Perfect Avengers: Endgame wins pop culture event of the year
In a year of massive endings, Game Of Thrones was the biggest disappointment for fans
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This year will go down in history. Well, obviously. It didn’t have much choice in the matter. But while sure there have been wars, droughts, fires, plagues, famines, uprisings, political crises, betrayals, elections and Kardashians changing their hairstyles, for me, 2019 will be tied to three enormous events in pop culture.
We’ve seen the end of the Marvel Infinity War series, of Game Of Thrones and now of the Star Wars saga.
Obviously we were hoping for three triumphant endings.
But, as Meatloaf sang (and I always take my philosophical cues from overweight, washed-up rock stars) Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad.
Avengers Endgame was clearly the best.
This movie will stand the test of time as the perfect marriage of plot twists, character development and a brilliant ending.
Game Of Thrones was the one that failed. Bizarrely for
a series where fans were clamouring for more content, they wrapped it up too quickly.
Character development was forced and so the plot twists felt artificial.
And in the middle — albeit closer to Endgame than GoT — came Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker.
This was closest to my heart as the original Star Wars was the first film I ever saw at a cinema.
A few weeks ago I wrote a story about the “Nine questions Star Wars IX
must answer”.
It answered them all and answered them cleverly.
GoT had a huge disconnect between what fans wanted for their beloved characters — and what those characters received.
Rise Of Skywalker gave us what we wanted. Sure, it could have given us a little more about the knights of Ren, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) should have been brought back earlier and used a little more and if only Carrie Fisher had still been here then the scenes with Leia could have had more punch.
In fact that is the only thing I think they could have done better. Perhaps if they had made her a Force Ghost early on, then we could have accepted more of her as being computer-generated?
Han Solo and Luke Skywalker got the endings they deserved in the previous two movies. This one was supposed to be for Leia but, without Fisher, that was always going to be impossible. They did well but could it have been better?
Anyway, those are minor quibbles.
Ignore the reviews saying it is worse than The Phantom Menace. That’s a load of Bantha poodoo.
The problem with the series is that The Empire Strikes Back was so brilliant, hitting that pinnacle again has proved impossible. Judging everything else against that is simply unfair.
I feel that future Marvel “team-up” movies will likewise be judged against Endgame and found wanting, while GoT’s ending was judged against the brilliance of the Red Wedding and Battle Of The Bastards and also suffered in comparison.
If you’re a true Star Wars fan, then you will love Rise Of Skywalker. And, like me, you will want to watch it all again, which is something I can’t say about The Phantom Menace, no matter how much I love Star Wars.
As Meatloaf sang, I’d Do Anything For Love But I Won’t Do That.
Originally published as Perfect Avengers: Endgame wins pop culture event of the year
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