious as to where Marvel is going to go from here. As the last piece in the “Infinity Saga”, Endgame is a fun and satisfying conclusion to years of more lighthearted filmmaking. Just remember- pace yourself on that 16oz fountain drink. You’ll invariably pick the wrong time for your bathroom break.