THOR : LOVE AND THUNDER : Wednesday 6th July 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'THOR : LOVE AND THUNDER' at an early screening this week, and this American Superhero offering is Written and Directed by Taiki Waititi who returns to the Director's chair following his success with helming 2017's 'Thor : Ragnarok' (which grossed US$854M off the back of a US$180M production budget) to which this is a direct sequel. This is the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the fourth instalment in the 'Thor' series, and is part of the MCU Phase Four. Filming took place in Sydney, Australia at a production cost of in the region of US$250M and was originally set for release an early November 2021, but was delayed to mid-February this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then delayed once again to early May before shifting for the final time to the July 2022 date. The film has generated largely favourable Reviews. The film has so far taken US$16M.

The film opens up with a man carrying a young child through a dry, barren desert landscape with the sun beating down. He cradles the young girl in his arms as they take shelter from the sun and a sand storm behind a rock. He calls out to his gods to protect his daughter and save her. Later, the young girl dies, leaving the man distraught. He falls asleep from exhaustion and wakes to the sound of a faint whisper in the distance. He follows the whispering to an oasis in the desert where he meets his god who taunts and derides him which quickly turns him into a non-believer. Ultimately, he is chosen by a long sword, called the Necrosword, which enables him to create an army of shapeshifting shadow creatures and to use the sword to kill all gods, starting with the one who has just turned his back on him and disregarded his cries for help. 

After the opening credits have rolled we turn to Korg (Taika Waititi) telling a story to a group of gathered children giving the back story of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and how he turned from being a Dad Bod into a God Bod, how he once loved a Jane Fonda (corrected to a Jane Foster) and how he teamed up with The Guardians of the Galaxy. After this brief recap to bring us up to date, Thor receives a distress signal from his childhood friend Sif (Jaimie Alexander) that The Guardians (Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel and Bradley Copper) need his help on some distant planet to thwart an attack, after which the Guardians depart to fight some battle in another part of the galaxy, leaving Thor and Korg looking on as their ship leaves. Sif warns Thor of Gorr, the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a being possessing the god-killing weapon the Necrosword seeking the extinction of all gods as revenge for ignoring the death of his family, and that his next target is New Asgard. 

Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is first seen in a hospital receiving chemo therapy treatment for her Stage Four cancer. She returns to her lab to run further tests of her own in trying to find a cure, when she turns to a book of Viking myths. In it she reads of the healing powers of Thor's hammer Mjolnir. Jane takes a trip to New Asgard to see the old fragmented hammer encased under a glass dome as a tourist attraction. As she stands besides the glass dome the broken pieces of Mjolnir begin to vibrate, shake and reform as it bonds itself to Jane after sensing her worthiness and so giving her the power of Thor. Gorr attacks New Asgard at night just as Thor arrives to begin battle with his shadow creatures, and is surprised to find Jane wielding Mjolnir like there's no tomorrow as Mighty Thor. Thor, Jane, Korg and Valkyrie, the King of New Asgard (Tessa Thompson) do battle with Gorr and the shadow creatures, ultimately overcoming them, but Gorr is able to escape, but not before he kidnaps all the children of New Asgard. 

The group travels to Omnipotent City to warn the other gods and ask for their help in destroying Gorr, The God Butcher. The god Zeus (Russell Crowe) is not prepared to help and has Thor captured, forcing the group to fight off Zeus's men. Zeus reduces Korg to nothing more than a pile of volcanic rubble and so in retaliation Thor appears to kill Zeus using his own thunderbolt, which Valkyrie then steals during their get away. 

