Messy, Somewhat Satisfying Conclusion

Rating: 4/10 (28 May 2019)

After Infinity War, I must say that this movie comes as a fair bit of a disappointment. There's a fair amount to like, but a lot to hate as well. The completion of Iron Man's story, the return of Hawkeye and Ant-Man, and the increased time given Nebula are all huge bonuses. However, much of the film is muddled, dense, and borderline inane.
As a huge Doctor Who fan, I'm used to the potential of paradoxes and contradictions presented by time-travel. However, after taking a dump on a huge selection of time-travel movies, including Back to the Future, we are then presented with the messiest time-travel mechanics I have ever seen. They say that whenever they go back in time, they create a new reality. Well, what about the old one? Is that one intact, or does it get destroyed? It all seems like a lazy cop-out so they can justify completely destroying the continuity of The Avengers (2012). Thor: The Dark World, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Also, having 2014 Nebula die simply doesn't make a lick of sense. Even more uninspired and convoluted is bringing the 2014 variant of Thanos and his children to the future, only for them to die in the future. This makes no sense, regardless of the "new-reality" disclaimer they gave earlier in the movie. Additionally, when we finally get to see all the dead characters return, so much of the film was over that it felt tacked on rather than purposeful.
Also, what on Earth is wrong with the Hulk? Why is Thor a hopeless, overweight drunk? Valkyrie was the one with drinking problems, last time I checked. What was the point of Captain Marvel? She did hardly anything, after all. Why is Cap swearing so much, and why do we have to watch his tedious little support group? Why did they completely avoid using Okoye for almost the entire movie? Why does everyone hate Star Lord suddenly? How did all those female Avengers manage to arrive in the same place at the same time without getting intercepted by Thanos' forces? And why does the random rat in the junkyard save the day?
All in all, this could have been a worse film than it was, but it still was far from perfect. It really felt like the end of an era, and it made the idea of the universe continuing after such a major finale rather unappealing. It feels kinda arrogant, slimy, and out-of-touch, no doubt the result of so many box office successes finally going to Disney's head. Only time will tell if they can maintain the same level of quality and interest in the future, but I seriously doubt they will.