Post by Absinthe on Apr 27, 2019 5:02:06 GMT
Well, here were are, the movie has come and I have seen it...
Now for spoilers...
Okay, so let's start with the big stuff. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. The smart money was on them exiting this movie and boy, did they.
I feel like we could see more of Rogers, but only in a sort of cameo role, not as a lead. I do like his send-off, I felt it very fitting for the character and it feels like something he has earned. Also, it felt like a good balance for Cap to pick up the hammer and for Tony to get to snap.
Tony... Tony seems pretty final to me. With him going the way he did, it felt like he achieved that peak and anything more will be just to please fans and not service any plot needs. I loved that his last real line was "I am Iron Man", it was an amazing callback and felt like an amazing send off to an amazing character. I hope we don't see Riri anytime soon, but with the current vein of "Girl Power" running through a lot of modern movies, I fear we will.
Natasha Romanov, WTF happened there? it felt like they were really prepping to kill Clint and they totally pulled the rug out from under me. And for her to remain dead? Damn, ScarJo was one of the big draws to these movies and I really wanted to see a Black Widow movie. It is still possible to do something there I think, but it felt like they basically said she was gone for good.
Thor, I have such mixed feelings on. I have no clue what they were going for with him. He alternated between some Asgardian version of "The Dude" and just kinda gross. Seeing him in his armor/the quantum realm armor was unappealing at best and stupid looking at worse. And watching he dual wield his hammer and The Stormbreaker was a treat, but the fact he remained looking like that for the whole movie. On the good side, I loved the scene between him and his mom. it felt like something not addressed in Thor 2 and really provided a good closure on Freya. As for the end of the movie with him going off with the Guardians, I am mixed. One on hand I am looking forward to seeing what James Gunn has in mind, on the other hand, Guardians 3 has some massive drawbacks I'll get into soon enough. I feel like this movie focused too much on Thor being useless. He felt severely weakened, though it is explained by his physical shape. Watching him use Mjolnir and the Stormbreaker should have felt more epic. Instead, it was just kinda cool because Thor didn't feel that "worthy" of it. I wanted a montage of him working out while they built the machine to send them back, while they built the suits. They could have left the emotionality of the character, make it part of him being kind of broken, but it would have been nice to see him get his shit together.
Moving on to Clint. How do you make a cool character even cooler? This is it. It felt like they were building up to him sacrificing himself, and I'll be honest I thought it was an interesting arc, but they pulled the rug right out from under me and I was left speechless. He was good as usual and the addition of the sword makes him feel much more visceral and close to the combat. It did feel like he had the infinite arrows cheat on this time, but this is an MCU film, ammo only runs out if the plot calls for it. All in all his storyline was well worth it all.
The Hulk, man the Hulk in this movie is the best version I have ever seen. He didn't feel as strong, though that could have been just the fact he had a lot of finesse with his strength. By far he seems to have aged the best in the 5-year gap. I loved every scene with him in it. And him getting the snap felt right. I liked him going to "rescue" Thor and basically failing. I liked the fact that he was not the super genius when it came to tech and that they needed Tony. I loved seeing the astral form scene. Watching the Ancient One converse with him like that was simply a trip.
Rhodey was used very well in this movie. I liked his dynamic with Nebula when it was used. it was played well. I liked the way they showed the character as damaged but not weak. Not a standout, but definitely good.
Scott Lang/Antman was again a joy to watch. I loved the size change and age changing in this movie for him. Giant-man felt truly giant in the last fight. I liked to see him working with others like that. It made the battle feel so much "larger". As a side note, I died laughing when I saw the OG Ant-Man helmet in that scene.
Rocket was great. I loved seeing him in that outfit. It was a treat. He fell into the background a lot in this movie, but it was nice. I look forward to seeing more of him in Guardians 3.
Okay, now I need to talk about Nebula and Gamora. I hated what they did there. Because it is now clear that the Nebula and Gamora we have grown attached to and who have had the character growth seen in Guardians 1 and 2 are dead. I don't know why they killed the older Nebula. It would have been a lot cooler if she had lived and they kept the old Gamora. But the way it is now, I am not overly hyped to see them in Guardians 3. it feels like there is a lot of ground we have really already been over to cover and I have very little interest in covering stuff I've seen before. Guardians 2 was big for those 2 and the versions of the characters that lived those events are now gone forever. Instead, we have versions who are exactly who they were before this all began. Great.
Loki. What a waste. What a waste of one of their best villains. He does nothing, breaks the rules of the story (if he steals the space cube then how does it go to Asgard so he can take it when Asgard is destroyed and then give it to Thanos?). And the same thing as with Nebula and Gamora, we have a character reset. Yes, he's alive, but he's not the version of the character that lived through the events of Thor 2 and Thor Ragnarok. He's reset back to the version right after Avengers. And honestly, the lest interesting version of the character.