They then travel to the Shadow Realm to save the children. However, this turned out to be a diversion for Gorr to take Stormbreaker (Thor's mighty and powerful axe), which he intends to use on the Bifrost to enter Eternity and seek the destruction of all gods. Gorr manages to overpower Thor's group and successfully steal Stormbreaker. Gorr uses Stormbreaker to open the portal to Eternity. With Valkyrie injured from being stabbed by the thunderbolt, and Jane suffering from the effects of her progressive cancer, Thor is left no option but to go it alone to confront Gorr once and for all. Once he has found the kidnapped Asgardian children, he temporarily imbues them and their weapons with the power of Thor to fight alongside him. Jane joins Thor in fighting Gorr and destroys the Necrosword, so diminishing the power of Gorr which ultimately will lead to his own death. However, Gorr stumbles through the portal and enters Eternity. 

Admitting defeat, Thor manages to convince Gorr that all he wanted from Eternity was not to destroy the gods but to get his daughter, Love, back. Jane dies in Thor's arms after succumbing to her Stage Four cancer which was only sped up by taking on the mantle of Mighty Thor. Eternity grants Gorr's request to revive Love (India Hemsworth), whom he asks Thor to take care of before he dies from the effects of the destroyed Necrosword. The children all return safe to New Asgard where they are greeted by the welcoming and relieved parents. Sometime after Valkyrie and Sif begin training them combat skills. Meanwhile, Thor, now in possession of Mjolnir again, continues to go on adventures to help people in their time of need, with Love, now wielding Stormbreaker, by his side, as the pairing of Love and Thunder. 

The film also stars cameo appearances from Matt Damon, Sam Neill, Luke Hemsworth, Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone and Idris Elba. Remain in your seat for the mid-credits and end-credits sequences, although if the truth be told, you won't be missing much if you choose not to!

'Thor : Love and Thunder' for me is the most disappointing film out of four in this franchise so far as it trades in a lot of substance for style, wisecracks and quips that often fail to land, and a whole dollop of cheese and corn that is enough to make even Thor's Dad Bod former self belch. That said, this has all of the Waititi touchstones over it that made 'Thor : Ragnarok' so welcoming and refreshing, including the thumping soundtrack, the colourful visuals, his irreverent sense of humour, the action set pieces, and he has proven here too that he can get serious and emotional when it is called for. And whilst Chris Hemsworth glides through his role as Thor, Christian Bale as Gorr shines through in his role as a mash up of Voldemort, Pennywise and Gollum, and Natalie Portman provides a welcome distraction as Jane Foster that brings the story full circle. It's not a great film, but it's also not that bad either and at just on two hours in length it's long enough to keep you engaged and doesn't outstay its welcome.

'Thor : Love and Thunder' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

EXTRACTION : Monday 27th April 2020.

In these very trying and testing times for us all that has seen many cinema's, Odeon's, and movie theatres around the world close their doors for the foreseeable future because of the escalating threat of the COVID-19 Coronavirus taking an ever increasing hold on the world at large, many film and television productions halted in their tracks indefinitely, and new film releases pushed back to some future date when some sense of movie going normalcy is expected to resume, I have, needless to say, had to adapt to this new world order. And so with my usual Reviews of the latest cinematic releases being curtailed, instead I will post my Review of the latest release movies showing on Netflix until such time as the regular outing to my local multiplex or independent theatre can be reinstated.

In the last few weeks then, a number of new feature films have landed at Netflix - of which I review as below 'Extraction' which went live on the streaming service on 24th April and which I saw from the comfort of my own home on Monday 27th April.

'EXTRACTION' is Directed, in his first feature film, by Stuntman, Actor, Editor, and Writer Sam Hargrave whose impressive line up of movie stunt work takes in the likes of 'Avengers : Endgame', 'Deadpool 2', 'Avengers : Infinity War', 'Thor : Ragnarok', 'Suicide Squad', 'Captain America : Civil War', and three of the 'Hunger Games' films amongst many others. This film is based on the comic 'Ciudad' by Ande Parks and the story was developed by him and Joe and Anthony Russo, written for the screen by Joe Russo, and Co-Produced by the Russo brothers and Chris Hemsworth. Needless to say Hargarve, Hemsworth and the Russo's have much history together having worked with each other on the final two 'Avengers' offerings. The film was made for US$65M and has garnered largely mixed or average Reviews so far, although as the lead, Chris Hemsworth has been praised for his performance.

