Watching Avengers: Endgame in Ooty: An opening usually reserved for a Rajinikath movie

As the lights dimmed, the audience rose in rhapsody—screaming, wailing and whistling for the movie to begin. The bombardment of trailers and teasers must have helped them come to hyped-up stage. This is probably unprecedented for any English film in this tiny hill station. This was also a time when the subtitles came in handy as one could hardly hear anything over the noise. More than one person fiddling with his phone was shocked with the decibel level inside the premises as the Censor certificate for the movie was seen.

Soon enough, many were posting their initial reactions on social media along with videos that were likely illegal to shoot. It also seemed that a guy had sneaked into the theatre sans ticket.

This the fourth part of the Avengers movies and the 22nd in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The movie brings down the curtains on the Infinity Saga even though Spiderman: Far From Home is scheduled be released on July 2.

The first hour of Endgame was rather sober and the famous special effects quite muted as directors Anthony and Joe Russo decided to pull on our heartstrings instead of our pursestrings. Screenplay writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely stayed true to their pedigree and delivered what one might call an Avengers tearjerker. Once they lay down the contours, however, the surprises are minimal.

It has now come to a point where every speaking part is played by a major actor. Michael Douglas, Mad Men’s John Slattery and Gwyneth Paltrow are all barely there, even as Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo dominate the cast (Let’s not be in a hurry to forget the space raccoon Rocket voiced by Bradley Cooper).

Infinity War ends with a snap that destroyed half the world’s population and Endgame ends with a kiss that might add one or two rugrats to it. Josh Brolin puts in a riveting performance as Thanos and his super-villainy drew as much applause from the enthralled audience as the superheroes themselves. Loyalty to MCU never goes unrewarded. Fans of tentpole movies from the studio will find some sense of closure here. The crowd was dominated by college-going students. If studio honchos were outside Assembly Rooms, they would be super-thrilled to find that their movie has reached its target audience.

MCU has been keen on beating the challenge posed by formulaic storytelling. With Thor: Ragnarok, Iron Man 3 and the Oscar-nominated Black Panther, Marvel has sought to bring a new narrative tradition to every outing in the series. Endgame is a proud addition to that vibrant sub-genre.

Could the movie have been any better? Yes, but they may have estranged members of the audience and perhaps forever. That’s not a risk any studio takes. Also, if you do want to go to a picture that will touch your life, stay away. This is as serious as an Avengers movie will ever get.

Avengers: Endgame is produced by Marvel and distributed by Walt Disney Motion Pictures. The MCU movies have just crossed $12 billion in box-office grosses.