Before I get to the 2 big complaints I want to take some time to talk about a lot of little things I liked and a lot of little things I didn't, so in no particular order...
Pepper was great and seeing her fight side by side with Tony was amazing. It was a trip and a half watching T'Challa show up like that, joined by the armies of Wakanda, the sorcerers, and so many other characters. This was Dr. Strange's "endgame"? Of 14 million scenarios this was the only one they won in? It seems odd because this required a lot to go right and even then I don't consider it a real win. Wanda was a beast in this movie. Watching her take on Thanos like that was insane. I totally got why she was doing it.
And now for a big thing for me. For the past year, I have been pointing to the scene where Shuri quickly separates the mind stone from Vision, snapping closed the last several main connections. I had been betting that Vision would be returning because he was made of Vibranium and they were in Wakanda. It felt like a safe bet. Vision is one of my favorite characters and it felt right to see him. That is not what happened and I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.
That brings me to my last couple of things and they're both negative, sorry.
Captain Marvel was in this movie. I like her new haircut, looks good. I hated her. I can't tell how much of it is my dislike for the actress and how much is the character. But she comes across so arrogant and, for lack of a better word, bitchy. There is really very very little effort put across to make her likable in this and with very little issue she could be cut from the movie. She wasn't in it that much and it felt like she was tacked on and integrated into the plot poorly. I did like to see her being shown to not be as strong as Thanos. It seemed like even while she was going full "super saiyan" she was still that little bit weaker. Though that could come down to technique.
And lastly, we have the villain of the story, Thanos. The good, I liked the scene of him picking fruit. The bad, the rest. I must admit to being mildly disturbed watching one of my two favorite characters kill him while he is making amends to Nebula, but I honestly saw it coming and I will never say he did not deserve it. And then we get to reset Thanos. The Thanos who has not given up Gamora, who has not fought quite hard to achieve anything. Instead, he has a double-ended sword that is so powerful it can stop the Stormbreaker (with the added bit of Mjolnir slamming into the back of the axe), can chew through Cap's shield, and can take the combined heat of so many of they sparkly hand beams, that it just felt silly. Why didn't he have that in the last movie? Why does he have it now? If he hadn't had that sword thing he would have been defeated so easily. It's not explained and it felt kinda cheap. I disliked them using that younger version of Thanos anyway. It felt like a cheap trick so the heroes could fight Thanos and win. Would have been more interesting if someone else did it. I mean Marvel has other villains.
As one final aside, the time travel did not make sense. It was not clear on if they could change anything and they left a massive Loki sized hole in that. (Also removing the Mind Stone and the Space Stone from their respective cases required breaking them in the beginning, how did they get them out this time and how did they get them back in to return them to where they belong in the end?)
All in all, this is by far the lesser of the two Infinity War movies. It felt cheaper and way more gimmicky. It was a lot of flash and not nearly enough substance for what it was. It would have been better if they had broken it in half and explained things better. An Infinity War Trilogy would have been just fine with me. As it is, it was long but felt rushed all the way through. The stuff they do take their time with I liked. I would have liked a few less hanging plot threads, but I figure that's for upcoming movies and TV shows.
For me, it's all about what happens with Guardians 3 at this point. It can redeem a lot of my major complaints, at least in terms of Gamora and Nebula, and I think it will be a fine movie. I am not hyped for more of Thor and Peter competing with each other, or rather Peter feeling like he has to compete with Thor. It's peter's freaking ship, that's why he's in charge. he's the keystone piece that brought the guardians together and it felt wrong for him to need to act cooler than Thor, one of my 2 complaints about Infinity War was the scene of Peter making his voice deeper. It felt forced to me, but I feel like James Gunn can take care of that and make something watchable, hopefully with Adam Warlock.
So, in conclusion, Endgame is an ending to what feels like a massive story arc about Iron Man, the Avengers, and the origins of a new Marvel Universe. It was a movie I would rate at a solid 8.5 out of 10, where I had given Infinity War a 9.5. Only Thor Ragnarok got my 10 out of 10 because honestly, it was a great movie from start to finish. This movie was good. It fell flat in some places, but it made me cry in the theater, so it can't be all bad. I think the Infinity War movies will go down in history at this point. This movie is likely going to break 2 billion at the box office and I am likely going to see it again, in theaters, within the next month or so, and I only do that for movies I feel have earned it, this one did.
Now for spoilers...
Okay, so let's start with the big stuff. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. The smart money was on them exiting this movie and boy, did they.
I feel like we could see more of Rogers, but only in a sort of cameo role, not as a lead. I do like his send-off, I felt it very fitting for the character and it feels like something he has earned. Also, it felt like a good balance for Cap to pick up the hammer and for Tony to get to snap.