The film opens up with young boy Ovi Mahajan Jnr. (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) being kidnapped and held for a hefty ransom by Bangladesh's biggest drug lord Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli). Next we see Saju (Randeep Hooda), meeting the young lads father Ovi Mahajan Snr. (Pankaj Tripathi) in prison to tell him that his son has been kidnapped by his arch rival and nemesis Asif. Ovi Snr. is behind bars because he is India's biggest drug lord and kingpin. Saju is a former Para (Special Forces) operative and the right hand man of Ovi Snr. who was under explicit instructions to never let Ovi Jnr. out of his sight and to keep him closely guarded at all times. Major fail here on Saju's part, who is told in no uncertain terms to locate Ovi Jnr. and bring him home safely by any means necessary or suffer the consequences which Ovi Snr. is still able to wield even from inside prison.

We then cut to three likely lads in the Australian Kimberly Ranges, one of whom is a dozing in the shade thirty metres above a natural rock pool, with a beer in his hand - Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth). He comes around having been taunted by his two mates, gets up and nonchalantly walks straight up to the edge and launches himself into the clear waters thirty meters below. He then sits on the bottom on the lake for several minutes, as a memory of footprints on a sandy beach flash in his mind. Returning to his isolated cabin, there is a helicopter in the paddock, and inside the house is his handler and fellow mercenary Nik Khan (Golshifteh Farahani). It turns out that Tyler Rake is a former Special Air Services Regiment soldier and now a black market mercenary for hire. Khan tells Tyler that his services are required in India to extract a young kidnapped kid and there's a hefty pay day in it for him, to meet up at a pre-determined point in the morning, but only if he's sober.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh Tyler meets with the 'extraction' team, receives his briefing and heads to the city centre awaiting his next move. He takes a call on his mobile phone and walks across the street and is hastily bundled into the back of a van and taken to a house bound and blindfolded. With a room full of goons, Tyler is held at gunpoint and asked to hand over the ransom money. Tyler responds coolly with wanting proof of life first, and after seeing the bound and hooded boy in a neighbouring room is carted off to arrange for the ransom money to be transferred. Needless to say before Tyler has even exited the building three of his captors are dead, and he's back knocking on the door all guns blazing to take out the rest of the goons and rescue the boy. With the young lad in tow, they make a get away in a car and then traipse a couple of kilometres through a forest on foot to make a rendezvous with a boat that will get them outta Dodge.

What they didn't count on was Saju, with his own agenda to rescue young Ovi from Tyler, who is hot on their tail and determined to make life as uncomfortable for Tyler as possible, for fear of Ovi Snr. taking retribution on his own family if he is unsuccessful and because he cannot pay the ransom because all of his money and assets have been frozen. Meanwhile, Asif has ordered a complete lockdown on Dhaka, through the Colonel of the Bangladesh Elite Force (Shataf Figar) who Asif has in his pocket. All the while Tyler is in radio contact with Khan, who advises that the plan has gone south rapidly as more of Asif's henchmen and Elite Force are converging on the boat, and to get the hell outta there.

After various other close run ins with the Police, Elite Force, Saju and Asif's goon squad involving lots of creative gun play, close quarter hand to hand combat, car chases, explosions and an ever rising body count the pair find safe haven for a couple of hours at night in the run down office of some manufacturing plant. However, their R&R is interrupted when they attempt to exit by Farhad (Suraj Rikame) a teenage boy who wishes to prove himself to Asif by killing Tyler, and his merry band of gun totting youngsters. Tyler beats off the boys but spares them their lives. Taking temporary refuge in a rat infested sewer, Tyler contacts Khan and tells her to contact Gaspar, a former team mate, now living in Dhaka, who owes his life to Tyler.

