The wait is finally over!
As the highly anticipated twenty-second film of the MCU hit big screens today, fans across the world experience what they’ve expected, not expected, wished, prayed and on top of all, waited for!
Avengers: Endgame, a culmination of what Marvel has been brewing for the last 11 years, brings back all the memories of a decade through 21 films since the inception of the franchise with Iron Man in 2008.
The director duo Russo brothers were more than certain when they mentioned that they were going to link all the loose ends the previous films had left, and bring them together. They did it, and HOW!
If Avengers: Infinity War was termed as the “biggest crossover ever”, Endgame is even bigger in terms of concluding the epic saga, bring certain characters’ to a fitting conclusion, and packed with a punch of emotions and a finale of epic proportions.
It surely does “whatever it takes” to deliver a satisfying as well as an epic finale to this possibly the most popular superhero franchise.
By now, “it’s a truth universally acknowledged” that Endgame takes up from the point where Infinity War ended, with Thanos destroying half of all living creatures, leaving a handful of Avengers trying every possible means to undo their team mates’ fateful doom.
This final and only attempt then leads to several amazing and terrifying situations for our favourite superheroes to deal with; place where you could never imagine this movie would reach, but indeed does.
And joining the team this time is our current favourite, Captain Marvel, who does her best in her limited screen presence. Honestly, we expected to see more functional in defeating the Mad Titan, though this movie is more about the OGs – the original six heroes who kick-started the Avengers initiative. However, Endgame does take you on a nostalgic ride down the MCU timeline and make you smile, laugh and cry at regular intervals.
The makers along with the entire team have left no stone unturned to make this Endgame experience that’d make fans go awestruck – epic comic book moments, interesting team-ups, unexpected cameos and high octane face-offs, given the enormous stakes of the film. The gamut of this film is huge and includes some jaw-dropping, ‘out of the world’ visuals as well as fascinating inter-galactic travels and so much more, that would only get justice if one goes out and watch the movie in theatres.
Big, noted names such as ILM, Weta Digital, Double Negative, Cinesite, Framestore, Digital Domain, Rise VFX, Lola VFX, Cantina Creative, Capital T, Technicolor VFX and Territory Studio worked on VFX for this film which certainly deserves appreciation. Framestore, out of all has delivered more than 300 shots for the film.
I often wonder whether the triumph of a VFX project can be measured by how unbelievable the shots look or by the fact that despite being fictional, extraordinary and clearly not real, they seem indistinguishable from real life. So seamless and intricately on-point that after a while, they become indiscernible from your reality. After a point, you are so blissfully convinced of the imagery being your reality that it doesn’t baffle you anymore.
I think this time its the latter which we should go for. Not a single shot you can pick out in which the perfection hasn’t percolated. Double Negative and Framestore have done a fantastic job at conjuring up the computer-generated imagery and overall visual effects, bestowing an experience worthy of a decade-long culmination of the vision.
You know when there is a thump on the ground, the crack is going to look about as real as one can physically imagine. The hologram work, the water effects, the storm, the dazzling lights and the thunder. They are all perfectly interspersed on celluloid! The crowd simulation also has played a major part in the end.
The way CG creatures have been placed alongside the characters with all their mannerisms intact, you would hardly feel that they aren’t real characters or animals. And that’s when visual effects trick your senses with its photorealism. Right from the way they walk to the way their fur flutters in the air, its all taken care of so painstakingly well that you are indeed transported into the universe Russo brothers fondly created for you.
We are betting on this movie to bag multiple VFX honours and accolades of this year. The scale itself merits a benchmark to bear upon.
Courtesy of the VFX genius, this masterpiece of a story couldn’t have been told in such an immersive and incredible way without the groundbreaking visual effects technology superimposed upon it.
What stands out of Endgame besides the stunning CG and VFX work, is how our “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” are showcased more as humans rather than just being superheroes; who are as vulnerable as any one of us and ’stead chooses to rise over everything and take a stand for the greater good. The background score, well placed and well-timed songs, just fits perfectly into the skin of the film.
Endgame will definitely warm up your hearts and make eyes teary, but make sure you do your homework well so that you can effortlessly connect the threads during the film. All good things must come to an end because that’s how they’re supposed to be and though it’s hard to accept it, genius lies in knowing when to stop. So for one last time, the Avengers have assembled and mind you, it’s unlike what you’ve ever seen in the MCU!
Go grab your tickets and witness them create history!
(This review has been jointly written by Sharmindrila Paul, Sachin Bhat and Parth Kaushik)