Re: Avengers: Endgame (April 26th, 2019)
Just got back from the 10PM showing (packed theater)!
What can I say, I liked it a lot! It's not some kind of cinematic masterpiece, but it is amazing what the MCU has managed to create. Such a huge universe! These guys can be rightly proud of what they have accomplished.
As for the movie itself, (maybe slight spoilers ahead) I was blown away with the first act. The entire devastated Earth, the way people are trying to cope with the catastrophe... wow! So well done! I guess I could've used a bit more backlash from people towards the Avengers, and Superheroes in general, the "why didn't you stop this/it's all your fault anyway" fallout. But I can understand why they wouldn't go that route. Conversely, I didn't quite get Stark's reaction and animosity when he first gets back. It felt a bit exaggerated and out of place. His reticence in helping out five years later was much more understandable.
Towards the second act I felt the movie drag a bit, as it went into usual MCU-fare. It was fun seeing some of the events from different perspectives, and it was nice to see a few of the cameos, but it was the weakest part of the movie. Incidentally, if future Thor took his hammer from the past, what hammer was past Thor wielding? Or did that open a new timeline that we did not get to see?
Also, I did not like what they did with Thor and Hulk. Again, using Thor's anguish and the destruction of Asgard for laughs felt wrong to me. It's kinda sad that Thor became the comic relief of the Avengers. As for the Hulk, well... I felt the unresolved relationship with Black Widow was just glossed over, and I think the characters deserved better.
Third act was great. Spectacular battles and really deeply emotional scenes. Marvel's appearance at the end was pretty epic, other than that, I felt she was a bit underused, but again, I understand that she couldn't be featured more prominently. A bit of a wasted opportunity though, it would've been great to see her pissing Stark off, or vice-versa...
The Cap and Stark really had the best closures, although what Cap did seems to me a bit of a change in continuity?
Also, this is the first MCU movie were I really liked the photography. There were some amazing visuals. Sound was also great, I loved how quiet the movie is at the beginning, they really used sound design very well.
So, overall, I think it's a great finale to this ten-year ride. Am I in a hurry to see it again? Nope, but I will surely catch it once it shows up on HBO.
Spiderman will surely feel very anti-climactic after this.
Well, now to go back and read through this thread!