Sometime later and Gaspar (David Harbour) picks the pair up and drives them to his home, where Tyler and Ovi shower, freshen up, Tyler tends to his wounds, Ovi sleeps and the two friends share a whisky and talk about old times, before Gaspar leaves. Tyler takes food upstairs to Ovi, and the pair talk about Tyler's ex-wife whom he hasn't seen in years and his six-year-old son who died of lymphoma. When Gaspar returns, he tries to convince Tyler to give up Ovi for the US$10M bounty on his head which would set them both up for life and reveals to him that Asif is actually his friend whom he cannot cross. He and Tyler get into a fist fight and Ovi finds the two mid-fight. Gaspar starts to explain and approaches Ovi who is holding a pistol. Ovi ends up shooting Gaspar twice in the chest sending him reeling backwards slumping down in an easy chair where he draws his last breaths before dying. Ovi is shaken and collapses on the stairs crying and is comforted by Tyler.

Despite Tyler beating the crap out of Saju in an earlier fist and knife fight and then mowing him down with a truck, he calls Saju and asks for his help, forcing them to team up against the Police and Elite Force in order to escape Dhaka. Tyler creates a diversion away from Saju and Ovi using a rocket launcher, and rapid machine gun fire, as the two attempt to make their way through a bridge checkpoint. The pair are separated when their identities are revealed - with Saju pinning down the advancing Police with gunfire and Ovi taking refuge in an abandoned bus. Tyler makes his way back towards the bridge along with Khan's extraction team of mercenaries in an advancing helicopter as Asif watches from afar.

During the ensuing firefight, Saju is sniped and killed by Asif's Colonel who is then in turn sniped and killed by Khan. Rake continues to cover the extraction now with more Police and Elite Force advancing and is severely wounded in the shootout. He instructs Ovi to run towards the now landed and waiting helicopter and continues firing until the last of the Police and the Elite Force are dispensed with, with the intent to follow. Ovi watches alongside Khan as Tyler makes his way towards the helicopter, only to be shot in the side of the neck by Farhad. Tyler drags himself to the side of the bridge and falls over the barrier backwards into the river below, but not before seeing a clear vision of his son playing by the waters edge on a pristine beach. 

Ovi, Khan and the extraction team escape to Mumbai, as Asif watches the departing helicopter from the distance. Eight months later, and Asif is in a lavish restaurant, and taking a toilet break he is shot clean through the head at point blank range by Khan, who then shoots his lifeless body again in the head for good measure before exiting the mens washroom. Ovi at school again, jumps into his school's swimming pool from a diving platform and submerges himself to the bottom for a prolonged period of time. As he surfaces we see a white man watching over him, that could possibly be Tyler.

With 'Extraction' Stuntman turned Director Sam Hargrave has more than proven his ability behind the  camera as well as in front of it, with this heavily stylised, violent, bloody, take no prisoners approach to the fast paced action genre, just as Chad Stahelski did with the hugely popular and successful 'John Wick' franchise. And much of the fist fights, the gun play, the close quarter combat and the ever mounting body count as seen throughout 'Extraction' come straight out of the 'John Wick' playbook and there is nothing wrong with that, as Oscar Wilde once said 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery . . . '. This film is two hours worth of relentless action that doesn't let up for too long before the next set piece that Hargrave delivers with a keen eye for the detail, the authenticity and for keeping his target audience duly entertained. And Chris Hemsworth as the emotionally drained, world weary, kill or be killed hardened combat soldier gives a convincing performance that gives John Wick a run for his box office money. And with that ending, the Russo's, Hargrave, Hemsworth and Netflix might just have found the next action hero franchise. 

'Extraction' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

MEN IN BLACK : INTERNATIONAL - Tuesday 18th June 2019.

