Just not that enjoyable

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2019)

There are obviously good things about this movie - a lot of talented people worked on it and especially in the scene design there is a lot to like. But there are a lot of problems too.
For one it feels disjointed, as if there are scenes that have been uncomfortably cut out. Only a few characters get introduced, and just a few more get what feels like a decent amount of screentime and dialogue. With Cap for example, his role feels extremely insignificant - as if he as a character could have been replaced with any other Avenger performing the same actions and nothing would change.
I thought Vision's and the Witch's romance was pretty inoffensive and sweet. I was surprised at how much of a role they had, but the actors did very well at making me see them as real characters, which was at times difficult with some of the more main-cast characters.
On the other hand Tony gets an uninteresting and cheesy as hell intro that easily could have been pared down, he and Strange have a stupidly prolonged dickwagging segment and Banner's way to frequent attempts at humor made me wish somebody would shoot him in the face already.
The main I have is probably Thanos though.
Thanos' plan is quite obviously deranged and stupid as hell, but he's never portrayed as deranged. We're supposed to see him as a smart, sympathetic villain - which, quite honestly, is a joke. He's just a big, sadistic dummy with a god complex.
If they wanted me to see him as anything more they'd do more to set him up as traumatized and disturbed by the events at his home planet so we could see why he would ever be so dumb as to cling to his silly "just kill half of everybody - that'll solve inequality" plan.
Also, at a point at about the middle of the movie we realise Thanos can change reality around him, and from then on whenever he's in a physical fight with anybody I couldn't feel any stakes at all. He should be able to stop them with a thought or handmove or whatever - so is he fighting them with his fat fists? Does he just think it's fine excercise?
It also doesn't help my view of the movie that I'm a Guardians (and Spiderman) fan over a fan of MCEU in general. If you've watched the movie already you'll probably know why that kind of sours one's view of this movie. I would much rather have more Guardians content in some other form than have this movie. It feels like it sacrifices Guardians - the characters, style and feel of it, on the alter of the crossover cash cow.
Similarly for Thor this movie kind of fucks up the story Taika Waititi built up in Ragnarok.