Good movie but Russo brothers made a stupid mistake that has spoilt the ending.

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2019)

What I have to admit and praise is the fact that this movie is really unpredictable.
Everyone was thinking that the whole 3-hour-long plot will be focused on killing Thanos. And after 30 minutes you have him decapitated and you're thinking "So
now what?".
That was the 1st Act's master move. You could empathize with the heroes who had their revenge and still nothing has changed. You could feel the void they feel. And you kept wondering what they are going to do now.
So the 1st act was about grief and void.
In the 2nd Act they start working with the time-machine. This part is very entertaining and nice. Although at first I felt it might be a little bit too complicated I think it's a very nice move to wrap up the whole story. You could see how the heroes has changed since then and feel some nostalgia.
So the 2nd act is about memories, wrapping up the story and fun.
And then comes the 3rd act - the final battle with Thanos and his army. And here's where Russo brothers made a stupid mistake. And as a consequence lost all the tension.
What's the mistake about?
In superheroes movies one of the most important thing is the characters' power level. You know that Black Widow is strong, Captain America is stronger, Hulk is even stronger and Thanos is even stronger than all of them combined. You have the hierarchy.
It's very important since watching a fight between Black Widow and Thanos wouldn't give any suspense at all. You know their power levels, you know that Thanos is much stronger so you know the outcome of their fight. It's predictable.
There are options to improve someone's power level. Iron Man gets better suits, Captain Marvel gets rid of the device that controls her, Thor gets a new axe and so on.
What's exciting about Superhero movies is the fact that their Villains also gets stronger. In the 1st part they fought Loki. In the 2nd they fought Ultron. In the 3rd they fought Infinity-Gauntlet Thanos. And in the 4th...
They fight Thanos and his army. More or less the same fight that they had in Wakanda. But there's one important difference. Thanos doesn't have the Infinity Gauntlet. So Endgame Thanos is much weaker than Infinity War Thanos. How much weaker? Maybe 2 maybe 5 maybe 10 times.
Why it's that important?
At the end of the Infinity War Thor arrives to Wakanda with Stormbreaker. He almost single-handedly destroys the whole Thanos' army, ships included. Then he wins with Infinity Gauntlet Thanos. Which means Infinity War's Thor is the most powerful creature in the Universe.
He 'should've gone for the head' and he lets Thanos snap his fingers but the point has been made.
Stormbreaker Thor > Infinity Gauntlet Thanos
So the Russo brothers went for making Thor weaker which was funny move. And it could be okay if they took into account that Endgame Thanos doesn't have the Gauntlet.
So let's come back to the Endgame last fight.
On the superheroes side:
You have out-of-shape but still Mjolnir-worthy Thor.
You have Captain Marvel.
You have Scarlett Witch.
You have Captain America with Mjolnir.
You have Dr Strange.
And you have handful of other superheroes. And Wakanda's army.
On the Villain's side:
You have Thanos without Infinity Gauntlet (like 2-5-10 times weaker than the one with a Gauntlet).
You have his disciples.
You have his army.
It doesn't make sense on a Power Level dimension.
As Thor has already defeated all the Villain's side with much stronger Thanos now it's obvious that they're going to win. Maybe he's out of shape and he lost like 50% of his power. But still he's stronger than the whole Villain's side combined.
And he has Captain Marvel, Scarlett Witch, Captain America, Dr Stranger and all the other guys to help.
So it's like watching Thanos vs. Black Widow. No tension at all.
And that's why the last Act has been spoilt by a stupid mistake. Sorry to see that as I really wanted the most epic battle of the 22-movie series. What I had was a very predictable fight that has been somehow saved by an unpredictable ending with Tony Stark dying.
What alternatives could we have?
Just top of mind:
1) Thanos gets the Gauntlet but doesn't snap his fingers. Due to the pride he decides to face the Avengers using the Infinity Stones like a badass.
It would be a really entertaining fight with Thanos changing time, moving to portals, using power stone etc. Killing some of the heroes would also add more emotions to that.
And we can really see what the whole series was about - the Stones. Stones which makes you superior to any superhero.
Especially if we take into account the fact that Thanos is supersmart. He may not win with the Stormbreaker Thor but he can definitely outsmart him and the other Avengers in a fight.
Apart from the one Avenger. Tony Stark. So the whole ending would be a 'who is smarter' battle between him and Tony Stark. And then Stark somehow gets the Gauntlet and snaps the fingers.
2) Thanos gets the Gauntlet and gives the Avengers the tough choice.
He throws a big rock on New York City (to wrap the story up). And now the Avengers have to decide - do we fight with Thanos or do we help innocent people survive?
So they are about to go help the New Yorkers but Dr Strange stops them. He says "You can't go. We have only one chance. And we have to do it together. Whatever it takes.".
How much better it would be? A lot. Even better than the Infinity War which I consider the best action-movie ever made.