Avengers: Endgame (no spoilers review)

(M) ★★★★★

Director: Anthony & Joe Russo.

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Karen Gillan, Danai Gurira, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin.

Worst scarecrow ever.

So it's come to this. The 22nd film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is being touted as the end of an era, tying up the loose ends of more than a decade worth of storytelling. In many ways Endgame is the clearing of the slate before whatever comes next. And given the carnage of Infinity War, all bets were off on what exactly that slate-clearing would entail.

But you won't find any answers to that conundrum here. This is a spoiler-free review, so all you need to know is that Endgame is great; really, properly great. Amazing, in fact. With all this anticipation, promise, and baggage, it's actually remarkable how fulfilling and enjoyable it is. This is the Return Of The King of superhero movies - the epic end chapter that closes a mighty legacy in the best way possible, living up to the lofty heights of expectation, and doing justice to the great film-making that has gone before in the MCU's past 11 years.

For those of you who have no idea what's going on, Endgame follows on from the events of Infinity War, which saw big bad Thanos snap his weaponised, gauntleted fingers and wipe out 50 per cent of life in the universe. Haunted by their inability to have stopped him, the surviving Avengers try to get on with their lives, and figure out what to do next.

At three hours long, Endgame is no mere final fling. It's a deep heartfelt look at the characters that helped turned the MCU into the biggest film franchise of all time. It's no accident that six of the superheroes that survived The Snappening are the six original Avengers - Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow. As much as this is Marvel reaping the story seeds it sowed when the first Infinity Stone appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011, it's also about taking an overarching look at how far those original Avengers have come.

Whereas Infinity War was, if nothing else, an exercise in storytelling logistics in which 20-plus supers vied for space in a cramped narrative, Endgame has the luxury of digging deeper into its starring sextet. For those six, the film is full of touching character moments, emotional notes, and references to past glories and failures. This makes the rollercoaster of the story a richer ride, raises the stakes, and pulls us deeper into the saga.

It's easy to forget the risks Marvel took with their MCU casting, in particular with comeback kid Downey Jr and the then-unknown Chrises of Hemsworth and Evans. They have repaid Marvel's benevolence in spades, and the genius of those selections has always been evident, but here it is taken to the next level. Along with Johansson, Renner and Ruffalo, they all give their best MCU performances to date, as if everything has been building to this (which it has in many ways). Their perfectness for the roles has consistently been evident over the past decade, but they all seem to be going above and beyond here.

At first glance, the plot works wonderfully, but will bear re-watching. It certainly builds to a climax that is bigger and bolder than anything Marvel has ever put on the big screen, even bigger than Infinity War. The emphasis is definitely more on character than spectacle here, but there are still plenty of great moments, including a finale that's one for the ages.

It's hard to say more without giving anything away, but the key thing here is that the benchmark for superhero superfranchises is now astronomically high. Marvel, over the course of 22 MCU films, has shown the possibilities of the genre again and again, reinventing and refocusing to avoid hero fatigue. But with Endgame they haven't just drawn a line in the sand - they've dug a grand canyon the likes of which we may never see again.