An enjoyable end to the Infinity saga, but not as good as Infinity Wars

Rating: 9/10 (9 May 2019)

I loved Infinity Wars, it being a totally awesome comic book film that did a great job of having dream team ups and great action and fights. Thanos was an awesome villain that looked unstoppable at times and seeing him snap and reduce half the population to ash was epic. One thing I have to say about this film is that I have never enjoyed a film so much while at the same time being disappointed with it. Was it epic? Yes, but it did not feel as epic as Infinity Wars. Did the main cast do a good job? Yes, but I felt the direction the story went was not all that good. It just seemed very off to me personally. I was not expecting them to rush off to where Thanos was and kill him with ease and then get the five years later line. I just did not care for that at all. They made too much time pass in between the snap and the reformation of the team and a new plan. There are other things that bothered me, but I did enjoy the action and the humor and other aspects of this film...it just was not as good as Infinity War.
The story starts out showing us that Hawkeye lost his entire family to the snap which seems a bit against the odds as it were. Then we shift to Tony Stark in space afloat and seemingly near death with Nebula when Captain Marvel comes to the rescue and the gang manage to track Thanos down and kill him after learning he disposed of the stones. Five years later, Ant-man resurfaces from the Quantum realm and somehow manages to come up with a going back in time plot that seems out of his area of expertise. Well, soon the Avengers are back together and planning to get the infinity stones so they can snap everyone back into existence; unfortunately, the Thanos of the past comes to learn of this plan and makes a plan of his own to get the stones the heroes collect.
The film was good, but it had problems, as I felt the film was just jamming characters in the film to make as many characters appear as possible. In Infinity Wars it felt more seamless and natural how things fell, this one it felt forced. We have not even seen Pepper in Rescue before in the films, but she shows up here. I was on the fence about Captain Marvel before, when I saw her in her own film, but now I am more sure...I don't care for her. I do not get the goofy ass smile she has like she is superior to everyone else. In the comics the likes of Thor, Hulk would annihilate her in a one on one battle, yet it looks to me like they are setting her up to be the number one Marvel hero going forward and it sucks as she is not that huge of a player in the comic world. The whole females teaming together to get her through the enemies was stupid too, mainly because if she just flies the opposite way, there are no enemies and she could have easily gotten the infinity gauntlet out of there! They went with the total wimp Hulk in this one too, kept expecting him to redeem himself against Thanos after the butt kicking he got, but nope, he was a non factor in the final battle. In the comic Hulk is stronger than Thanos physically to the point Thanos has said he would not go toe to toe with the Hulk as it would be an unwinnable endeavor. The good news the main Avengers save the film and make you enjoy it more than you would if it had Captain Marvel leading the charge. The originals keep you watching despite the flaws in certain areas of the film.
So, I enjoyed this one a lot, and I do like it better than Age of Ultron; however, it is not as good as the first film or Infinity Wars. The original cast is good and keeps you watching even though you know that some of them are not going to make it through the film. Unfortunately, if the future is Brie Larson as Captain Marvel then phase four of the Marvel plan is not looking so bright in my eyes. Not sure if it is too late to recast her or not, but she has no charisma. I will still watch sequels such as Spider-man, Guardians, Black Panther and Dr. Strange, but some of the movies they have planned for the future have me scratching my head. I always thought the Marvel Universe had more heroes than that of DC, but they seem to really be running out and relegating several big name heroes to series rather than big screen. Still, this one ends the infinity saga and not sure what they could ever do to top it and the infinity gauntlet anyways.