An effective yet haphazard culmination of twenty-two movies, and much more to come.

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2019)

Avengers: Endgame brings us where we left off in Avengers: Infinity War, with Thanos (Brolin) collecting all six infinity stones and wiping out half the universe. In the aftermath, what's left of the Avengers (Downey, Evans, Hemsworth, Johansson, Cooper, Renner, Rudd, Larson, Gillan, Cheadle, Ruffalo, Gurira) all must band together to go back in time to collect the stones before Thanos can and prevent their current reality.
When the first Avengers movie dropped in 2012, it proved that Cinematic Universes can work. When Age of Ultron dropped in 2015 and more avengers joined the cast, it proved that Cinematic Universes are busy, also superhero movies need a respectable villain and a movie of that caliber needed more than one solo writer-director. When Infinity War dropped in 2018, it showed that it can subvert the audiences expectations and still entertain while not waste anytime introducing characters the audience has already known for ten years worth of movies. Finally Endgame proved that a movie can completely undo everything the predecessor has done and still be revered for its scope, for its culmination while giving certain characters well developed character arcs.
Originally this movie was supposed to be called Avengers: Infinity War Part II; and that's where the first problem originates. It's kind of inevitable that losses in a Cinematic Universe would feel hollow because the actors have contracts and more movies or TV shows they have to complete outside the movie they are currently performing in. When actors contracts expire, there's a realization that they have be given a proper sendoff; which in the viewers mind means, 'don't get too attached to X'. This being a cog in a much larger clock, and setting up something even larger than itself, allows the audience to zoom out and see a bigger picture, and that picture is, 'we need to keep these characters afloat and we need spinoffs and TV shows that we can keep pumping out so we can make money'. And after watching the movie, I am baffled at what they are trying to produce, and it is impossible not to look at this movie and not see a bigger picture.
As a whole, the movie is well acted and directed and also wastes no time setting up characters the audience already knows. The action is well executed with beautiful long takes and hits that look like they actually hit instead of quick cuts and shaky camerawork we are unfortunately used to by now. Downey gives one of the best performances inside of the MCU, and the special effects, which probably comprises at least ninety percent of the movie, are all excellent. Unlike Infinity War, the war part actually makes sense and is not just filler until the real bad guy shows up, also unlike Infinity War, the characters that die actually strike a nerve. But where Infinity War succeeded, the lighting is pretty bad in some scenes near the ending of the movie, also the introduction of time travel makes the timeline of the movie confusing and set up for the next movies problematic, because it is impossible to look at this movie and not see a bigger picture.
If you have not already jumped onto the Marvel Cinematic Universe by now, there is no reason you should check out this movie. If you are not dazzled by a plethora of famous people jumping around a simulated environment, you're not going to applaud at the resurrection of our favourite heroes, or at the big female team up against the man, (which admittedly felt a little hollow because there is no real set up to it). Anyone who loves superhero movies would love the intricacies of the that are put into this movie. If you started at the beginning with the first Iron Man and watched even seventy percent of the movies in the MCU, you can appreciate the development of our original avengers and like the directions our new heroes are going to eventually take.
So in the end, this is a popcorn movie. It is fun, as long as you don't think too much about it. It is a good ending to the Avengers while showing there are more possibilities for our remaining heroes and shows unlimited possibilities for the future, even if I am not interested in some of the spinoffs. Gone are the days, were the studios would just make a movie with a beginning middle and end. Now we make movies that set up more movies, and looking at the bigger picture, this is movie that seems large in its scale but is tiny when compared to what's to come. The big picture looks good, but has some problems in it's connecting pieces.