Avengers: Endgame (2019): Written
by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directed by the Russo
brothers. Starring: EFFING. EVERYONE. Running Time: 181
minutes. Based on the comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Rating: 3.5/4
What does it all mean? After 22
movies spread out over 11 years and astronomical sums of money both
spent and made on the massive, global juggernaut that is the MCU,
what is left to us now that Endgame has, well, ended the game?
Whatever comes next for Marvel, its competitors, and the whole
concept of shared cinematic universes, there will never again be
anything quite like the drawn-out experience that has now come to a
very specific end. The MCU has inspired devotion and hatred in equal
measures of intensity, with the only point of agreement between both
sides being that it is something truly impossible to avoid or ignore.
But to what end? How deep will these roots reach, and will be good
or bad for film-making as an industry?
I feel wholly inadequate to the task
of tackling any of these bigger questions. Set aside the fact that I
am neither a rabid fanboy nor a devoted hater of the MCU, it's also
way too soon; I still need to digest the movie I just saw.
Now don't worry, I'm not going to get
into spoiler territory. What would be gained anyway by trying to
recount the plot? Anyone who cares enough has either already seen
the film or knows more or less what will happen; after The Snapture,
only the original six Avengers, plus a few extras, are left behind,
and they have to find a way to deal with the fallout and figure out a
way to respond, if there is one to find. And they proceed to do
that, through a runtime that, yes, is extensive, but one that is
thoroughly earned by the end.
Fittingly, the bulk of that time is a
devoted send-off to the original six members of the Avengers squad
(though Bruce Banner is ultimately left a bit short). Whole
sequences- some short, some extensive- center around each of them
revisiting or reconsidering key moments from their past, reflecting
on how much has changed within and around them. This, in turn,
inevitably draws the audience in to a similar level of reflection- a
lot has happened to us, too, as we've watched this group battle all
manner of magical, powerful, or fantastical being. The characters
and actors have changed, and so have we, and the film's awareness and
embrace of this is what will make it deeply emotionally satisfying
for all of us who've been on this ride from the beginning. This,
however, may also make the film too dense and plodding for those who
do not feel any emotional connection to the characters; Endgame
will convert no haters, that much I feel safe in saying.
But oh, what a final ride this is, and
I can't help but feel a certain bittersweetness in knowing that this
original squad will never again assemble, at least not in the same
way. The best of the movies will always be there, but at last, there
is nothing left to anticipate or build towards. Much like the
conclusion of The Last Jedi two years prior, there is, for the
first time forever, the sense that the stories and characters from
this world are free to go just about anywhere from here. That the
possibilities of what could come next truly are endless.
Now, whether or not Marvel will
actually capitalize on that in a satisfying way remains to be seen,
but for now, let's enjoy the panoramic spread of all this movie
offers up for our viewing pleasure. Endgame seeks to cram in
pretty much everything, from the small to the inexorably vast, and in
my eyes, it nearly always pulls it off. There are many moments, many
shots, many lines of dialogue that will get audiences howling with
laughter or cheering with aplomb.
But what will give the movie real
heft, in the end, is its relentless focus on providing moments of
closure, or redemption, or whatever was needed for the original cast.
I won't delve into the specifics here, but it hardly counts as a
spoiler to say beforehand that the biggest resolutions surround
Ironman and Captain America, since that is what literally everyone
has been predicting forever. I found both to be excellently
well-done, each one fitting for the particulars of two cases where
the actors and their personas have become synonymous with both their
individual characters and the Marvel brand as a whole.
Beyond those two, though, I think I
personally was most moved by the final big moments given to Hawkeye
and Black Widow, both of whom have, like Bruce Banner, tended to get
rather shortchanged over the years. I feel Jeremy Renner has ended
up forgotten far too often- no one was ever tuning in to the MCU to
see the latest exploits of Hawkeye, Japanese Yakuza Destroyer- so I
was glad this movie gave him a chance to remind viewers that, oh
yeah, there's a reason he was nominated for an Oscar for The Hurt
Locker. Johansson gets a scene with Steve Rogers early on that
allows her, with minimal dialogue, to give us a far better sense of
who Black Widow is than an Age of Ultron flashback ever could,
and it might have my favorite usage of a peanut butter sandwich yet
shown on the big screen.
