A real dissapointment

Rating: 6/10 (28 April 2019)

What a disappointing ending after a decade of films!
I went into the film desperate to like it, and while it had a few twists and funny moments I was under impressed.
The film starts on a ominous note, Captain Marvel flying through space to rescue Tony on his ship. Despite the ship being out of power, the food and air reserves used up, and being several lightyears from Earth, Captain Marvel 'carries' the ship back to Earth where Tony is alive and healed.
So after Thanos has destroyed half the universes population he travels to 'The Garden' where the Avengers, or what remains of them, go to find him living in a shack; he was surprisingly easily defeated despite being so strong (even without the stones)
After they discover he's destroyed the stones and Thor murders him, they go about thier lives.
Five years later it's interesting to see how they're doing; it's funny that Tony has escaped to the country and raised a family with Pepper (which he jokingly said he would do during Age of Ultron after seeing Clint's house)
I did like what Clint had become, a bit dark but really cool, I still says he's my favourite and deserves his own film.
I hate what happened to Thor, although it is understandable. Its interesting to see they made a New Asgard (but how did Meek, Valkyrie and Corg survive Thanos at the start of Infinity Wars?)
I thought it was clever how they brought Ant-Man back, using the rat in the car impound after it was seemingly abandoned.
Now here's where it really fell apart for me. Inspired by Ant-Mans story of the quantum realm, Tony and Bruce turn the quantum drive van into a time machine to test thier time travelling theory, and once its working they then suddenly gain a working time travel portal inside the Avengers headquarters?
But rather than going back to stop Thanos from using the stones they decide to split up to steal the stones from the past.
Maybe they're right not to go back to stop him destroying half the universe because that would mean joining forces with thier previous selves during the battle in Wakanda, but what about intervening during the days between that event and Thanos destroying the stones?
It is clever if they had to re-enact scene from previous films to fit with the story, but I felt this was only done to highlight that the stones have played a role in most of the previous film, which everyone knows anyway!?
And going to events in the past let characters interact with people in the past that are gone; Thor spoke to his mother, Tony spoke to his father, Steve saw Peggy and many former Shield/Hydra agents then got to impersonate and fight himself, Banner got to speak to 'The Ancient One'.
To sum up
Thor and Rocket went for the Reality stone/Aether during the events of Thor, the Dark World.
Ant-Man, Steve and Tony went for the Mind and Space stones during the events of Avengers Assemble.
And when thier attempt for the Space stone failed Steve and Tony went to the army base where Steve was first trained in Captain America the First Avenger (although I think this will set some time after the film)
Banner went for the Time stone, tagging along with Ant-Man, Steve and Tony during the events of Avengers Assemble.
Clint and Natasha went for the Soul stone, technically this wasn't in any film until Thanos went to Vormir in Infinity Wars.
It seemed rather presumptive here that Clint and Natasha both thought they were what the other loved most - Red Skull said that only sacrificing what you loved most would give the Soul stone, I knew they were friends but they were what each other love most? Natasha won the race to kill herself and Clint got the stone, presumably this is because he's already lost his family (everything he loved) but it is still very presumptive of Natasha.
If Cint had died what would happen? Last I heard Natasha loved Banner who is alive (more or less)
(I would have liked to see Steve go for the Soul stone to encounter Red Skull)
Rhody and Nebula went for the Power stone during the events of Guardians of the Galaxy.
I thought it was a very weak story how Thanos was able to see the future Nebula through the past Nebula, I realise she is the same person but how can they be that connected. As Rhody returns to his time they disable and capture Nebula.
It was clever that the past Nebula took her time travel gear to impersonate her future self.
With all six stones together Banner uses thier own gauntlet (how did they get that? The last one had to be made by the Dwarfs on Nidavellir?) and everyone who is destroyed by the stone comes back - except Gamora and Natasha (as they were sacrificed to the Soul stone to aquire it I had thought they'd come back too?)
When the past Thanos was then brought to the future by the past Nebula it began as a good fight scene - I thought giving Thor his new hammer/axe Stormbreaker stifled him in Infinity Wars, but now they had stolen Mjolnir from the past and he had both!
Then even more incredulously Steve was able to wield Mjolnir (he was 'unworthy' of Mjolnir during Age of Ultron. Since then he has become a rogue agent and is considered a criminal yet this made his worthy? Now there's a bad message to send out)
Steve even uses Mjolnir to summon lightning, I thought that was Thors power? Mjolnir is just a tool to focus that power!! Odin said so!!
As before however thier combined efforts are no match for Thanos and he summons his army to destroy them. Then comes the cheesy heroic moment as a portal opens and Black Panther walks out from Wakanda, with Sam flying past and all those who were 'destroyed' there.
From another portal Dr Strange then emerges from Titan with the others who were destroyed there.
Suddenly hundreds more portals open as the Wakandan army emerges, and an army of sorcerers lead by Wong, and an army of Asgardians lead by Corg and Meek (followed by Valkyrie riding a Pagasus)
To complete the medley Ant-Man suddenly breaks through the wreckage as a giant to bring Banner, Rocket and Rhody to the fight (by his own admission Ant-Man cannot sustain that size for long, and has to rest afterwards so how does he stay like that?)
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see a Ravenger army lead by Stallone!!
The huge battle then commences with Clint, and Spider-Man trying to get the Gauntlet with the stones away. I would have liked to see Wasp do more in the fight.
As Thanos orders his ship to fire down on the battleground, hitting his own men and the Avengers, Captain Marvel arrives and destroys the ship by crashing through it several times.
I am relieved that this is her first appearance in a while as she says she's been off world as every other planet is also dealing with thier loss after Thaos destroyed everything.
As I said in my review of Captain Marvel film, she's almost boring to watch as she has no weaknesses and would make the others seem redundant.
As Thanos manages to get the gauntlet with the stones the Avengers attack him with the same outcome as before.
In what I thought would be Thanos' downfall he was surprising able to fight off Captain Marvel (so she DOES have a weakness) then Tony switches out the gauntlet with the stones with Thanos' old broken gauntlet.
Clicking his own fingers Tony uses the stones to destroy Thanos and his army, except that it kills him too.
After Tony's funeral and everyone has gone back to their normal lives (Thor meanwhile leaves with the Guardians of the Galaxy and makes Valkrie the Queen of New Asgard), Banner tasks Steve with returning the stone to thier place in history where they got them (because 'The Ancient One' said there would be consequences if he didn't)
Something that later occurred to me, the Space and Mind Stones (when they took them in the past) were inside Loki's staff and in the Tesseract which both had to be broken to obtain the Stones. So how did Steve return them?
After returning the Stones Steve doesn't come back, instead an old man sitting on a bench nearby (who must have been there all the time?) reveals he is Steve and that he stayed in the past to live out his life as if he had not been frozen.
He then gives the Captain America shield to Sam and it cuts to a scene of him in the past with Peggy.
Not the ending expected, and bit overly complicated. But as Tony, Steve and Natasha are gone will there be a new team in the future? And will Thor and Banner return?