For me cons:
1) Team Cap fan. Didn't appreciate the short shrift given to Bucky's arm and whole dynamic - OK, so you drop a case in front of guy you are supposed to be protecting/healing and WTF. No-where between BP and this film any discussion of arm capabilities, whether Bucky wants to fight, etc. Instead guess I need to interpolate
that it's more or less established at this point WITH NO DISCUSSION AT ALL that Bucky is son of Wakanda/protector.
Also, blatant set-up that Bucky WON'T be Cap with that "I love this country" line?
2) WTF just blowing through Bucky and Cap's relationship
; pivotal point through 3 movies and nada. At least there was a quick hug - were they talking to each other for a while now? Who knows? No conversation at all between Falcon, Bucky, BW. Waste of stellar actors and dynamics set up in TWS/CW. But there was all the time in the world for some tears between Spidey and IM.
Even if I weren't a Team Cap fan, after the long wait IMO that's just bad writing IMO. Like everything that went on in previous movies isn't worth paying attention to
. WTF. I knew going in more or less the character weights of this film, but this was too extreme.
3) Nice little Shuri/Banner insulting moment; but will give Shuri props for paying focusing when things were going downhill. (I think I liked the character better then than I ever had because that showed some spine IMO.)
4) More a fan of gritty hand to had Earth battles than space battles; thought the Wakanda battle got short shrift too
. Not what I was expecting, which was a lot more than what I got. CGI and some overly-frenzied camera work. Like it got rushed through vs. lots of time lavished on space battle.
5) OK Red Skull - yeah, I pictured him coming back too but it was a some uber-evil demon being; not a redux of Indiana Jones Last Crusade and/or LOTR "the way is shut" which immediately popped into my head (also Harry Potter). IMO made no sense he ends up where he does, at all. Fan service, I guess.
6) Boring lines here and there including "noblest end in history". Couldn't believe here and there at a RUSSO film I was actually getting bored
esp. with going on and one re Gamora/Thanos dynamics. Performances didn't grab me and neither did the idea of Gamora having the secret to the Soul Stone and neither did the idea of sacrificing Gamora - just felt like it was going and on.
7) Too much Guardians here and there; too much Peter and Tony; and even too much Thanos. If you're not getting grabbed - well, basically I felt the movie started out really well, but by second half the movie isn't paying enough attention to some things and too much to others.
Like stuff is all off-weight - I felt for Loki and Heimdall, a bit for Bucky; but even for my favorite MCU character things happen so fast I didn't feel *devastated* and when characters kept vanishing didn't feel that much either
. (Some old black guy in the very front row kind of lost it when BP faded out tho
.)
IMO pros
1) Thor a bit one-note but still - nice to see him IMO truly heroic grim warrio
r. Rocket brilliant CGI and more emotionalism/layers. Liked Thor's arc.
2) IM rapid costume weaponry - brilliant wanted to run out and buy figure $$$$ Also some nice *mystical* DS moments. First appearance of Iron Spider.
3) Mark Ruffalo
4) Peter Dinklage
5) IMO very nice treatment of Wanda/Vision - not too much or too little time; use of their respective powers perfect; one of the best parts of the movie for me with good lines.
6) Some brilliant moments for Rhodey, Cap, Bucky e.g. Rhodey choosing a side; Cap standing up to Ross and nice moment driving his shields into the throat of an Outrider; Bucky grabbing Rocket and dual shooting; Okoye, BW, SW fighting together (props to Okoye for actually having tears in her eyes because for d*mn sure Cap didn't seem to have much reaction when Bucky faded away, or much reaction at all); Bruce Banner telling the Outriders they're screwed. Thought I wouldn't like Groot using parts of himself for Stormbreaker handle but that IMO was kinda nice - Groot coming of age when things go bad.
7) Some great Thanos moments but - IMO too much; I got bored, here and there. Bogged down and some stuff confusing.
8) Heimadall and Loki using the last of their power/abilities
Overall: If you are a Thanos fan, Thor fan, IM/Spidey fan, Guardians fan, even a DS fan, this film is the promised land, I guess as far as screen time. For me ironically with Thanos and balancing "as all things should be" I got a dose of characters I'd already seen plenty of through the past year
and neither Thanos nor his Children really blew me away - got too heavy handed with the Thanos/Gamora thing IMO, logic lapses, confusion - IMO first part of film better.
It's hard to generalize when so much is going on, and I've only seen this once. But it wasn't the "well rounded-ish" multiple character movie that IMO Civil War was - Boseman had said IW definitely wasn't "Black Panther 1.5" but this could've been "IM 1.5" or "Guardians 1.5" or just called the movie "The Mad Titan" with Cap & co. and BP & co. making some cameo appearances and NO-ONE explaining what is going on with the Hulk.
Or WTF that last scene with little Gamora was about.
I like Nebula but outside of some freaky torture - nada.
The Russos have said by IW2 they hope people will see their "vision" of their storytelling or something like that; I sure hope so because I never thought all this would be reminding me of George Martin and "A Feast for Crows" (e.g. digging for character threads) and more waiting.
