Pleasantly surprised!

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2019)

I didn't care for Infinity War. I rated it a 4 and gave it a pretty critical review. So I was very hesitant about seeing Endgame but I'm very glad I did. It's possibly my favorite Marvel movie. Infinity War felt very cold to me as far as emotional connection to the characters but Endgame was completely the opposite. Some people have criticized the lack of action but in my opinion that's exactly what it needed. The galaxy had suffered a major blow from Thanos and it was intensely interesting exploring all the emotional reaction to that trauma. This is what good science fiction does. It explores the possibilities and stretches the mind. I haven't read comic books since I was a teenager in the 90's but that was one of my favorite things about comic books. That there were so many possibilities for the imagination to explore. And you could enjoy it on a monthly basis rather than waiting years for a movie to come out. Anyways, Endgame started to tap into that style for me. I did not mind their comical treatment of Thor. Many people forget that these characters come from comic books and a lot of times the comics don't take themselves very seriously. Chris Hemsworth pulled it off very well. As far as the criticism of the Hulk, I didn't mind that at all since I was used to Peter David's much more intelligent treatment of the Hulk. The movie was full of moments that gave me goosebumps and excitement. The pacing was very irregular and confusing which added to the suspense of the film since it was so disorienting. Doing things by the numbers just gets so boring after awhile. And there were multiple amazing "endings" but the final one with Cap and Margaret was just perfect. I could go on...there were many many great scenes and interactions with characters throughout the movie. The final battle scene was exhilarating. It felt in the vein of the final battle scene in Return of the Jedi. I can't say very many bad things about it. Only that it is a real shame that the X-Men weren't there. Also Bucky totally should have been Cap's successor. That was a wrong move in my opinion. I was hoping for a cameo by Agent Coulson but alas no. And good riddance to Scarlett Johansen. Black Widow is great but she was miscast in my opinion.