User Reviews

POSITIVES:

1) I love how emotional and deep the film is. The first hour or so of this film floored me. I really loved how dark and serious they went in terms of showing the trauma and after-effects of what Thanos did. Then, scenes like Tony speaking to his father for the final time, or Clint and Natasha fighting to sacrifice themselves, really hit me in the feels, along with the obviously very emotional death of Tony and funeral scene at the end of the film 2) Everytime I watch the "portals" scene it completely gives me goosebumps. The film, and the franchise as a whole up to this point, really feel like they've earned this insanely huge climax and it's honestly euphoric seeing all these heroes we've came to know fighting alongside each other. It's also really impressive how the film gets to this point after about two and a half hours of runtime, yet it's kept itself going at such a pace that it never feels like a slog to watch 3) Being a superhero film, it's always going to be difficult for the snobby parts of the film industry to recognise the individual achievements, but this film really does have some. The performances from the likes of Downey, Evans and Renner are really sensational, whilst technical achievements such as cinematography and score are really great too

NEGATIVES:

1) Time travel in film is always a difficult thing for me to swallow because it always seems to throw up so many plot holes. In this case, I struggled to understand the film's logic behind saying that the past doesn't change the future, but then also saying that it's totally fine for them to steal the stones and then just go back in time and replace them with no consequences, not to mention how insanely difficult it would be for Cap to actually replace them all, but the film just skips over that like it's nothing and gives us Chris Evans in really bad old age makeup instead 2) I know the MCU is known for its humour, but it's one of my least favourite parts of this franchise. This film is one of the best in terms of keeping the unnecessary humour to a minimum, but there were still a couple of scenes in which humour ruined the moment for me 3) Again, this is something the MCU has kinda became known for at this point, but it's absolutely ridiculous that we're supposed to believe in the final battle that everyone is able to communicate with each other, even though there are no earpieces to be seen and even if there were it would be impossible for them to have equipped everybody with those earpieces before the major battle started.

Rating: 8.6

Not as good as Infinity war pacing-wise, but is a satisfying ending to the saga. High production quality, and a great soundtrack like its predecessor. The final fight did feel a little cliché (two armies brainlessly charging at each other for a typical smackdown). Not much to write about, it made every marvel movie before it worth the ticket.

Perhaps Infinity War was the film of Thanos in which he imposed what he was seeking, but Endgame is the movie of Avengers who impose what they seek, and perhaps his title, which translates to "the end of the game" means the end of what Thanos sought. But do you think that would be that easy? Contrary to what Thanos did quite easily? you are wrong! The Infinite War movie may have been very touching and shocking when Thanos killed half of the universe creatures, but the endgame is more impactful and shocking than him. Although the cuff will be in the interest of the Avengers in this movie, nothing comes for free, must be given to get, and perhaps the long time period for the movie that reached three hours was very reasonable because their journey to achieve their goal was neither easy nor many options in front of them.

So it all ends. I have loved most of the MCU, some have been too predictable but I awaited after IW to see how it would all pan out. Firstly some of my favourite characters are a joke. Please don't dumb Thor or Banner/Hulk down, not necessary. Great starting scene, then slow dramatic next 1.5 hours. It builds to the time travel reversing all section with too many plot holes. We've all seen other time reversing movies who have done it so much better. The last hour is spectacular, great to see all the gang back but it feels rushed. Emotion runs high and defo not a kids film in my eyes. Cap is great Stark is amazing but everyone else feels like there just there. What I loved was the beauty of the final scenes, wonderful score and saying goodbye to old friends. Overall wanted more, but even far from perfect is still pretty good.

Well first off, Infinity War is one of my favourite movies of all time, and I feel the expectations I had built from that, has impacted how I feel about this movie.

Their are some really beautiful scenes and some great fan service which deserves a mention, in a movie that feels like a stepping stone to promote some of the characters that recently failed in the comics. We are entering the get woke, go broke phase of the MCU

Now onto the movie:

The plot line is all over the place and they made the mistake of using time travel to fix the universes problems, there are no consequences for failure anymore in the mcu, because just like in Dragon all we can just "Wish back" all those who died. Its basically Back To The Future, the Thanos edition.

Once again, they sideline Thor and The Hulk by using them purely as a punchline for lame, low IQ jokes in a corny script that feels like it is trying to be so many things, but doesn't quite hit the mark. Thor spends the entire movie as a whiny, fat child with mommy issues

Although there were some very nice, touching moments to the movie I feel like most of the mourning and brooding could have been condensed into a montage in order for us to see the heroes do, exactly what we came to see the heroes do, fight bad guys. There's very little in the way of action and because the story was so all over the place, I left feeling like nothing was actually accomplished in this movie.

As always Tony is amazing, throwing out one liners and nicknames and Captain America is great too.

Overall I really enjoyed many aspects of it, but at the same time I felt like there was no control over the plot. Like they were more concerned with paying homage to EVERY character ever, before writing a great narrative.

I've just come from watching Endgame and I must say that I am disappointed.

