A potential lost

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2019)

This is coming from a huge MCU fan who is writing a review for the first time for the most looked-forward-to movie. Up until Infinity war, marvel had a pretty good formula of intricate story telling and layered characters development. Infinity war was fresh, exciting and an overwhelming experience.
After an year of theorizing how the studio could top infinity war, I am disappointed with the direction they ultimately took. With the preceding 22 movies, especially doctor strange and antman & the wasp in the mix, there was so much potential to create epic and unique story e.g, use of mirror dimension or time stone or use of quantum realm to bring back the original time stones that Thanos had reduced to sub atomic level. Time travel felt like the most convenient yet least favorable plot for a 22 movies saga. Perhaps, marvel had written themselves in the corner with infinity war and didn't know how to top it so they went with fan service which ruined a lot of good things from past as well such, as the character growth for original 6.
Tony Stark's arc was rounded up nicely but giving him a retirement wouldn't have been bad either. Natasha was treated very badly but I like to think that her story doesn't end here and black widow movie would bring her back from the soul world (fingers crossed). With Cap, I don't even understand what was the point of TWS, CW and his character growth in A2 A3 & for that sake, Agent Carter TV show if this was the destination they had intended to arrive at. Going back would have been great after TFA but that wasn't the story that was built up following TFA. His arc was always about finding closure, moving on and accepting his new world whole-heartedly (& the camp leigh window staring scene would have been perfect to say his good byes and find peace). Those were his traits that resonated with his fans who are now as confused as drunk Thor. Thor and Wanda were two people who had suffered the most loss in this franchise but no real empathy was shown to them. However, they still have some screen time left so we can forgive MCU for that. Hulk's transformation was hinted at since A1, it would have been nice to actually see him going through it mentally and emotionally.
The 5 year time jump felt very bland. Stark's stubborness to compromise the entire multiverse but not those 5 years wasn't shunned at all by anyone. Thanos was wrong on all levels. Steve never interacted with Dr Strange or Quill-a missed opportunity. Sharon Carter's entire existence was wiped off. At the end, I feel like a 3 hours long movie should have given closure to the stories and characters that were continuing from IW, instead of giving nods to past movies (although the elevator scene & worthy of wielding mjonir were two of the favorite scenes because they were done in good taste) if it wanted to give a proper send off to the actors who had ventured on this 10 years journey. I am at the bargaining stage of grief and would rather have a movie showing the universe split into two after Thanos snap with us saying goodbye to our original team up in one and the future of MCU continuing with a new roster in the second half; rather than having someone stubborn die a heroic death; someone's heroic sacrifice not even deemed worthy of a funeral; someone erasing a decade long journey & leaving behind people with shared life experience to be with an idealized yet untested romance from a previous era & abandoning his entire character behind.
IW remains as the superior movie.