Not epic enough [edit: epic enough]

Rating: 10/10 (26 May 2019)

Congratulations MCU on creating this 21-film cinematic feat. Was I expecting a better finish? Yes. Did I see the same movie as everyone else - it appears not.
[edit: I've rewatched the movie a month later and found it more satisfying. This was the version with the post credits stuff to get us back in to push the box office into record territory. It's exactly the same movie, mind you. The character arcs are just great and the actors up to the task. My 3 key problems with the fillem are 1; The camera work for the special effects sequences are thoroughly inventive BUT the camera work for the post-trauma character studies is not inventive at all. Those scenes relied on the multi-movie character arc and sentiment more than camera direction and cinematography. Still worked for the lass behind us who was sobbing for the last third of the moofie. 2; the story is great until the time travel gobbledygook when I felt the emotive aspect lost momentum. 3; it's still hard to care as much about MCU characters as much as, say, the original Star Wars characters because in the MCU you know there's another injection of super hero greatness only months away. In the original Star Wars moofies it was years before you saw any characters again so the emotional impact was more profound. OK, so these points are all probably shrewd directorial choices and generational differences. Impressive, ambitious fillem overall] I found this move a bit of a snoozefest. The problem is, by another other movie's standards this was quite a good film. It tried for different tones and a different pace. I think a part of the problem is these movies that they shoot back-to-back. They really need a break in between films to look at the first part, ie, Infinity Wart, and see what they set up in that film. They then need to sit down and answer all of the key points that were raised in that film AND in all the previous MCU fillems. That would require a multi-layered script and a production that really turns up the ante. To me it seemed like the series really ended with Infinity Wart and this Endgame was like, the ultimate post-credits sequence. The final battle was awesome but non-sensical. Who IS the most powerful superdude/ette and why can't she (MarVel) beat Thanos? That stuff frustrates me. I mean, I was ready for the Scarlett Witch to tear him a new one but even that hope fizzled.
I'll re-watch it on blu ray but I'm glad everyone else liked it. I'll always have my Return of the Jedi and Return of the King.