I loved Civil War and I loved Infinity War. When I came out of those films, I knew immediately that they were great and that I wanted to see them again. With Endgame, I'm not sure.

I respect how they were prepared to show the consequences of what Thanos had done but by killing him off so quickly and then them having to do their own stone quest (hadn't we already seen Thanos doing this in IW) it felt slow and lazy. Worse still was that it felt very self-indulgent and attempting to be clever for clever sake.

Like how Back to the Future II considered itself clever for showing the events of the first film but with Marty flitting around behind the scenes to ensure that it all still happened. I know it's meant to be fan pleasing but it really felt like a gimmick and lacking in confidence. Almost like it was saying 'Hey guys, this will make you smile'. If you want to make me smile, concentrate on maintaining the quality of your product rather than directly trying to make me like you.

But the trouble with messing around with timelines and bouncing around is that it makes the audience start asking questions during the film. The linearity that we'd seen in IW and the imminent fast approaching threat is replaced in Endgame with a lack of direction and characters that are earlier versions of who the audience have seen.

In IW we were shown Thanos. He was written to be sympathetic or at least a character that we the audience could understand. He believed in what he was doing and this made him more rounded. But in Endgame, that version is dispatched quickly and we are supplied with a 2014 (?) Thanos who isn't the character we know but is just a token bad guy.

This Thanos hasn't made the sacrifice at Vormire, he isn't the guy that would empathise with Scarlet Witch for what she did to Vision. He has suddenly become a token cut out evil bad guy that needs to be defeated. Hell, the writers even manage to forget their own time loop by saying that this Thanos has learnt that he doesn't want to wipe out 50% anymore because they are too ungrateful. How does he know this when the 2014 Thanos has only just literally arrived in the post wipeout Universe? How has he had time to form the opinion that his previous quest for a 50% cull isn't worthy?

Is this a case of the writers being terrified that they had created a bad guy that people related to or was it a fear that they'd written themselves into a hole? Why go to the effort of creating that character in IW to suddenly kill him off at the beginning of Endgame just for a dramatic punch?

For me, the time travelling and stone gathering wasted time to create unimportant scenes that fundamentally undermine the films that came before. In my opinion it would have been better if they had shown the remaining Avengers preparing to do some Avenging and maintained the single minded linearity of IW of battling towards and reaching a post click Thanos and somehow reversing his work.

The more I think of the film, the more plot holes and frustrations manifest themselves. Thor's drinking and man child antics might have been initially funny but one begins to realise that they are deliberately doing this to clip his wings. Likewise with Hulk, his primordial desire to smash and destroy has been removed to think it out and he has become an embarrassing shadow of his former self.

The thing that is meant to be amazing about the MCU is the world building but inconsistencies have been appearing and there are so many in Endgame that it makes you question whether these two films are written by the same people.

In IW, Thanos is a dangerous and credible threat because he has the infinity stones. He takes on half of the Avengers, Strange and some of the Guardians on Titan and smashes them and then takes on the other half on Wakanda and smashes them. Yet it is Stormbreaker (whose creation we have seen been hard earned by a motivated Thor) that has the power to take down Thanos even when he has a full complement of Infinity Stones.

Yet we roll forward to Endgame and we have literally all the good guys together in one place, Cap with his shield, Tony fully powered up, Scarlet Witch p*ssed and vengeful, Capt Marvel who can seemingly do anything and Thor wielding both Mjolnir AND Stormbreaker and Thanos NOT in possession of the gauntlet, yet they can't defeat him.

It's like the fights in IW were so amazing because the good guys were taking on an unbeatable foe yet here he is now seemingly defeatable by the 'rules' that the writers established . A good example of this would be in IW when Cap is the last man standing before Scarlet Witch and he grabs the gauntlet. You see the look of admiration/respect on Thanos' face that Cap is holding open the gauntlet before he punches him to the ground yet now that scene seems pointless.

The writers for Endgame seem to have been driven to undo everything they did in IW. All the tension, all the sacrifice, all the development of Thanos discarded for well, I don't know what. It makes no sense.

IW had two incredible scenes that used to choke me up. When Cap appears in the train station, the Avengers theme kicks in and Falcon and Widow take down the henchman in a wonderfully choreographed scene. In just that one scene it shows them coming to the rescue, it shows how intuitively they work together and it showcases their heroism.

Likewise when Thor creates Stormbreaker and makes his entrance on Wakanda, I felt it for the journey that Thor has been on. He's had to contend with loss and defeat and humiliation and this is his redemption. Here is a character that has earned his game changing weapon and when he arrives and demands to face a character that everyone else is running away from, I want to punch the air.

But in Endgame, that feels like it has to be corrupted. We can't have Thor being dominant, let's break him and make him a fool. We can't have Thanos being complicated and relatable, let's make him a cut out bad guy. We can't have Hulk being rage fuelled and smashing stuff up, let's make him more sensitive and talking stuff out. We can't have Cap being stoic and heroic, let's have him ridiculing one of his own iconic lines in a silly gimmicky fight with himself and commenting on his butt. We can't have a powerful female character that we're invested in look sexy AND be able to take down Thanos, let's give Scarlet Witch a small part but focus our attention on a female character that hasn't earnt our admiration or desire for revenge.

