A long, overhyped disappontment.

Rating: 5/10 (16 July 2019)

When the movie came out, everyone was screaming how great it was. Rotten Tomatoes gave a >95% fresh rating, and IMDB's scores were revolving around a solid 9. Therefore, my expectations for this movie were set very high; since Infinity War was great, I was absolutely sure the Russos will be able to masterfully untie this giant gordian knot of a plot... and I was dead wrong.
The first and the main thing I cannot come to terms with in this movie is the story, aka the resolution of the complex situation Infinity War has set up. I can clearly remember the awe and the sense of disbelief I felt at the end of IW, and had wondered how could they possibly resolve this mess they have trapped themselves into. The answer is: in the pretty much cheapest way possible - by time travel. And I am very sensitive to time travel stories. I wouldn't mind if they had had used the power of the time stone to trample with time, but to come out of the quantum realm by accident and hand everything to Tony Stark who will *magically* invent anything that is needed - is simply a terrible way to fool the viewers. Not to mention that the Russos themselves have confirmed that everyone snapped is actually dead; and that kind of straightforward lying pisses me off.
Ok, we are time travelling. From then on, one plot diverges into five, read FIVE different plots, and guess what? The chance of success for retrieving each of the stones is 100%. Why? Because they are the Avengers, duh. They are bound to succeed! (Note the sarcasm.) Moving on: how does one expect to thoroughly explain the time travelling theory in a course of a single movie (that is actually the end of the franchise)? YOU DON'T. It took Steins;Gate 25 episodes to establish a way of time travel that actually holds water (and it way actually the central theme of the anime), people... What were the Russos even thinking?
Discussing the beautiful mess of the character arcs: Let's start with the Internet's favorite hero, Iron Man. As the matter of a fact, I liked the way his character was resolved: he evolved from being self-centered, paranoic and egoistic to a guy who is ready to put his life on the line for the whole world (even though not really wholeheartedly). I will say that his arc is one of the best, if not the best in the whole franchise, so this kind of end fits his redemption arc perfectly.
On the other side of the morality spectrum, we have my personal favorite, Captain America, whose end is probably the second biggest mistake this movie has made. Think of it this way: What would be the nicest ending Steve could possibly get? Well, a life with Peggy, of course. And what do we need to get to Peggy? Time traveeeel (with holes in it's theory, aka no grandfather paradox). So simple that it hurts me to even think of it. To be honest, the only satisfying way to end his story is to make him die together with Tony, and to mend all the bonds broken a long time ago, in Civil War. On the bright side of things, it was nice to see him lift the Mjolnir... after all, if he is not worthy, who is?
Probably the biggest disappointment of them all was Thor (I would add "the god of thunder", but that thing I saw on screen looks nothing like a god). I never really paid attention to his character; he was always good looking, witty and powerful, with the humor always being his strong side. Now, he is reduced to a grotesque-looking drunk man that cures his depression by playing Fortnite and does absolutely nothing to redeem himself for not aiming for the head. I understand the "boys can also cry, getting out of the depression" trope, but the way it was handled is simply abhorrent. All that has left of Thor are some cheesy one-liners and pop-culture references that will get only the 11-year-olds laughing, nothing else.
The only characters I felt were done absolutely right are Clint and Natasha. Clint, in contrast to Thor, actually does something "useful" to relieve himself of the post-snap burdens, and Natasha is there to help him get out of it, as a true friend would. Knowing that they get to fetch the soul stone together broke my heart even before I knew who was supposed to die. I felt more sorry for Natasha than for Tony, actually... Rest in peace, Black Widow, you will be remembered.
I would also like to adress the Thanos confusion. Can anyone tell me, how was I supposed to feel after the first 30mins into the movie when Thor totally anticlimactically cut Thanos' head off? This was the first indication to me that the movie will suck. I would have gladly cheered for the innovative way they have swapped Nebula to screw with the team's plans, but since it is a nice way to complicate a bad time-travel plot, I gave up the idea.
To sum up, Avengers: Endgame is a disappointing ending to a well built franchise. I have seen the movie only once, and I regret to have to say it felt worse than The Last Jedi. Most of the character arcs felt off, time travel ended up being quite inconvenient and the only thing worth remembering is a bunch of fanservice moments. It doesn't deserve to surpass Avatar at the box office, and the re-release of the movie with some deleted scenes is rather shameful. For all the fanboys who praise this movie, I regret that you do not know better. Bye bye Russos, and please do not touch Marvel again!