'MEN IN BLACK : INTERNATIONAL' which I saw earlier in the week is the fourth film in the ever popular science fiction action comedy franchise and is Directed by F. Gary Gray whose previous Directorial outings take in the likes of 'The Negotiator', 'The Italian Job', 'Be Cool', 'Law Abiding Citizen', 'Straight Outta Compton' and 'The Fate of the Furious'. The first three films in the series were Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, in 1997, 2002 and 2012, grossed collectively approaching US$1.7B on the back of combined production budgets of US$495M and starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as our alien crime fighting duo Agent J and Agent K respectively. This instalment is a sort of sequel, sort of spin-off that cost around about US$100M, was released Stateside last week too, has so far recovered US$113M in Box Office receipts and has garnered generally lacklustre critical Reviews so far.

Back in the mid-'90's and young Molly Wright sees her parents being neuralysed by a couple of Men in Black Agents who are on the hunt for a pesky up to no good alien, that Molly helps escape. Molly herself escapes being neuralysed by averting her eyes from her bedroom window up above the street where her parents are talking to the Agents. Fast forward some twenty years and Molly (Tessa Thompson) is unsuccessful in her attempts to join the FBI and the CIA on the basis of her wild conclusions that alien life forms live among us, and she really wants to help combat them having made it her life goal to do so.

Molly is able to track down a crashed alien space craft and follows the MiB vehicles with captured alien in custody, back to their secret headquarters. She successfully manages to infiltrate the HQ but is captured by the hi-tech security scanning devices and is subsequently questioned by Agent O (Emma Thompson) upon whom Molly makes a sufficient enough impression to be granted probationary agent status as Agent M, and is instantly assigned to the London branch of the MiB. Once there she is quickly introduced to High T (Liam Neeson) who heads up the UK Division.

There Agent M is assigned to Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) the most highly regarded Agent working out of the London Office who saved the world back in 2016 with High T atop the Eiffel Tower when they prevented 'The Hive' from gaining access through a wormhole there with potentially catastrophic consequences for our planet.

Later that evening both Agents meet up with Vungus the Ugly (Kayvan Novak) in night club. Vungus is a member of an alien Royal Family who is a long term good friend of H. Upon leaving, Vungus' car is attacked by alien twins ('Les Twins' aka Larry and Laurent Bourgeois) who are able to harness the power of pure energy making them almost indestructible. Vungus is seriously wounded, but on this occasion the twins are thwarted (but only temporarily) by the might of the high tech weaponry readily available to our pair of protagonists from their vehicle.

Moments before dying Vungus passes a multi-dimensional purple coloured crystal on to M, claiming that he cannot trust H with it as he has changed since they last met some years ago. In a debrief meeting in High T's office Agent C (Rafe Spall) openly shows his contempt for H's actions. M however, has concluded that only a handful of people knew Vungus' location when he was attacked, which leads her to believe that Vungus' location was betrayed by one of their own agents. Reeling at the impact of a traitor within the MiB ranks, High T assigns C and M to conduct an investigation while H is assigned to driving his desk. Further investigations seem to determine that the twins may have had DNA traces of the Hive, a parasitic race who invade other planets by merging with the DNA of the conquered species. M learns that H and High T were responsible for driving off a Hive invasion in Paris in 2016, but since then H's attitude has gone downhill, showing a slack approach to his work and seemingly only holding on to his job because of his relationship with High T and his past track record.

H convinces M to join him in chasing up a lead in Marrakesh, where they come across 'Pawny' (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani), the sole survivor of a small group of aliens who were attacked by the Twins. Pawny pledges his loyalty to M, as his new Queen, but they are then attacked by MiB agents coordinated by C, who has recovered CCTV footage of Vungus handing the crystal to M, and as a result now believes that she is the traitor in their midst.

Helped by one of his alien contacts, H is able to acquire a rocket-powered hover bike and escape with M and Pawny. Successfully evading their marauding colleagues, they crash land on the dunes out in the desert, where they learn that the crystal Vungus gave M actually conceals an all powerful weapon generated by a compressed blue giant. As they repair the damaged bike, H's alien contact who had stowed away in a drink bottle, manages to steal the crystal and take it to Riza Stravos (Rebecca Fergusson), an alien arms merchant with whom H had a relationship in the past.