The most unexpected and unique
treatment may be reserved for Thor, though, and while viewer mileage
may vary, I personally loved every second of this, erm, “new and
improved” King of Asgard, and the doors left open for him going
forward is definitely what excites me the most. Paul Rudd's Ant-Man
is also one of the survivors, and his effectiveness in his scenes as
very much an audience POV figure is a reminder that he might be one
of the most underappreciated of the Avengers crew so far; a
post-Snapture reunion with his daughter in the beginning of the film
carries Steve Rogers/Tony Stark levels of pathos, but unlike the
latter, was something I was entirely not expecting.
If one character gets the sort of
turnaround many were not anticipating, though, it was Nebula. Given
that she was originally not supposed to outlive the very first
Guardians movie, she's come a very, very long way, and if Guardians
2 wasn't enough to get her a solid fan following, Endgame
should do the trick.
Endgame is a massive, carefully
sculpted canvas with a ton of colors, tones, and themes thrown up
onto it. It is everything people love and hate about the current
blockbuster scene. It is maybe half-a-dozen movies crammed into one,
and it is a testament to the dedication of the literal army behind
its creation that the whole thing doesn't fly off the rails. But
then again, why should that surprise any of us? This whole franchise
effort is the work of countless artists and creators over years, all
of whom have put immense effort into making us laugh, cheer, and cry.
Why discount the end product as worthless pop culture? Endgame,
and indeed the entire MCU, is
an example of how the best human art can be collective just as often
as it is individual, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.
When did you first realize you were a
Pokemon fanatic? What was your first starter, and how did you know
it was the one? Were your first dives into the Pokemon games
solitary affairs, in the back of the family car on a long road trip,
or group sessions where you and your friends would hunch together in
the living room, arguing over which part of the Viridian Forest was
most likely to land you that coveted, early-game Pikachu? Nidoqueen,
or Nidoking? Hitmonlee, or Hitmonchan? Which stone would you use on
the game's lone Evee? Was there really a hidden room in Cerulean
Cave with a Togepi inside? How ethical was it to use the MissingNo
Cheat to get infinite Master Balls and/or Rare Candy?
The first Pokemon I ever saw, and
where and when it was, is a detail lost to the mists of time; I
simply don't remember. One day, sometime around 4th
grade, Pokemon was just there, everywhere, all the time. Didn't take
long for my first favorites to become clear; Poliwrath, Victreebel,
Rhydon, and of course, Porygon. My starter was Squirtle, because
Blastoise. Obviously.
For me, as for most people, the exact
nature of how it all started for us is immaterial. Regardless of how
we each game to the world of Pokemon, it remains a part of us. And
for me, at least, I know it always will be. Individual mileage, of
course, varies greatly; with the number of official Pokemon fast
approaching 1,000, the old moniker “Gotta Catch 'Em All” is now
less the cutesy marketing strategy it once was and more a recipe for
psychological breakdown and eventual institutionalization. And with
the increasingly wide range in quality between the Gens, which ones
you actually like the best will boil down to personal taste. Same
for the still-growing variety of side games being built into the
games, some of which offer ways to enhance the story, while
others...don't.
No matter how deep you want to get,
though, there really is something for everyone here. That's the
thing about amazing, detailed, fantasy-filled worlds; the most fun
and most compelling of them endure no matter what, always retaining
an aura of the special in our minds. I never stopped loving Pokemon, but
circumstances of daily life did lead to me putting an active interest
on pause for awhile after I headed off to college. For years, my old
copies of Blue, Yellow, and Gold were stuck in boxes with other old
stuff, untouched and unused. Then, about 5 years ago, for no
particular reason, I decided to grab a used copy of one of the
Red/Blue remakes for the Nintendo DS. Just to see if my old
world-exploring skills were still sharp. To see if that flame still
burned.
Well, still burning it very much was,
because I haven't put the games down since. While I am still jumping
back and forth between newer and older games (the 3DS games remain
mostly untouched- for now), I've successfully played my way
through nearly every set of games for the first five Gens, and am
still rolling. And now that I finally have enough experience to
directly examine and compare all the games from the Game Boy Color
through the DS, it's time to partake in one of my favorite
pastimes; making a Best Of list. Here are, looking just at the first
three consoles from the original Game Boy Color up through the DS,
are my All-Tme Top Five Pokemon Cartridge Games.
Platinum
(4th Gen, 3rd Game)
While Gen 4 was, for me, the start of
Pokemon's decline in terms of the quality, creativity, and originally
of each new lineup (not to mention its explosion of TOO MANY useless legendaries), the Sinnoh region still offered a big,
sprawling map filled with enough variety to make exploring it a lot
of fun. It had a genuine haunted house, a snow-filled paradise, and
a sprawling mountain range. There was also
the mining function that offered a fantastically fun side quest that
rewarded patience and repeated effort by allowing players
unprecedented access to fossils and stones throughout the game.
