Anticlimactic

Rating: 8/10 (27 May 2019)

Now, don't get all surprised. I did not hate the movie, quite the opposite in fact. I dug the opening scene (or prologue, or whatever), I enjoyed the pacing (at least, for the most part), and the third act was, there I say, on point.
PROS:
The direction - I must say that almost every scene in this film is shot beautifully.
The acting - I honestly cannot recall one poorly acted moment from any of the actors, and that's all I have to say.
The opening scene - As mentioned early, I dug it and thought that it was quite thrilling; one minute, you're having a picnic or something with your family, and the next, each and every one of them vanishes into thin air.
Each and every scene with Nebula - From the scene between her and Tony Start, to her trying to reason with Gamora, Thanos, and herself, literally.
Scott Lang (aka Antman) - Now, let's be honest, the actual plot of the movie would not have begun if it weren't for him. I mean, I'm not saying that he was a plot device (unlike somebody in the movie), he did have a character arc; which is more than I can say for his role in Civil War. Anyway, as soon as Antman appeared onscreen, I kept wondering, 'How long was he in that machine? Why was he in it to begin with? Did I miss something?' (I've not seen Antman and the Wasp, for those of you who don't know) But surely enough, one of those questions was eventually answered. But the point is, I liked how the character was as (if not, more than) confused as I was. I mean, he pretty much stumbled upon the aftermath of an apocalypse.
The climax - All I can really say is 'Holy crap!' It had almost every MCU character that I wanted to see come back. And, for the most part, it did: Spider-Man, Scarlett Witch, Starlord, Black Panther, the list goes on. And when Captain America finally yelled "Avengers assemble!", I was like 'hell yes!'; though, I do wish that there'd been in the theater I was sitting in, because it was mostly just silence.
And last, but certainly not least, Tony Stark's funeral - First off, I did not expect the movie to go that direction; I mean, him dying just moments after snapping Thanos and his army into dust, it had me quite surprised. And the way his funeral was handled left me severely touched. After all, he had a daughter in the movie, and the very last line she had left theater I was in chuckling; yeah, it was obviously a nod to the first Iron Man movie.
CONS:
The writing - I have no idea what the hell happened. Yes, the main plot of the film involves time-travel, which I honestly was expecting before going into this. And I will agree that the movie itself is now flooded with plot-holes, but I can only count two of them. The first one being with Nebula and her past self. I don't recall why, she ends ends up shooting her past self, and I'm positive that it actually kills past self. But, for whatever reason, future Nebula still remains; suspension of disbelief I guess.
Captain Marvel - a lot of people complained that she was barely in the movie, while others flat-out praised that fact. I, on the other hand, was pretty underwhelmed by her lack of screen-time. Maybe it was because Larson was busy filming her solo movie at the time, which is an unknown fact by the way. So yeah, she was nothing more than a plot-device; another gripe I had was that her was cut shorter, the more the movie when on, but that's just me.
Black Widow's sacrifice - To start off, when the team are traveling back in time, Natasha and Hawkeye go over to a familiar place. It is of course the same place Thanos and Gamora went to in the previous film, where he ... you know. Now, I'm not entirely sure how the whole thing went down (I mean, I had to use the restroom at least three times during the movie), but what I remember is Black Widow and Hawkeye end up fighting (for the second time in this franchise), and it ends with them hanging onto a cliff, moments before Natasha decides to let go and falls right to her (supposed) death. So yeah, as soon as the team make it back, Hawkeye informs them that Natasha did not make it, but they react by sadly saying 'Oh well.' Yeah, that's obviously not what either of them said, but that's the best description I have for that scene. I mean, not only do they brush it off likes it's nothing later on, the whole movie does that as well, they all mourn her death for just a few seconds; that being said, Tony Start died in a much better fashion than she did.
Thor and Hulk - Oh, dear god. For those of you who don't know, I don't like Thor Ragnarok, I thought it was needlessly comical at best, I didn't like that the supporting characters in the previous Thor films were killed off, and I thought that the new ones introduced were mostly annoying. That being said, I thought the makers of this franchise have already gotten their heads out of their asses, and redeemed Thor as the badass we all know and love, like he was in the previous film. Sadly though, we did not, as they makers of this screwed his character up big time. They gave him his long blond hair back, which I actually appreciated, but they also gave him a pot-belly; yes, a pot belly. The worst part for me was that they even brought back Valkyire and Korg. Many people have also complained the portrayal of Hulk in this, but I honestly could care less; I've never liked Mark Ruffalo in the role to begin with. So yeah, Thor was just comic relief for the majority of the film.
Another huge gripe I had was not having Sif in the movie - I mean, come on, she was one of the best parts of the first two Thor movies. And now, what the hell? Since Thor: The Dark World, she's just gone, without a single trace. But that's okay, she was replaced with Valkyrie; I'm sorry, I really don't like that character.
Yet another gripe that I had was the the movie didn't include that one song by 30 Seconds to Mars called "This is war". I'm just saying that it was a huge missed opportunity.
And last but certainly not least, the ending - Now, I've read comments from people across the internet saying that they actually like (if not, love) the film's ending. I on the other hand cannot see how; and yes, it is the second (if not, biggest plot-hole) that I can count. The last scene of the film is Hulk sending Captain America back in time again. And I assumed that it was to save Black Widow, but no. Apparently it was so he could reunite with Peggy Carter, his love interest from the first Captain America movie. I mean, the scene shows him as an elder sitting alone at a bench, and then giving his shield to Falcon; not Bucky, Falcon. And the very last shot is him and Peggy slowly dancing together. Where do I begin? There was a scene of him staring at Peggy through a glass window, but, honestly, that could've been cut from the film entirely. Or they could have kept that scene, and instead have him give the shield her as a memory of him; yeah, doesn't make a lick of sense, but it certainly makes more sense than what the writers went with. Also, the fact that Steve reunited with her in whatever year he went back to, he would not have ever become an avenger. I mean, did he really keep the shield for that long? And the fact that he stayed in that time period, how did they avengers win the battle, or the passed battles that they fought in? Do you expect us to believe that the alternate timelines still exist and Captain America in said time periods is still present in them? Lastly, why reunite with Peggy? Steve was much closer to Natasha than he's ever been with anyone; seriously, the more you think about all of it, the less sense it starts to make.
Another thing that I've been hearing was that Brie Larson/Captain Marvel has been getting blamed for some (if not, most) of this movie's flaws, which is quite unfair if you ask me. And I'd hate to say this, because I know that it's going to piss a lot of MCU fans off, but Captain Marvel (which I actually liked) had much better payoff than this film did.