Having repaired the jet propelled hover bike, the gang of three travel by speed boat to Riza's island fortress where they attempt to infiltrate the base and recover the weapon, but are caught by Riza and her bodyguard. M gets caught in a fight with Riza while H gets beaten up in no uncertain terms by the alien bodyguard, but always somehow miraculously manages to get back up (just like Thor!) However, this bodyguard turns out to be the very same alien that M rescued as a child, and recognising each other, he returns the favour by allowing them to leave while he keeps Riza apprehended. While attempting to get off the island the three are attacked by the Twins once again, but they are killed by High T and a group of Agents freshly arrived on the scene.

And so case closed, or is it? Back at London MiB HQ at a celebratory party, both H and M have a moment of clarity and realise that the Twins' passing comments could mean that they wanted the weapon to use against the Hive rather than to use it for them. This resonated especially when the only evidence of Hive DNA was provided by High T. Agent C concedes that the evidence points to the notion of a deception by High T, and so permits H and M to follow High T to the Eiffel Tower. En route to the wormhole, M questions H's memory of his defeat of the Hive revealing that he was probably neuralysed, which is confirmed when they confront High T atop the Eiffel Tower. The Hive transformed High T into one of their own and neuralysed H so that he could be seen as the 'hero' and to mask their true intentions. The High T/Hive 'hybrid' manifests itself and is able to launch a wormhole that will draw the Hive to Earth. As H and the hybrid fight it out, H is able to draw out High T's true personality just long enough for M to use the weapon to destroy High T and the encroaching Hive infestation.

With the case now well and truly closed, Agent O joins H and M in Paris, where she grants M full agent status and appoints H as probationary Head of MiB's London branch until such time as a new head is found.

Aside from the fairly obvious chemistry that Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson share together on screen, and Hemsworth flexing his emerging comedic chops once again, there is little else going for this effects laden albeit pedestrian, play it safe, by the numbers fourth instalment in this flagging franchise. I honestly had expected more from 'Men in Black : International' but emerged from the theatre feeling totally underwhelmed by a film that relies all to heavily on its CGI set pieces, which have by now all become far to commonplace to create any point of difference here, at the expense of any real storyline, and what thinly veiled storyline there is you can see coming from ten miles away. This is predictable fluff that does nothing for the franchise other than seal its fate like the final nail in the coffin, and its disappointing to see fine acting talent like Hemsworth, Thompson, Thompson, Neeson and Spall succumb to the dredging that this film has so far garnered, despite the best intentions no doubt of F. Gary Gray. All style over substance.

'Men in Black : International' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

AVENGERS : ENDGAME : Wednesday 24th April 2019.

I saw 'AVENGERS : ENDGAME' at my local Multiplex on its Australian opening night and sat in a packed out theatre showing back to back sessions throughout the day - all to sell out audiences. And so if you didn't already know it, this is the direct sequel to 2018's 'Avengers: Infinity War', a sequel to 2012's 'The Avengers' and 2015's 'Avengers: Age of Ultron', and the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 'Avengers : Endgame' arrived this week following much hype, eager anticipation from legions of fans across the world, and plenty of record breaking buzz despite the plot secrecy from Marvel Studios, Directors Anthony and Joe Russo and the principal cast and crew. Following on immediately from where 'Infinity War' left off the film picks up after half of all life in the universe was killed due to the actions of Thanos once he had amassed all six infinity stones and placed them strategically in his Infinity Gauntlet, and simply clicked his fingers. The remaining Avengers and their allies must reassemble to revert those actions in one final stand to restore balance to the universe and save all humanity . . . or half of it at least!