What made Platinum stand out from the
other two games of the Gen, though, was its unique ending to the
standard Evil Team plot contrivance. While featuring, of course, the
standard “battle evil leader + acquire legendary from box cover”
sequence, in Platinum, this part if then followed with a dive into
the “Shadow Realm,” an otherworldly alternative dimension with
its own weird physics. It is one of the most visually engaging and
creative sites yet shown in a Pokemon game. Playing it made me feel
like I'd stumbled into the sort of secret, hidden, “glitchy”
extra rooms we all fantasized about finding in Cerulean Cave or near
the S.S. Anne in the original series.
Crystal
(2nd Gen, 3rd Game)
Let's get this out of the way right
now- Gen 2 of Pokemon is the best, hands down, no arguments. Yeah.
I said it. Come at me, bro.
For starters, it easily stands
alongside Gen 1 in terms of the creativity, wonder, and quality of
the Pokemon themselves. Later Gens, even the still-strong Gen 3,
were clearly new sets developed and added-on after it was clear
Pokemon was turning into an industry unto itself, giving all the
later Gens a somewhat artificial feel, while Gen 1 Pokemon were
surrounded by a mystical veil of “authenticity.” This same side
divide ultimately lumped Gen 2 in with 1 for most fans, for the
simple reason that, unlike the later Gens, Gen 2 was at least
partially built into the world from the start; Togepi, and later
Marill, were introduced in the anime long before the rest of Gen 2
was announced (and the very first episode of the anime features a shot of Ho-oh), and we all had that one friend whose Dad took regular
trips to Japan and brought back cards of these strange, new Pokemon
that could not be found anywhere else. Erego, when Gold and Silver
finally came out and the anime hit up the Johto region, it felt less
like a cash-grabbing add-on and more like the fulfillment of a
promise that had long been latent within the world.
This was further enhanced by the fact
that the 2nd Gen games were far more involved and
comprehensive than Red and Blue. They had actual color variety in
the graphics; the Pokemon looked crisp and recognizable, as opposed
to some of the....interesting....block images in the original Gen.
Plus, it featured both its own new map AND allowed the player
to return to Kanto, three canonical years after the original games
had taken the world by storm and literally rewired the psyche of an
entire generation. Nothing before or since in the Pokemon world can
or ever will successfully re-capture or re-create the unique,
intensely pleasurable experience had by those of us that had
memorized every tree and bush and stone in the original games, only
to revisit this world a Gen later and see what had changed, hearing
the in-game characters refer to past events in ways that really
rewarded the attentive player.
So why am I picking Crystal over the
original Gold/Silver gameset? Simple- in addition to it having all
the aforementioned benefits, it was also a huge historical first in
the annals of Pokemon gaming: it was the first one to have in-game
Pokemon animation for both the battles and the Pokedex.
True, this animation was extremely
limited in scope, given the restrictions of technology at the time,
and has been long overshadowed by later Gens in terms of sheer beauty
and quality. Nonetheless- the notion of Pokemon actually moving,
however briefly, to match their undying battle cries was mind-blowing
at the time, and for being so groundbreaking, this game deserves
special honors. And even today, it still carries a strong,
retrograde charm, especially when added to the other added wrinkles
of the Johto storyline.
Black
2/White 2 (5th Gen, 2nd Gameset)
It's starting with Gen 5 that I really
check out of later-day Pokemon, and not just because I'm an old
geezer now. Gen 4 was riddled with issues, sure- most notably, a
line of astonishinglybutt-uglyextraevolutionaryforms for Gen 1
Pokemon that did NOT need them- but there was still plenty to like in
it, Luxray and Lucario being particular favorites of mine. Gen 5, on
the other hand....yikes. I can mostly tolerate the three starters.
They're fine, I guess. A viper-style Grass starter slightly makes
up for the fact that Arbok has always sucked way more than a giant
cobra ever should. Sawk and Throh are legit. Lightning Zebra? I
can dig it.
Pretty much everything else, though?
Woof. A Honeycomb Pokemon was offensive enough, but a fucking ICE CREAM CONE? Whatever the hell this is? A literal pile of shit?
Even the fossils, typically one of the most rock-solid promises of
sheer awesome in any Gen, aren't much to write home about. The
Legendaries?
More dragons, yawn yawn. It takes EFFORT to make dragons feel
passe, but later-day Pokemon has somehow managed to do just that.
