Maybe it will be better a second time around! Maybe...

Rating: 7/10 (26 April 2019)

I thought the entire premise of the movie was really good. The writing, the acting, the visual effects. However it was all too long-drawn for a very short ending finale that didn't leave me, personally, feeling like THANOS got what he deserved, especially since this is not the same THANOS that annihilated half of living creatures across the universe at the end of Infinity War.
I also thought I'd see THE HULK have a big showdown with Thanos this time around, which would have really got the crowds cheering, as he got his butt kicked by Thanos at the start of Infinity War. Thought, since he used the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones, that power surge through him would allow him to become angrier than ever before, and that anger would be converted to real POWER. That's a fight I would have liked to have seen, and I think a lot of others too. It would have brought the house down...especially just when the first half of the last fight where Captain America, Thor and Iron Man are getting their butt kicked by Thanos.
The build-up to the finale was great. But it was too much for a very short-fall ending. And the Soul Stone death of Black Widow made no sense, since Nebula could have easily have told them that's how to get the Soul Stone. Also the entire score, look and feel of the SOUL STONE piece was a COPY-PASTE from Infinity War. So if you cried then, you're probably NOT going to be as emotive this time around. I did like the play off of Hawkeye and Black Widow. They are great actors.
Captain Marvel? I wanted to see her wield the Infinity Stones to her own advantage. After all, she is pure energy, she can absorb them in theory. Got nothing. She was shown as powerful as any other Avenger in the movie apart from bringing down Thanos' ship. Come on!
It would have been awesome to see THOR convert back to the fit soldier he is when he summons the lightning just before fighting Thanos in the end. That would have made the crowd go crazy again. Instead we got a lazy Thor whose storm breaker couldn't even dent Thanos one it, but it was made as the most powerful weapon! WHAT?
Also, how does Nebula kill her younger self and still stay alive in the same timeline? There are so many weird things that don't make sense. If she shares the same memory lapse and hard drive, surely when the younger one dies the older one vanishes instantly?
The movie works, and on many levels, but on many levels it just doesn't. It's very funny at times and trots along. What I miss is the sheer WOW factor I got in Infinity War, the plot twists, the "I didn't expect that at all" moments. One of the greatest moments of Infinity War, I remember, that was unexpected, was when Thanos reverses back time to get the Mind Stone from Vision after Scarlett destroys it. It was sheer genius. And of course the end when everyone dies. Those moments were just not there in Avengers: Endgame. And the end dragged on too long. Like a bad Lord of The Rings: Return Of The King ending. At least in Return of the King, the shot when all of them bow to Frodo, it is an historic moment in cinema. I wept like a baby. In this, it is sad, but not that sad...Infinity War's ending was way sadder and left us all on shock!
The fan-service was really well done taking you through all the different Marvel movies of the last few years, the subtle easter eggs, the guest casting etc. Really well done and seamless. As stated, visually, it has all the elements, but someone like Christopher Nolan or Steve Spielberg, would have done more justice to the Endgame" script and storyline than The Russo Brothers I fear. In Civil War the Russo Brothers shot it out of the park, like with Infinity War, giving us that ending no one saw when we come to know Bucky killed Stark's parents. Amazing! In Endgame that just didn't happen.
Maybe it will be better a second time around! Maybe...I'll wait a week and watch it.
Is it worth seeing? Of course it is. This is just fan theorisations post a screening. Like it, Love it or Hate it, the movie is what it is.