Malthusian nightmare?

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2019)

Although we never get to see the more practical aspects of a rapture-like disappearance of half of all living creatures from the universe, we do get to see some obvious indicators that something is no longer right, existentially. For example, people have let their lawns go to weeds, no one figured out how to play baseball with half the teams, and everyone is afraid of dating, presumably out of fear that Thanos might snap his finger again to further reduce the dating pool, with a a 50-50 shot of either you or your lover disappearing into wispy-black confetti, like Rip Taylor on a cold and rainy afternoon in January.
It all begs a few questions, such as why was it not viewed as a positive thing, a Malthusian reprieve from overpopulation and a break from resource competition? Could it not have been the requisite spark for labor to unionize and rebuild a strong middle class, something like what happened in Europe after the Black Death? Seriously, couldn't half the Mets and half the Yankees form one good team to play a team comprised of half the Royals and half the Cardinals? Who is running the nuclear power plants? Why does everyone drive Audis? The Fortnite servers are still up? Why was the 50-50 shot so cruelly applied to Hawkeye? Why not grab the Time Stone first? Were the first 21 movies necessary? Oh, and good thing we still have rats running around storage units, am I right?
Thor, channeling his inner Moondog, has let himself go to weeds, sad and drunk and fat, playing video games all day with couch buddies. Friends are still important, and the hallmark of real friendship can be hidden in a hard-shell taco.
End Game comes with some satisfying cameo reprises, a handful of genuine laughs related to butts and pee, some nice and tender moments, and ultimately a time heist which has to go awry somehow, someway, to justify three hours of cinematic universe.
I keep wondering to myself, why, why does Thanos want to . . . whatever. At least the final moments are filmed brightly enough to understand what is going on, and all the heroes get to play rugby with a magical gauntlet. Or maybe it was Australian Rules Football?