Better than the other two avengers movies, but not by much

Rating: 4/10 (15 May 2018)

I'm a huge fan of the MCU, and the past few movies have been incredible. The build up to this movie was unprecedented, but I didn't think it lived up to the hype. There were a few funny moments, and the characters had equal and balanced amounts of screen time. However, that's where any positive comments I could make about this movie end. Every plot line that had been built in the last phase of movies was destroyed in the first 20 minutes of the movie. Some of the romantic subplots seemed to come out of nowhere or at the very least lacked significant, on-screen build up. One of the worst things about the movie was how easy it was for Thanos to find the infinity stones. It was so easy to collect them, anyone could have done it. Thanos could have done it ages ago. Why wait for something that was so simply accomplished? From what the movie shows us, he finds them in a matter of days, with only one stone posing any real challenge to find. Thanos also lacks real motivation as a character. He doesn't desire any acknowledgment, any material possession, or any power for wiping out half the universe. It felt like something pivotal to the story had been removed (which, from my understanding of the comics, was actually the case). It also seemed pretty convenient that at the end of the movie, the heroes left standing were the same boring, dried up characters whose stories were long over before this movie (looking at you, Iron Man). I've been following these movies for a long time, and the other Avengers movies were disappointing, but this was the last straw for me.