A Near Perfect Conclusion to the Previous Movies

Rating: 9/10 (6 April 2020)

For a movie that was to address the bleak consequences of Thanos' snap in Infinity War, I was surprised by how much I laughed during the movie. But, it strikes a good balance, keeping humor in appropriate moments and amounts to keep you from spiraling into a deep depression. On top of that, the humor does help you experience the painful scenes more intensely, because you can't know pain without pleasure, and vice versa.
One complaint I do have about the movie is that Tony Stark figured out time travel a bit too quickly. It was overly convenient, but considering the movie is 3 hours long, it's hard to build up that up and pay it off well, when you have so much more plot to get to.
This movie really rewards you for watching all of the previous movies, and even makes one of the worst movies of the MCU, Thor: The Dark World, a prominent part of the movie, which I appreciate, because that could easily be left behind in the dust, but decided to include it and make it "belong to the family," so to speak. There are many pay-offs that have been teased and make you wonder, "How on earth did they remember that, and pay off that tiny little thing from 10 years ago?!?" However, this could never work as a standalone movie, as my father-in-law experienced watching the movie with my wife and I. He had never seen a Marvel movie before and jumped right into this one, and at the end said that he didn't like it.
Avengers: Endgame wraps up the Infinity Saga nicely, while leaving some threads untied to continue the story for years to come.