Given
the inherent suckiness of nearly the whole Gen, then, it speaks to
how incredibly good the storyline and writing of both Gen 5 games are
that this Gen not only makes the list, but manages to beat out one of
the Gen 2 games. The stories of these games were praised to the sky
all around me, which is what finally moved me to pick it up despite
my very uncomfortable reservations about the Pokemon themselves. And
I am ever-grateful I did. Team Rocket remains an iconic part of the
entire Pokemon aesthetic, and deservedly so, but I would argue that
Team Plasma takes the prize for being the most interesting and
clearly motivated evil team. N is a genuinely great character, one
who is understandable in terms of what drives him even as his means
get more and more twisted as the game progresses. And that finale,
with a massive castle literally rising out of the ground around the
Elite Four? Stunning.
The
sequel games, then, took that excellent start and raised the bar even
higher by being the first post-Gold/Silver gameset to actually take
the foundations of a previous game and build a new story atop them,
with a time skip and various alterations to the layout of the world
being built in. You start in a wholly different part of the map, an
island that was not part of the original games, and explore the
original cities (and learn some of the original characters again) in
a completely different order, lending it the sort of alternate,
exploratory freshness that made Gold/Silver so special.
Even
better? While, yes, you are stuck picking one of the Gen 5 starters,
right from the start the wild areas include Gen 1 and 2 Pokemon, with
Fire, Water, and Electric types readily available. No being forced
to built a solely Gen 5 team until after you beat the Elite Four.
Starters aside, you can get away with never using a single other Gen
5 Pokemon for the rest of the game. And no being forced to sweat
through the first gym with just Rattatta, a Bird Pokemon, and maybe
one Bug. Not this time. This time, you can directly get access to
some of the cool guns (MAGMAR! AMPHAROS!) and start building up a
varied and dynamic team right from the get-go. It's the sort of
launching point I sorely wish every Pokemon game had.
Yellow
(1st Gen, 3rd Game)
It
had been years, literally at least a decade and possibly two, before
I finally dug out my old Pokemon Yellow cartridge and started a new
game; thanks to the fact that they contained no clock like in
Gold/Silver/Crystal, the original cartridge games will remain
playable as long as AA batteries exist.
Revisiting
Kanto through the lens of the very best of the first generation of
games, I was struck by how Yellow remains the lone exception among
the games in being, in many ways, a direct companion to the anime.
In all the other games, character designs notwithstanding, the games
have always existed in a realm of their own, separate from the
adventures of Ash, Misty, and Brock. That Yellow is the lone game to
even partially bridge this divide gives it a heft and nostalgic force
that only gets more potent as time goes on.
True,
you don't play as Ash from the show, and Brock and Misty do not leave
their gyms and tag along with you, but Jesse and James sure are
present and accounted for, as are a number of smaller, one-of
characters of various stripes from the show. Gary/Blue/Douchebag
(c'mon- you know you went there as a kid) starts with an Eevee, and
the three Gen 1 starters can all be acquired in-game in ways that
partially reflect their introductions in the show.
Most
memorable of all, of course, is Pikachu. This is the lone main game
where Pikachu, THE de facto symbol of the entire Pokemon world, is
your starter, and like in the show it refuses to stay in its
Pokeball, instead following you around, which in turn allows you to
interact with it and see its reactions to various parts of the game.
It's such an incredibly fun gimmick I can't believe it took as many
years as it did before that particular feature was repeated in a
game.
It
is its utter uniqueness that makes Pokemon Yellow the defining game
of Gen 1, and for many Pokemon fans, it is THE definitive Pokemon
game, especially for us First Wavers. Shockingly, though, it is not
the BEST Pokemon game. That honor goes to....
Heartgold/Soulsilver
(2nd Gen remakes)
Yes,
you read that right. I can hear the monocles popping as I write
this, but I'm sticking to my guns; with all due respect to Yellow,
the absolute best of the pre-3DS Pokemon games are the Gen 4 remakes
of the original Gold/Silver/Crystal games.
Why?
Simple. We've already established that Gold/Silver/Crystal were even
better than the original games, and exceed most of all the later
games, for the simple reason that there was just more- more to see,
more to explore, more to do. They were not just sequels, they
actively bridged two separate regions; Even Black 2/White 2, though
sequels, stayed in the same region; no revisiting Sinnoh, or Hoenn,
much less Johto or Kanto. Heartgold and Soulsilver retains this
fundamental, dual-region, world-building excellence, but then throw
EVEN MORE on top of it all. They are the broadest, deepest, and most
expansive out of all the pre 3DS Pokemon games.
