Avengers Endgame - 7/10
This is a real mixed bag, specially considering how high IW set the bar. Endgame is entertaining and engaging, and the three hours whirl past, however it's guilty of being surprisingly lazy and safe.
Captain Marvel rescuing Stark was necessary, but too easy and lost the tension set up in the trailer. Then we get the best half an hour of the movie; amazingly wasting no time in locating Thanos, killing him, abandoning hope, and fast-forwarding to a world with half the planet wiped out. The potential here was absolutely amazing, yet infuriatingly brief. We get tiny hints of PTSD, a view of the new world, and even a small tease of "hey maybe Thanos was onto something", before the second act starts.
And that's where it all derails a bit. Sure we knew time travel was going to come into it, but Ant Man and Stark basically inventing time travel with a combination of jokes, pop culture references, and 'Tony Stark Mulling'. It's as deux ex machina as it gets. They actually have a time stone plot device, amazed they didn't bother using that. Now we get lots of silly entertainment in GOTG and IM3 style which we've seen before. There's the roundup, the unlikely odds, the goofy camaraderie, the quips. It's all been done already. Surprisingly there's not many fight scenes when they go back, I did like Cap vs Cap and Stark meets Stark though. The highlights reel of previous Marvel movies was quite nicely done, albeit feeling a bit like a sitcom reunion episode, until they shoehorn Thanos into the plot.
That post-Thanos world? Gone, won't be seen again.
The third act - intelligent Thanos is replaced by big bad Thanos who, for the umpteenth time, is a black box villain with an army who invades the planet wants to destroy everything. How he managed to jump time too is just hopeless writing. Cue big epic fight, cue reunions, cue sacrifices, everyone tries to squeeze in their bit of face time, the end.
Unlike IW which somehow managed to give it's huge roster justice, Endgame is lopsided and makes the same mistakes Civil War makes. There is just far too much Cappy and Stark, especially Stark who once again basically turned this into his movie. Unfortunately his ending, while dramatic, was telegraphed in and had less impact. I thought they handled Cap's ending very well, and Nat's death was a genuine surprise albeit she and Hawkeye have been underdeveloped all throughout.
The problem is the rest of the crew. Ant Man is given far too much screen time, BannerHulk and Rocket are largely comic relief, Rhodey mopes around. They spent a bit too much time on Nebula, and surprisingly Captain Marvel had almost nothing to do. Ragnarok gave us a fun Thor, but reducing him to a goofy idiot Thor was entertaining for one scene, but the joke was stretched far too long and was almost insulting to his character. Once an otherworldly god who had mostly contempt for the Avengers, then a determined and focused fighter, now a blithering moron like Quill. Total waste.
It sounds very negative, but the movie is a lot of fun. I don't want Snyder grit, but didn't like the wasted setup and inconsistent tone. If you're happy to accept that the serious undertones of IW will be replaced with classic fast food Marvel, then this is exactly what's on the tin. I nitpick hard and find myself disappointed because of what it could have been.
