Infinity War was too good for a sequel

Rating: Null/10 (26 April 2019)

Serious spoilers ahead - I'll try to limit them but only read this if you've already seen the film.
Overall, I enjoyed Endgame, but I was left disappointed with a few things...
For me, Infinity War is one of the best superhero movies ever made. Possibly only second place to the The Dark Knight. I can watch it over and over again and love everything about it - the storyline, the humour, the music, the quality of the special effects, the commitment of the acting and the superb allocation of screen time to each character as and when they deserve it (no more, no less) plus what is at stake is clear. The action is brilliant and the climax is stunning.
Infinity War is a hard act to follow and so, whilst looking forward to Endgame, I was also nervous, particularly with the introduction of Captain Marvel into the MCU who appeared to be more invincible than Superman on an all-spinach diet. It seemed as though she could sort things out all on her own. Thankfully, the first act of Endgame addressed and allayed all of those fears. The obvious solution was enacted and Thanos proved himself to be the deserved victor.
Cut to five years later and everyone is dealing with the repercussions of Thanos's genocide.
I was happy to see that Ant-Man had an central purpose for being part of the story, otherwise there's a danger of his presence being for decoration only. That said, I'm always very nervous when time-travel is part of any storyline. There are few films outside of the original Back To The Future that are able to pull it off flawlessly. Dialogue gets wordy as characters have to explain the rules and, whilst you're following a "new" storyline, you're revisiting old ground and waiting the real story to get under way. Once again, the story only really gets some momentum when Thanos and co. are introduced into the mix. Unfortunately, this time round, there wasn't enough of them.
One thing I love about the MCU is that they push things further each time and generally don't repeat themselves. Every time you see Thor or Iron Man, for example, there is something new about them. Endgame uses a lot of humour as part of this, however, humour as a disguise for lack of story progression can only go so far and, whilst Ragnarok did it very well, Endgame started to push its luck.
It is a very long film and doesn't need to be so. It felt as though it was a studio requirement to get as many of the actors from all the other films into Endgame and then put them on screen for a long enough time to warrant their fee. The Michael Douglas scene was fine, but scenes with Thor's mum and Tony's dad felt dragged out.
There are some tearjerker moments in this film that are dealt with very well in the moment - you realise that you'll never see some of these characters again. However, when you overplay that with talking scenes, things drift into sentimentality that just add needless minutes, in particular the scenes with Happy and the kid, Barton and Wanda and the final scene between Captain America and Falcon, which brought back memories of the final scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Thanos is one of the greatest villains in film history. Josh Brolin's performance and the flawless work of the CGI department are second-to-none and Thanos's original mission-a 50% thinning of the herd-is not wholly without its logic (neither film, by the way, addresses an alternative solution to the problem of overpopulation. The most you get from the side of the Avengers is Gamora shouting, "You don't know that!" at Thanos. But how *will* The Avengers solve the issue when the time comes and there's not enough food or territory left?).
As a side-note, one thing about the entire MCU saga that should be address but almost has to be overlooked is the inconsistencies of strength and power. For example, the six infinity stones can turn Drax into dismantled building blocks and kill trillions of people, but can't stop a magic axe. In the next film, the axe can be stopped by Thanos's metal sword. Really?
The final big fight was ludicrously glorious in scale. The return of several characters was truly joyous.
However, my main disappointment with Endgame comes down to one thing: not enough Hulk. The introduction of The Professor was a nice progression of the character as well as being an amusing choice but beyond that, we hardly saw anything that warranted him being in the film. Speaking as a Hulk fan, I want to see Hulk being Hulk - effective whilst smashing things with rage. As there was almost nothing of him in Infinity War, I was hoping that was because the filmmakers were holding back in order for us to see him really kick off as Red Hulk in Endgame, but we saw more of Ant Man in the final fight than we saw of Hulk. A real missed opportunity there.
Ultimately, I found it an enjoyable film with lots of unnecessary fat to trim. The time travel plot worked to an extent and the universe was brought back into balance neatly whilst staying true to the rules it laid in place and wiping the slate for a new Avengers team.
My criticisms stand alongside an understanding of how challenging it must be to put together a film on this scale, with this number of characters, to please such a passionate audience, and after one of the most impressive superhero films ever made. But my disappointment comes from the fact that these things *could* have been addressed.