"Six stones, three teams, one shot!"

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2019)

Given the hype and the huge buildup to the opening of this movie, I wouldn't have expected any less of a reaction than what I find on these review boards. And to be fair, the film does encompass and bring to a finale a massive story line with a virtually complete cast of characters that form the Marvel Comics Universe. However a little bit of objectivity is in order, and the movie's current standing after three days of release (as I write this) is just a bit hard to fathom. At number five on IMDb's list of Top Rated Movies, I can only shake my head. Think of your absolutely favorite movie of all time, (unless this one is it), and "Avengers: Endgame" has just surpassed it. This is a pet peeve of mine and I've written about it before in my reviews, so I don't want to get carried away here. Suffice it to say that for me, any brand new release to achieve such a ranking isn't really a reflection to how good it is, but a response by the majority of fans who come to these pages to give it a top rating.
So rather than being a complete killjoy, I thought the movie was good for what it was, but it took quite a stretch to bring back the characters who went missing following Infinity War. The plot utilizes the time worn (no pun intended), time travel gimmick to hurl the principal heroes back to three (or four) different pasts in order to undo the havoc created by Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his destructive use of the Infinity Stones. For once, one of the characters, can't remember who it was, stated that going into the past is really creating a new future, so that the present reality eventually becomes the past. I liked that because if you think it through, that's exactly correct. But in so doing, a whole lot gets muddled as the story progresses, and the idea that Thanos 'used the stones to destroy the stones' makes everything that follows feel like the writers making it up as they went along. Which of course, is what they did, but you know what I mean.
There are a lot of huh? moments in the picture - fat Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is one - why? Thor cutting off Thanos's head another - too easy, why not any time prior? Stuff like that demeans credibility and took me out of the picture for a moment. Captain America (Chris Evans) battling himself? Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) circular reasoning - "If I tell you what happens, it won't happen". Enough stuff like this makes it all a bit muddled to follow, especially when things reach a fever pitch and the last hour descends into a gigantic free for all.
But there were interesting elements in the picture. I liked what the writers did with the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), even if he didn't go into 'Smash' mode much. The fully functioning time/space GPS conjured up by Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) was kind of nifty, Elon Musk will probably start working on that any day now. I take with a few grains of salt that Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) died at the end, because, you know, no one dies in the comic book world and lives to tell about it. See, I could be a film writer too. Best of all, I'm glad the film makers got a chance to insert Stan Lee into that 1970 time line scene, because he's my favorite Marvel character, and even though he's not around any more, he'll live on as a result of all his story writing and Marvel movie appearances.
In summation, by all means, see the movie, but keep things in perspective. I may see things differently after watching it a second or third time, but right now, my initial reaction is tempered with some reservation. It didn't help that there was no after credits scene, but I guess that was the point. What comes next is anybody's guess.