Solid movie - if a little rushed

Rating: 8/10 (5 May 2019)

Avengers: Endgame is a messy, epic, convoluted film which endeavours to tie all of the loose plot threads of the past decade's worth of stories in the Marvel Universe together in order to form a cohesive movie...
It's an undeniably ambitious undertaking & the Russo Brothers handle the challenge impressively to say the least - considering how much content / previous moments they manage to sift through & reference in order for it to work. In addition, visually it's a spectacle but you're relentlessly concussed by overwhelming abundances of fan service to the point where it borders on unapologetic fan-fiction.
On the plus side, Thanos pleasingly continues to be a great villain & the final confrontation is extraordinary but unfortunately, even with a 3 hour run time, events progress at such a rapid pace, it's difficult to emotionally invest yourself in scenes which are rushing along to the next so quickly, you hardly have time to process events as they occur. Definite issues regarding that aspect of Endgame's progression.
On the other hand, this is clearly an installment which blatantly aims to bring some stories to a close whilst sparking the beginning of others, taking Marvel in a completely different direction; with that in mind, it's a success... If a little hollow & underdeveloped.
That's not to say it's bad - I enjoyed it - but did it meet or exceed my expectations? No. I hoped for better & more substance than style - the stripped back, smaller scale, increasingly character focused, more reflective sequel we were led to believe this movie was from the trailers. Not a fan of overly cheesy endings either & this unfortunately had enough cheese to top a pizza, not to mention a frustratingly convenient happy ending which felt forced & unnatural.