So I just saw Endgame...

Stuff I liked:

That final scene. Loved it like crazy. I’m an emotional mush and a hopeless, hopeless romantic, so things like that get me. It also helps that I love the ’40s, that Cap is by far my favorite of the MCU heroes, and that the girl who plays his girlfriend is so beautiful. Choosing “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” is so sweet, and so perfect, and… God. It strikes this emotional chord for me that I can’t really explain, but it’s the same something that explains my love for anything set in the era. It’s a perfectly executed scene, too. What superhero movie ends like this, rather than some generic blow ’er up action sequence? It’s just brilliant.

The final battle (speaking of blow ’er up action, but this one isn’t generic). Wowzer. What a marvel. Everyone had a role to play and did a great job with it. It looked unbelievably impressive and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. A pal of mine was annoyed at the scene where all the women form their own little auxiliary or whatever because it was too on-the-nose, and, sure, it was, but it only lasted a minute and didn’t bother me. It wasn’t particularly surprising, but Iron Man’s sacrifice is exactly what it should have been. It also has weight and depth to it—we feel, for once, these people can die, and by God we care about them. One of the greatest things about the MCU has been that they’re not generic comic book movies. Most of them have heart and soul—Iron Man, The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier, Infinity War, this. I’d be equally interested in these characters just sitting around and talking as in them fighting baddies. They’re just good, likeable people (particularly Cap).

Speaking of Stark/IM, this one redeemed him for me. He’s a full, developed character here, and I liked him. That scene of everyone at his funeral and “proof Tony Stark has a heart”—wonderful.

The beginning. I came into the theater late (typical me), so I missed the first five minutes or so, but the Russos and their screenwriters actually gave consequence to killing off half the population. One of my criticisms of Infinity War is that it didn’t show that consequence, but this did—oh, this did. But it’s not cheap, either, which it easily could have been (exploiting tragedies like 9/11 for pop entertainment). The superhero stuff is a means by which the directors can explore the meaning of tragedy. There are so many little moments like these, where it’s not action—it’s human warmth and care. This is a real movie-movie, like Donner’s Superman, Nolan’s Batmans, Raimi’s Spideys: it can be enjoyed by people who aren’t interested in superheroes.

Killing Thanos off that early. I wasn’t surprised by this movie, on the whole (except for that last scene)—it hit plot-points I could see coming—and I usually like to be surprised by movies. (Not Shyamalan-like twists, I hasten to add—but small surprises, [e.g.] unexpected dialogue or shot-choices, that mean that the filmmaker is ahead of you, rather than you being ahead of him.) The scene reminded me of The Last Jedi—and, while I mostly didn’t like TLJ, this surprise made it work because Thanos isn’t a hero as Luke Skywalker is. In retrospect, though, of course that’s what Thanos would do afterwards, his goal accomplished.

Not bringing Loki and all the people killed pre-snap back. It adds weight to the thing.

Antman. He was great. I really ended up liking him.

Again, I am an absolute emotional mush, so I thought the scene where Thor meets up with his mom was very touching. It made me think of my mom—Mother’s Day being just passed and all that. And, well, I’m all silly, but y’know. I like Thor: The Dark World more than Thor because of the stuff with his mom.

Thor. The humor made me laugh, but none of it seemed out-of-place, as Thor: Ragnarok did. Every element is cohesive.

Cap grabbing Thor’s hammer was one of those great movie moments that put a big smile on my face. Superhero movies, at their best, have this unique power to do that—Chris Reeve flying up to grab a falling Margot Kidder being the best. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?”

The cameos by Robert Redford and weirdly made-up Michael Douglas.

That final scene. It’s great.
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What I didn’t like:

The length. It went on forever and easily could have been broken up into two movies, or at least provided a merciful intermission. There were parts in the middle when I got bored.

Related to “bored,” there were parts during which I got really confused. That may be because I haven’t seen all of the series, but I thought the movie did a good job explaining stuff that I’d missed (related to Antman and Sherlock Holmes, mostly—Chris Pratt and his annoying gang of aliens don’t play much of a part here). Mostly it was just the cutting between the scenes on the planet, in New York, and in Asgard. The planet stuff went on forever, and I found it boring. I also got confused when it seemed like it was treading over the same ground the last movie had. Also: time travel. The writers didn’t seem to get it either, so I just went along with it. But didn’t the snap require all of the gems? So why couldn’t they have gone back and just taken out one of the gems? Yes, I’m sure there’s a reason.

Captain Marvel. OK, I haven’t seen her movie. But is she this boring in it? She’s Superman without the personality. She has this permanent grimace on her face like she just smelled garbage or something. She’s not in it much, but there are these good female characters in this series (the girl on the horse, for example), and they give a whole movie to this dame?

I didn’t think Scarlett Johansson’s death was as emotional as they intended. Nor Hawkeye’s reunion with his family. Hawkeye was probably at his least interesting here.

Thanos. I liked that early death surprise, as mentioned, but they did the big purple guy a disservice: he was a complex, interesting character in the first one, and here he’s a plot device. He even has clichéd villain dialogue to go along with it. (Also: I laughed because what he did in the movie wasn’t too far removed from what he did in fake “spoilers” I wrote as a joke here.)

Also, where’d his Narnia-esque villain army come from at the end? One of the guys is his second-in-command, yes (“I herald the coming of the great Thanos”), but I’m talking about the monsters at the end. Of course they had to be there to fight our heroes, but who/what are they?
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My criticisms probably sound harsher than I intended; I loved the beginning and end and only really wasn’t enamored by the middle, and even then the last scene restored so much good will in me that this is very high up there in my rankings for this series.

Infinity War is in some ways the better movie, but this is more emotional and personal, with meaning and warmth and hope and love. I preferred this one.

Also, have I mentioned the final scene and the girl who plays Cap’s girlfriend?

It is a very interesting choice—but a logical one, when I thought about it afterwards: what’s the guy going to do after winning?

The 2014 Thanos is (for me) a less satisfying villain than his 2018 (Infinity War) counterpart, let alone his 2019 counterpart, one of the few disappointments I had about this movie. What made Thanos interesting was his lack of brutishness, his thoughtfulness, his desire only to use force when absolutely necessary. His philosophizing might have been of the college dorm-room kind, but, despite being a big purple CGI monster, he was closer to Hannibal Lecter than to a hulking monstrosity like Doomsday in Batman v Superman.

With that said, you make a good point that 2014 Thanos would logically be less wise than 2018-19 Thanos. Still, from a writing perspective, it disappointed me that a complex character, or at least an attempt at a complex character, became a walking cliché.

I think I’ve asked this before, but the show about Cap’s girlfriend is good, right? Because I’d love to see that.