First
off, they are gorgeous- Gen 4 in general is the most beautiful out of
the first five Gens in terms of the color, designs, and quality of
graphics. Yes, even better than Gen 5, which followed it; both the
pixelated quality of the battles and a lot of the Pokemon animation
struck me as a bit off, a bit too frenetic and unclear. Gen 4 does
not have that problem; the lines are smooth and everything flows
beautifully, especially in the heat of battle, though I do find it
amusing that a number of the big power moves late in the game end up
looking like reproduction-destroying crotch shots.
Getting
down into the meat of the narrative, the story is expanded from the
original games in really fun and creative ways. In effect, the extra
quests in the games amount to a fusion of all the games from the
first three Gens, nearly giving you 3 games jammed into one. The
Suicune chase from Crystal is included, expanded to include in Johto
during the game's second half. Cerulean Cave is back in business,
and all the Legendaries from Gen 1 are available to be caught,
whereas in the originals they'd seemingly disappeared from the
Pokemon world. Even Gen 3 gets its day- Latios and Latias are
available to be chased down Dog-style in Kanto, and the island where
Cianwood City resides has a whole extra path into the mountains,
including a cave where Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza are available if
you have access to a trading partner.
And
that whole added trail isn't all that's been added on; a lot of extra
stuff is there if you care to find, stuff that, in some cases,
actually resolves various threads left wide open by the original
games. At the end of that extra trail is the new and improved Safari
Zone, the fate of which had only been hinted at before. Silver's
efforts to redeem himself have a few moments of resolution, including
an aside from Elm's assistant that he eventually returns to New Bark
Town to apologize and offer to return the Pokemon he stole. It's a
really, really small detail, almost insignificant, but the fact that
it's there if you care to find it says worlds about the dedication
that went into making this game something truly special.
There
are sidequests like the Battle Frontier, where you can get points and
access special tutored moves, but honestly, I found this part too
grinding to really be invested. Your mileage may vary on the
sporting competition available near Goldenrod, but I personally found
the games a fun diversion. Plus, the points you win there had the
relevance of offering access to extra Evolution Stones early in the
game. The restriction of exactly one Ev Stone per game in the
originals was one of their few drawbacks, and given that many of my
favorites are Stone evolutions, I was especially happy to see a way
around this added.
My
absolute favorite part of the game, though, are the extra Gym Leader
battles. In the original games, the only endless repeat battles
available were the Elite Four, but even then they were at the same
levels. So, really, once that mountain had been climbed, the only
other challenge was the insanely difficult fight with Red at Mount
Silver.
In
the remakes, though, the Elite Four actually get higher-level Pokemon
in the second go-around. It's a one-time-only boost, but it still
gives another great challenge and also offers the perfect way to test
your Pokemon if you think you're ready to go seek out Red.
Beyond
even that is the ability to, at very specific times and places, run
into the Gym Leaders outside their gyms and cities and get their
phone numbers. Each Leader then has a set day of the week where they
are available for a rematch, which 6 full-strength, Elite-Four level
Pokemon. It's a fun expansion that in some cases gives a little more
insight into the different personalities of the gym leaders, but also
provides a regular way to keep challenging and training your Pokemon
even after they get into the upper levels; it used to be that once a
Pokemon was above level 60, further strengthening them was a real
chore, since there were no options left to get them high amounts of
XP in a short period of time. Heartgold/Soulsilver was the first Gen
that found a way to fix that problem.
Beyond
all these grand, story-level expansions, though, there are numerous
small, technical aspects of these games that make them easier, more
streamlined, and more fun to play. Unlimited items get rid of the
stress of having to use big items too early. Unlimited phone numbers
is also a huge boon; the very strict limit on how many you could save
in the originals made it a chore guessing which ones were most
important.
These
were also the very first games since Yellow where Pokemon follow you
around outside the ball. And not just your starter- any Pokemon
first in your party stays outside, meaning that you can literally see
and interact with all 493 total available Pokemon in-game. Like I
said before, given how cool this function is, I find it astonishing
that it took this long post-Yellow for another game to utilize it.
Taken
together, it staggers me how much, in every way that counts,
Heartgold and Soulsilver managed to exceed all that came before them
and (so far) all that has come since, creating the absolute perfect
Pokemon gaming experience, better than any other I've had before or
since. Pokemon is an amazing world, full of wonder and possibility,
and for my money, there is no other game out there that takes such
full advantage of that potential.