With an ensemble cast that consists all of our much loved Superheroes and a few nefarious intergalactic villains too, and the conclusion of eleven years of MCU story telling that has so successfully interwoven individual standalone films with cross-over episodes to drive a franchise that we're invested in, Box Office records could well & truly be smashed here. Advance ticket sales amounted to about US$130M, with the potential to top the worldwide Box Office takings of US$2.05B as seen for 'Infinity War'. At a running time of three hours and two minutes, the film has so far received generally positive Reviews with Critics praising the Direction, the Acting, the sheer entertainment factor, the emotional heft and this being a fitting end to the 22 film spanning story. And all this is off the back of a production budget somewhere in the region of nudging US$400M, which must qualify this film as the most expensive of all time. At the time of publishing this Post on 27th April, Box Office receipts were at US$305M, having been released on 26th April in the US, on 25th April in the UK, and in China, Australia, parts of Asia and Europe on 24th.

The film opens up with Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) at home on his remote property on a bright sunny day. He is teaching his daughter to shoot arrows into a target while his wife and younger son prepare lunch. It's a picture of domestic bliss. His daughter shoots a bullseye, his wife calls lunch ready. As Clint retrieves the arrow from the target he momentarily looses sight of his other beloved family members. When he turns around there is an eerie silence and they are all gone, vanished into dust . . . victims too of the Thanos snap!

Up in deep space a thousand light years from the nearest 7/11 Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr.) are drifting, having run out of fuel, food, water and pretty damn soon oxygen. They are stranded following their defeat at the hands of Thanos. Stark sends a final farewell message to Pepper Potts using his Iron Man helmet, before falling asleep from exhaustion. Saviour however, comes perhaps when you least expect it.

Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in the form of Captain Marvel arrives in a flash of bright light and escorts the stricken ship of Stark and Nebula back down to Earth and the Avengers Headquarters. There she reunites the pair with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Rocket (Bradley Cooper/Sean Gunn), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle). After a somewhat frosty reception between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers and a status update from the remaining Avengers, Nebula comes forward with the strong possibility of knowing Thanos' whereabouts since the team have drawn a blank in locating him since the snap of five weeks before.

The assembled Team converge on the defenceless, unarmed unguarded garden planet where Thanos is the sole resident, and take him by surprise. Thanos confides that he used the infinity stones to destroy themselves so preventing the Team from using them to reverse his actions. In a fit of rage, Thor uses his new Stormbreaker axe to decapitate Thanos.

We then fast forward five years, and Steve Rogers is chairing counselling sessions with a self help group, Bruce Banner has merged permanently with his Hulk alter ego and Thor has become the drunken ruler (boasting an impressive beer gut) of Asgard's refugees in a remote fishing village on the Norwegian coast which he has affectionately named New Asgard. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) meanwhile escapes from the Quantum Realm not knowing what has gone down in the last five years. After learning the truth from his now adult daughter which he has been able to track down as one who survived he makes for the Avengers HQ where he is met by a surprised Rogers and Romanoff. He explains that for him only five hours had passed and suggests the Quantum Realm permits time travel. The three travel to Stark's lakeside residence where he is now happily married to Pepper Potts and the couple have a five year old daughter Morgan. They discuss with Stark the possibility that they can travel back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stones before Thanos collects them. Stark rejects this, concerned over what altering history will mean for his young daughter, but after reflecting upon the loss of sixteen year old Peter Parker (Tom Holland), he designs a working time machine that can be used to enter the Quantum Realm.

Stark drives to the Avengers HQ to reveal that he has built a stable time travel device just as Banner and Co. have been experimenting somewhat unsuccessfully on Scott Lang with his own time travel techniques. And so the regrouped Avengers split into separate teams for their mission to retrieve the infinity stones before Thanos has done so.

Banner, Rogers, Lang, and Stark travel to the Battle of New York to retrieve the Time, Mind, and Space Stones. Banner visits the Sanctum Sanctorum also in New York and convinces the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) to give him the Time Stone some five years before Stephen Strange even arrives on the scene, and Rogers overcomes undercover Hydra agents and his past self to retrieve the Mind Stone, but Lang and Stark's failed distraction enables Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to escape with the Space Stone. Rogers and Stark then are forced to travel back further to the U.S. Army's Fort Leigh in 1970, to steal both an earlier version of the Space Stone and vials of Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) size-altering Pym Particles to enable them all to return home to their present day afterwards. The pair succeed, but not before Rogers has a close encounter with his one true love Peggy Carter, and Tony Stark bumps into his Dad, Howard Stark en route and strikes up a conversation about his pending fatherhood to the as yet unborn Tony Stark.