To be honest, the 'rules of engagement' had been set so well in IW that when in Endgame Thanos massed his ranks against the Avengers and then ALL of the good guys showed up, I was almost expecting the camera to pull away and not show the fight given that it was so obviously going to be an easy win for the good guys.

And as for the big fight scene, it did reek of what DC always manage to do which is just throw everything into an end battle and bludgeon you with CGI and pyrotechnics so that you aren't really sure what is going on.

In the many fights in IW, you knew what was going on, you recognised the combatants, you understood the stakes and you identified the geography of the scene. In Endgame we got one big massive fight where everything was thrown in the pot and it was just assumed by the directors that we would be happy with all the flashing lights. And I have to say that considering that Steve and Tony fell out so hard, and that Tony's criticism of Steve was so unfair, that I really had hoped for more than just a handshake, a muttering of 'no worries' and 'here's your shield'. These guys wrote and directed Civil War, they created the line 'we fell out hard' and hence I had hoped for something deeper and more touching than a handshake.

Steve wrote Tony a letter telling him that when he needed him he'd be there but once again the Iron Man bias had to creep in and once again Tony was the victim and the ultimate hero.

But I think my biggest problem is how the convenient time travelling undermines everything. When a franchise starts retrofitting stuff (like Fury's eye being from a space cat), it's then hard to consider the previous stories.

Having 2014 Gamorra means that all the evolution that we saw her go through in GOTG 1 and 2 is wasted. Having Cap marry Peggy means the pain of his sacrifice, him seeing her in Winter Soldier when she is suffering from Alzheimer's, hell even his blossoming relationship with Sharon Carter is kinda irrelevant. Having seen Thor at last step away from his two weaker origin films into the entertainment of Ragnarok and the redemption in IW leaves us now with a bumbling buffoon.

We know that what makes Captain America what he is, is the serum that makes him a super soldier. That he was transformed from a weakling to a superhuman. Sam Wilson is not a super soldier and he didn't take the serum. He is Falcon. Now maybe in the comics he becomes Cap but Bucky is a super soldier. Is the new Cap going to foil an evil plot and be defeated with a tazer or a knife to the chest? Consider the beatings that Steve has taken and the physical strength that he has shown we can recognise that Sam Wilson does not have that.

I'm sorry to say but the Russo's have dropped the ball. Themselves and their writers have succumbed to their success and their desire to be engineers of political correctness and social change. I thought Endgame would be the high soaring end to this 10 year run of impressive movie entertainment but in the end the writers got carried away, the directors over reached and the studio sacrificed the integrity of their product for a chance to 'educate' us all. A real shame and a wasted opportunity.

Infinity War is clearly the highlight of the last 10 years but even now I fear that repeated viewings will render it pointless considering how the makers decided to fundamentally damage it.

So here we have it, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, the expansive sequel to not only AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR but also to the whole last 13 years or so of Marvel cinema. It's a film that had big boots to fill but the good news is that it's a complete success and every bit as enjoyable as its predecessor. At three hours I wasn't sure about the pacing, but even during the slower first half the viewer's interest remains piqued thanks to the witty dialogue and huge cast of well-established characters doing their thing.

The time travel plot might seem a cop out to some, but I really enjoyed the way it gives characters a chance to revisit earlier productions (and even allow the likes of Robert Redford to show up in clever cameos). The climactic action is well worth the wait and bests the battles in LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING in terms of pure CGI spectacle; it only took them 16 years to get it right. Great fun, anyway, and one for the ages.

Only a month or so back I was talking to a friend about how much I hate it when serious movies use time travel to get their characters out of problems. I have no problem with movies like 'Back to the Future' or 'Hot Tub Time Machine' that are both comedy based and use the time machine as a plot for the movie as opposed to a solution for characters problems. When a serious movie uses it though it as lazy as writing as dream sequence in my opinion.

At the end of the day though that just underlines the problem with these movies. The heroes are far too powerful. Whatever power they need they simply possess conveniently. Heck, 'Dr Strange' can even see into the future to know exactly what to do to make sure everything turns out alright. If that isn't the stupidest thing I've ever seen in a movie I don't know what is.

I felt like the movie went very much as expected as well. Sure some characters die, however they were pretty much telegraphed to do so long before the movie came out. There also seemed to be a lack of conflict as key moments. A lot of things went far too smoothly for my liking in terms of the plan. Finally, the ending with 'Iron Man' simply pulling the glove off 'Thanos' - what the hell was that? Was that supposed to be clever writing? 'Thanos' just standing there for an eternity doing nothing waiting for someone to stop him?

A lot of the jokes failed to land too. This was a surprisingly unfunny movie. In a 3 hour movie I got maybe 3 light chuckles out of the film. Every joke just felt so forced and some of the characters who don't have a comedy background delivered them very poorly. 'Avengers: Endgame' is three hours of my life I would like back.