It's great entertainment, but unsatisfying.

Rating: 7/10 (25 April 2019)

I'm coming at this as someone who read the comics and who also invested in this franchise since 2008 as a 15 year old kid, when I was the only one in my entire high school or inner circle who could comprehend what was about to unfold and told everyone about who The Avengers were and what they're all about.
To be frank, time traveling is a lazy way to rewrite or undo everything that came before. But, there are films that do it well and I was going in with that optimism that they might try something clever. Ultimately it is the same time traveling mumbo-jumbo. It does try to cover the tried trope with moments of nostalgia, and to it's credit it even made me feel that way.
But with that being said, that wasn't the biggest issue, it was some of the character decisions that the Russos, Feige and writers Markus & McFeely chose. I cannot review this without spoilers, so here it goes.
I really disliked Thor's arc. I didn't appreciate the joke they made him into. It just didn't work for me. I've elaborated many times, more often than not the MCU's child-like and formulaic humor can really get on my nerves. I was expecting a tone just a little more dower, similar to Infinity War. I like it when things are taken a little more seriously which is why I put Infinity War, Civil War, The Winter Soldier, and the first Iron Man on such high pedestal. Seeing him out of shape and acting like a frat-boy was unpleasant. Odin's lesson of being there for his people has been lost with Thor's ending, it's as if all the growth in Ragnarok was gone in this film.
As for Captain America, well, I did find it kinda fitting, but I would have preferred to have seen Rogers make the ultimate sacrifice himself alongside Tony Stark. The universe revolves around both of them and I personally would have found it more poetic if the two heartbeats of the MCU go out in heroic fashion. Ultron once called him out on "pretending to live without war." As much as I found Ultron to be a tad underwhelming, I found that quote from him to have poignancy and also one of the reasons why Captain America is so interesting. Tony Stark, can't help himself but to always fix things, with Steve Rogers, he cannot turn away from any situation that goes south. Even if time traveling in this film apparently splits off to another parallel timeline, I still don't find it in Steve Rogers who gave up his own love, his own time to the greater good, to only check out and retire like the way he did.
I had no problem with Tony's death, as a matter of fact I love the fact that Endgame wasn't afraid to kill Black Widow and Iron Man. The MCU started with Downey's Iron Man, so I found it reasonable that it should end with him. Nat's death only develops Hawkeye, who has way more to do in this film than he ever did in the previous installments. It was time for the MCU to not have any "fake-outs" and really show that heroes can die. I remember what Whedon said during his tenure with Marvel. It's war, and in war people die, and when the war is won, there is always a cost in a victory.
Thanos this time around got the short end of the stick. Brolin again delivers on his performance, and I understand, this movie is more about the Avengers than it is about Thanos, but I just did not like the fact that they killed him in the first twenty minutes and we got a pre-Infinity War Thanos.
But, the Big Three, Downey Jr, Evans and Hemsworth deliver. The rest of the cast is good. Jeremy Renner is at his best here like I previously mentioned. Johansson is also very good, and it was nice to see her and Renner's characters bounce off each other like they used to, making her death only more tragic. Karen Gillan who salvaged a small portion of the redundant Guardians 2, also brings her A-game and Nebula's arc here is handled very well. It was also very cool to see Professor Hulk and Ruffalo does a great job being at peace with himself. The rest of the cast, Larson, Cheadle, Rudd, and Cooper are great.
Now, we all knew the dusted would return, and that scene really gave me goosebumps momentarily. The action in this film is not on the level of Infinity War. It's solid action, and some very cool moments, but it pales in comparison to the Titan fight, the Wakanda battle, and the opening NY fight in Infinity War. Thanos does however go against the Big Three and that was a treat, especially his fight against Cap, but the rest of the action lacked the extra flare that made the fight sequences in Infinity War so awesome. At the very least, the characters are used well. VFX is also top notch.
Ultimately, I enjoyed good amount of moments within the film, and technically speaking it's very well made, but I walked out of this unfulfilled and unsatisfied. I'm not comfortable with the direction they took, especially on the characters I mentioned and I know putting people up to my standards is ridiculous, but I can have high expectations for this because again, I've invested in the MCU for 10+ years. I'll need time to let it sink in and maybe if I watch it again I'll think differently, but its as if the Russos and Markus & McFeely exhausted all options and ran out of gas after delivering film after film.
7/10