Back on Asgard before it was wiped out, Rocket and Thor retrieve the Reality Stone from Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Thor comes across his mother Frigga (Rene Russo), whose wise counsel restores his conviction, and he obtains a past version of his hammer, Mjolnir, proving that he is still 'worthy' to wield it. Barton and Romanoff travel to Vormir for the Soul Stone. They learn there from its keeper, Red Skull (Ross Marquand), that it can only be retrieved by sacrificing someone they love. After a struggle between the pair, Romanoff sacrifices herself. Barton returns to the present day, with the tragic news of Romanoff's untimely death, in which the other Avengers share in his mourning.

On Morag, Nebula and Rhodes steal the Power Stone before Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is able to do so. Rhodes returns to the present with the Stone, leaving Nebula stranded behind as her cybernetic implants interface with those of her past self. Thanos leverages this fact and is able to tap into her memory banks to see present-day events. In turn, he sends the past incarnation of Nebula to the future in present-day Nebula's place.

Back at Avengers HQ with all the Infinity Stones now retrieved, Stark has been able to model a new Infinity Gauntlet in which the Stones are placed one by one. Banner steps up to volunteer to wear the Infinity Gauntlet as in doing so it gives off enough gamma radiation that Banner retorts that he was made to wear it, given his exposure to Gamma Rays that turned him into what he is today. Upon wearing it and activating the amassed Infinity Stones, the world is restored to its pre-Thanos snap. However, having come through the time machine with the other Avengers, past Nebula uses the time machine to transport Thanos and his ship from the past to the present day, whereupon he unleashes the might of his firepower upon the Avengers HQ and reduces it to rubble.

Amongst the rubble and wreckage of the Avengers HQ, Rogers, Thor, and Stark confront Thanos, though he overpowers them, even when Rogers proves that he can wield Mjolnir.

Thanos summons the entire might of his armed forces, but the revived Avengers arrive on the battlefield, along with the Sanctum Sorcerers and the armies of Asgard and Wakanda. Present-day Nebula convinces past Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to turn on Thanos, and in the ensuing standoff Nebula kills her past self. Following an epic battle between the two factions, Stark eventually retrieves the Infinity Gauntlet from the battlefield and activates the Infinity Stones with a snap of his fingers which disintegrates Thanos and his army into dust which quickly disappears on the wind.  

Enough said, right there! You'll just have to catch the last fifteen minutes to see how it all plays out, but suffice to say, the Avengers survive to battle it out another day - well most of them do!

'Avengers : Endgame' is everything you would wish for in the conclusion of a hugely successful eleven year run of twenty-two films, and then some. It delivers on many levels - the script penned by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely tightly blends action, emotion, humour and the smarts to satisfy even the most die-hard MCU fan; the deft touch in remaining true to what has gone before by Directors Anthony and Joe Russo; and for giving believable grounded performances by the principal cast and most notably Downey Jnr., Ruffalo, Hemsworth, Evans, Brolin, Rudd, Johansson and Renner plus the entire ensemble who all contribute amiably in their own small way to the bigger picture. Epic, exciting, intimate, powerful, expertly rendered down to the smallest detail, and truly a very fitting end to this phase in the MCU that still leaves the door open for some of our much loved Superheroes to return and reunite at some future date, while introducing others that we're only just getting to know. Join the legions of fans flocking to see 'Avengers : Endgame' - and see it on the biggest screen you can - you won't be disappointed. Watch out too for what is probably the last cameo appearance of the late great Stan Lee.

'Avengers : Endgame' merits five claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-