When I first reviewed the film, I initially it a glowing review. Even after so many repeated viewings, my feelings are pretty much the same. After eleven years and twenty-two films of experimental connected storytelling, Avengers: Endgame came, saw, and finally conquered the Avatar mountain. When the film came out three months ago, it instantly became a cultural phenomenon. When all was said and done, Avengers: Endgame gave us one of the most satisfying and epic conclusions ever. The film essentially gave us everything we wanted in a finale. Lots of epic team-ups, action, and visuals.
Yet we also got a lot of emotional character moments as well. Endgame does an impeccable job giving audiences insight into how our heroes cope with loss. Some come out of it for the better (Hulk) and some come out of it for the worst (Hawkeye). But these character moments are what humanizes them and lets audiences connect with them even more.
The film also was the final film for a majority of the actors. With this knowledge, we knew we’d have to say goodbye to most of them, but we didn’t know who would bite the bullet and who would retire. The end result gave us the most heartbreaking and emotional endings of recent memory. At the same time, it gave us a lot of award-worthy performances—especially from Robert Downey Jr himself.
Downey Jr. brings so much to the table in his final performance as Tony Stark. He has his usual charming performance, but he also brings a parental nuance to it as well. After all, he is not only the father to Morgan and Peter he’s the father of the entire MCU too. None of this would be possible without him and something tells me that he realizes it too.
At the same time, Scarlett Johansson provides a ton of emotion to the film. She’s not the same cold-hearted person of the past, she’s opened herself more now than she’s ever been. She cares and finally shows emotion towards her fellow “family” members. Chris Hemsworth also deserves a lot of credit for giving Thor a lot of depth in this film. He’s gone off the deep end but you can also sense a lot of pain behind all that fat.
Overall, Avengers: Endgame is an emotionally gratifying conclusion to the Infinity Saga. When the storytelling experiment started in 2008 with Iron Man, no one expected the connected universe to be as successful as it was. Now, with Endgame breaking Avatar’s all-time worldwide box office record, everyone is playing catch-up. While we wait upon the next phase of the MCU, Endgame gives fans a closing chapter to some of our favorite characters. It’s a bittersweet ending for everyone involved.
Movie Rating: 5/5 atoms
Video
Avengers: Endgame hits Ultra HD Blu-ray with an HDR transfer and a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. For the most part, the video transfer is almost perfect. The brightness is a bright white and looks fantastic on the screen. However, the black levels are a shade less than deep black but it’s still dark. Not to mention, the contrast looks slightly flat as there’s not a ton of depth in the picture.
With the color saturation, everything looks so natural. Nothing looks too overly saturated or desaturated. In addition, the video has incredibly clear and crisp details all around. There’s also a nice crispness to the edge details as well. Overall, this is a great video transfer.
Video Rating: 4.5/5 atoms
Audio
Avengers: Endgame hits Ultra HD Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos and a core 7.1 Dolby TrueHD Master Audio track. This review will reflect Endgame‘s Dolby Atmos track. For a film as large as this, there are a few spots where the sound effects move across the soundstage. Regardless, the accurate sound placement immerses you in the scene. It’s a good substitute but it would’ve been nice to get some sound movement in the audio mix. When it comes to the overhead effects, there’s not a ton of them. When it does, these moments come at you like a dome. These effects primarily come during the climactic fight against Thanos.
At least there are a good amount of subtle atmospheric sound effects in the mix. At the same time, Alan Silvestri’s score is loud and boisterous across the entire soundstage—which takes precedence over other atmospheric effects. Finally, the dialogue is clear, clean, and distinct while the subwoofer booms with authority. Overall, this is a fantastic audio mix.
Audio Rating: 4.5/5 atoms
Special Features
Avengers: Endgame‘s Ultra HD Blu-ray disc doesn’t have any special features on it. However, you can find the following special features on the Bonus Features Blu-ray disc:
- Audio Commentary with Joe & Anthony Russo, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely
- Featurettes
- Remembering Stan Lee
- Setting the Tone: Casting Robert Downey Jr.
- A Man Out of Time: Creating Captain America
- Black Widow: Whatever It Takes
- The Russo Brothers: Journey to Endgame
- The Women of the MCU
- Bro Thor
- Deleted Scenes
- Goji Berries
- Bombs on Board
- Suckiest Army in the Galaxy
- You Used to Frickin’ Live Here
- Tony and Howard
- Avengers Take a Knee
- Gag Reel
The audio commentary is only for those who really want to know about all of the inside information about the making of the film. The Russos, Markus, and McFeely all give great insight into their thought process for a particular scene. Unfortunately, their voices aren’t the most energetic. Also, they don’t answer the most pressing questions about the story as well. For those of us who love and grew up with Marvel, “Remembering Stan Lee” will be a hard watch. Yet it gives us touching look back at all of the cameos he’s had in the past MCU films. Rest in peace, Stan Lee.
The three-character featurettes provide a sweet and informative retrospective on the characters that we lost in Endgame. We get to learn more about the characters impact on the MCU and with the actors that portray them. At the same time, the Russos featurette is another fantastic retrospective on the Russos’ seven-year journey that started with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
“The Women of the MCU” gives us an inside look at the lead up to that marvelous scene in Endgame. “Bro Thor” is an incredibly funny featurette. However, unlike the other character featurettes, this one isn’t a retrospective—especially with a brand new film on the way. As you can probably tell from the name, it’s all about Hemsworth’s transformation into fat bro Thor.
The deleted scenes provide nothing new to the overall storyline, but they are all hilarious watches though. The only exception, obviously, is the last deleted scene, “Avengers Take a Knee”. Finally, if you’ve seen the gag reel on YouTube then you’ve seen 80% of the gag reel on this release. Unfortunately, most of the hilarious parts are in the clip that’s up on YouTube.
Special Features Rating: 4/5 atoms
Overall, Avengers: Endgame is one of those rare “Swiss army knife” type of films. It will make you laugh, cry, exhilarate, and cheer several times throughout the film. Although it’s sad to see Downey and Evans go, we’re excited to see what Marvel Studios has in store for the next saga of films. The video and audio are both great while the special features are informative and fun to watch.
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
This Blu-ray was reviewed using a retail/advance copy/unit provided by Walt Disney Home Entertainment.
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