Review of Avengers: Endgame (2019) by Smoothpantagana — 25 Apr 2019

Yeah, I hoped for a good film, but this was nowhere near one….

As it stands the first part of this duology is a much stronger film. So Infinity War > Endgame. By a huge margin, I would add….

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Endgame was rather disappointing and slow, the pacing was awful, and it just sort of fizzed out by the end of it, not even the death of Iron-Man felt special. His previous fight with Thanos on Titan felt more impactful. And that’s just it… The film rang hollow as a whole. It just did not flow as easily as Infinity War, and was lost in its time travel shenanigans… Spider-Mans and Peppers goodbyes felt like ticks on squares. Its like the rollercoaster ride was a flat line that didn’t take the highs to where they should have soared and as a result it meandered through long stretches of melancholy emotions and dialogues, many of which could have been cut shorter. They lost on film, on action, to honour characters, parents, loss, grief, friendship... I get that, but it’s a lot and too much at times, so they lost the dynamics of film in the process. The films story-telling suffered. Its depressive opening tone was soon undercut by its trademark one-liners and quips, and it soon felt like the whole film was straying in a strange direction where the filmmakers couldn’t decide which way to go and how they wanted to paint the film as it were. The way they went with many of its characters and their moments felt like they were not holding up or were just jarring. Some of these are….

What have they done to Thor? It feels like they ran out of creativity so they lazily shat on his character and made him a **** and a loser. Also, Thor somehow beats Thanos with a fully gemmed glove with Stormbreaker, but can’t do so with Mjolnir and Stormbreaker against Thanos without any gems? Where is the consistency? Also, if he takes Mjolnir from another timeline than what does Thor fight with in that timeline, in the Dark World and Ragnarok?

What have they done to Hulk? We don’t get any action from the Big Green. Its especially disappointing after he was held back in Infinity War. So there is no payoff for Hulk? Really? They fumbled his character where he should have unleashed the monster and overcome his fear of Thanos. Big mistake character wise. They left him unused. One-armed and weak. Shame, it still feels like such a huge and glaring missed opportunity.

Also, the whole soulstone bit with Widow and Hawkeye just feels like a cheap gimmick after the drama with Thanos and Gamora in the previous film. Hawkeye is mourning the love of his life, his family, so the Russos make him ultimately sacrifice himself for a collegue from office? Cause that’s how their relationship always felt. Isn’t getting the soulstone about the ultimate sacrifice one makes? Why didn’t Banner go with Natasha? It would have made more sense soulstone story wise? Hell, Cap had more chemistry with the Black Widow than Hawkeye… Odd choices.

There are many other missteps (a friggin rat?), but in conclusion: Nothing remarkable happens for the first two hours (for an action spectacle film, spectacular action is nowhere to be seen) and the third act or hour feels overstuffed and incomprehensible, with dialogues and action all over the place. Where Infinity War was good at balancing characters, acts and plotlines, Endgame is nowhere near as coherent. The last act feels like too much of everything, and very little of it is quality. Honestly, Endgame does not FEEL like a magical blockbuster experience after you exit the theatre, nor does it deserve a higher grade than a 5/10.