In 2004, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Oscar for Best Picture, among many others. I remember that moment as an achievement of cinema. Sure, I was 13 at the time and didn’t really understand the difference between LOTR and Pirates of the Caribbean. But I knew what the Lord of the Rings films felt like. Each year, it felt like a cultural pillar had been staked down into bedrock.
Looking back, I still see The Return of the King and the LOTR trilogy as an unprecedented work of art; something that likely will never be replicated. So it is a natural thing to award Return with an Oscar. It’s sort of the natural reward for the final piece of the trilogy–an attaboy from the Academy for a phenomenal job well done over the whole of the trilogy. No adaptation had ever succeeded quite like LOTR had. And in terms of groundbreaking cinematic achievement at the time, maybe the original Star Wars stands an equal.
I watch the LOTR extended films ritually every year between Christmas and New Year. I have seen those films perhaps more than I have seen any other movie. It is an easy thing for me to say that they are my favorite films. However, I think Fellowship is a better movie plain and simple. But it was only nominated for Best Picture. Return won it because it was the climax of a whole story. It was the reward for the entirety of the LOTR trilogy, for its groundbreaking cinematic nature.
Now, this article isn’t about LOTR. But I think Return‘s Oscar serves as a good lense into the 2020 Oscars. It is a good lens into the heist of the decade.
Avengers: Endgame. Got. Robbed.
Why Endgame is Worthy
Yeah I know, I know, don’t throw a fit; hear me out. There were a lot of really great films this year. From Jojo Rabbit to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood it was a packed field. The Academy had the unenviable position of choosing among them. And no matter how you cut the pie, someone will be unhappy. I get it. But, dammit, did they drop the ball this year.
Avengers: Endgame runs in the same vein as Return of the King for me. It was the endcap, the culmination, the carnal climax of 12 years of filmmaking by Marvel and Kevin Feige. Stringing together three films is one thing. We’ve seen that in books and movies for like a hundred years. But 23????!!!! Are you kidding me? To pull off a consistent shared universe-spanning 23 films, with characters coming in and out of each other’s films, over 12 years, and never really missing a beat (Thor: The Dark World is a maybe), and then to end it with a film that is not just good, but great, even really freaking great?! Endgame, just like Return of King, represents the entirety of the unprecedented cinematic achievement that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And how the hell was Endgame even so good? We live in an age where franchises pitter out into shame and embarrassment. From Star Trek, Star Wars, DC’s mediocre (except Wonder Woman) comic movies, Universal’s sorry attempt at a monster universe, and Pirates of the Caribbean. It is almost Hollywood physics that franchises sour with time as dead horses need to be left alone. Endgame had no business being as face-meltingly good as it was. It tied together 23 films and paid off setups a decade in the making.
I will never forget the way I felt watching Endgame. I squirmed in my chair with excitement, laughed with surges of overwhelming hysteria, and shook with emotion and joy. When it was over, I was out of breath and needed a cigarette when it was all over. That moment Captain America picks up Thor’s hammer will go down as one of the greatest moments in cinematic history. And Tony Stark’s last words, “I am Iron Man” provide that poetically delicious rhyme George Lucas was always after.
After all of this, Endgame only got nominated for one Oscar?! That is a slap in the face if I’ve ever seen one. Is Endgame a better stand-alone movie than many of the films nominated for Best Picture? I don’t know. Should it at least have gotten a nominating nod? Absolutely! And I know Robert Downey Jr didn’t want an Oscar bid for Best Actor, BUT COME ON?! The man, the myth, the legend who appeared in nine Marvel films? No nomination?
And this isn’t to mention the Russo brothers, the directors who pulled the damn thing off. Or any of the other Avengers actors who were crucial to the narrative and character development. Also, this says nothing about Adam Sandler, Eddie Murphie, or Greta Gerwig, who by all rights should just be handed their Oscars carte blanche.
If I were to give Endgame a nomination and remove another film or director or actor, which would it be? I don’t know. That’s not my job. It’s my job to be critical of the people whose job it is. My job is to be the voice of the people. As I look at the lineup, it is saturated with period pieces. And how many period pieces do we really need folks? Do we need any more movies about the absurd hubris and largess of American car companies? Do we need more mobsters and villains? Probably not.
The Academy is simply out of touch. I get the argument that the MCU’s real Oscar is their domination of the box office. And it’s a fair argument I suppose. But to not recognize the cinematic achievement that is 12 years and 23 films of the MCU in Endgame is robbery.