About halfway through the approximately three-hour-long epic Avengers: Endgame, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) sums up the movie with a quick aside: “The only thing that is permanent in life is impermanence.” At first it seems like a throwaway line, tucked into a comedic ramble about Thor’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). But no second of a meticulously sculpted cinematic event like Endgame forsakes meaning. On the contrary, a film that should feel overlong and overstuffed rings purposeful, weighted with existential truth even as it flashes before our eyes. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the superheroes of our lives.
Many enlightened people contend that time and death are illusions, and Endgame half-agrees. At any rate, time is indefinite, and playing with the concept elevates Endgame in both narrative complexity and—because this is a Marvel movie—irresistible fun. Though its opening scenes are appropriately funereal, Endgame is one of the funniest movies Marvel Studios has produced, and the most fulfilling. As many a comedian will tell you, great tension can give way to great and gratifying release.
Maybe, now more than ever, this is a truism that bears repeating. A culture of perpetual scrolling makes accepting endings more difficult, but endings are inevitable, even in tentpole movies. Of course, the MCU will live on and prosper; Endgame, ironically, all but ensures this. But what’s comforting about Endgame is what’s comforting about all films that we hold dear. Movies can last forever. Movies will probably outlive me, you, and everyone we know. But until our own endings, we can always circle back to our favorite films, revisit characters and times long gone, and watch the stories begin again. v
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. PG-13. 182 minutes. In wide release.