Tony... Tony seems pretty final to me. With him going the way he did, it felt like he achieved that peak and anything more will be just to please fans and not service any plot needs. I loved that his last real line was "I am Iron Man", it was an amazing callback and felt like an amazing send off to an amazing character. I hope we don't see Riri anytime soon, but with the current vein of "Girl Power" running through a lot of modern movies, I fear we will.
Natasha Romanov, WTF happened there? it felt like they were really prepping to kill Clint and they totally pulled the rug out from under me. And for her to remain dead? Damn, ScarJo was one of the big draws to these movies and I really wanted to see a Black Widow movie. It is still possible to do something there I think, but it felt like they basically said she was gone for good.
Thor, I have such mixed feelings on. I have no clue what they were going for with him. He alternated between some Asgardian version of "The Dude" and just kinda gross. Seeing him in his armor/the quantum realm armor was unappealing at best and stupid looking at worse. And watching he dual wield his hammer and The Stormbreaker was a treat, but the fact he remained looking like that for the whole movie. On the good side, I loved the scene between him and his mom. it felt like something not addressed in Thor 2 and really provided a good closure on Freya. As for the end of the movie with him going off with the Guardians, I am mixed. One on hand I am looking forward to seeing what James Gunn has in mind, on the other hand, Guardians 3 has some massive drawbacks I'll get into soon enough. I feel like this movie focused too much on Thor being useless. He felt severely weakened, though it is explained by his physical shape. Watching him use Mjolnir and the Stormbreaker should have felt more epic. Instead, it was just kinda cool because Thor didn't feel that "worthy" of it. I wanted a montage of him working out while they built the machine to send them back, while they built the suits. They could have left the emotionality of the character, make it part of him being kind of broken, but it would have been nice to see him get his shit together.
Moving on to Clint. How do you make a cool character even cooler? This is it. It felt like they were building up to him sacrificing himself, and I'll be honest I thought it was an interesting arc, but they pulled the rug right out from under me and I was left speechless. He was good as usual and the addition of the sword makes him feel much more visceral and close to the combat. It did feel like he had the infinite arrows cheat on this time, but this is an MCU film, ammo only runs out if the plot calls for it. All in all his storyline was well worth it all.
The Hulk, man the Hulk in this movie is the best version I have ever seen. He didn't feel as strong, though that could have been just the fact he had a lot of finesse with his strength. By far he seems to have aged the best in the 5-year gap. I loved every scene with him in it. And him getting the snap felt right. I liked him going to "rescue" Thor and basically failing. I liked the fact that he was not the super genius when it came to tech and that they needed Tony. I loved seeing the astral form scene. Watching the Ancient One converse with him like that was simply a trip.
Rhodey was used very well in this movie. I liked his dynamic with Nebula when it was used. it was played well. I liked the way they showed the character as damaged but not weak. Not a standout, but definitely good.
Scott Lang/Antman was again a joy to watch. I loved the size change and age changing in this movie for him. Giant-man felt truly giant in the last fight. I liked to see him working with others like that. It made the battle feel so much "larger". As a side note, I died laughing when I saw the OG Ant-Man helmet in that scene.
Rocket was great. I loved seeing him in that outfit. It was a treat. He fell into the background a lot in this movie, but it was nice. I look forward to seeing more of him in Guardians 3.
Okay, now I need to talk about Nebula and Gamora. I hated what they did there. Because it is now clear that the Nebula and Gamora we have grown attached to and who have had the character growth seen in Guardians 1 and 2 are dead. I don't know why they killed the older Nebula. It would have been a lot cooler if she had lived and they kept the old Gamora. But the way it is now, I am not overly hyped to see them in Guardians 3. it feels like there is a lot of ground we have really already been over to cover and I have very little interest in covering stuff I've seen before. Guardians 2 was big for those 2 and the versions of the characters that lived those events are now gone forever. Instead, we have versions who are exactly who they were before this all began. Great.
Loki. What a waste. What a waste of one of their best villains. He does nothing, breaks the rules of the story (if he steals the space cube then how does it go to Asgard so he can take it when Asgard is destroyed and then give it to Thanos?). And the same thing as with Nebula and Gamora, we have a character reset. Yes, he's alive, but he's not the version of the character that lived through the events of Thor 2 and Thor Ragnarok. He's reset back to the version right after Avengers. And honestly, the lest interesting version of the character.
Before I get to the 2 big complaints I want to take some time to talk about a lot of little things I liked and a lot of little things I didn't, so in no particular order...
Pepper was great and seeing her fight side by side with Tony was amazing. It was a trip and a half watching T'Challa show up like that, joined by the armies of Wakanda, the sorcerers, and so many other characters. This was Dr. Strange's "endgame"? Of 14 million scenarios this was the only one they won in? It seems odd because this required a lot to go right and even then I don't consider it a real win. Wanda was a beast in this movie. Watching her take on Thanos like that was insane. I totally got why she was doing it.
And now for a big thing for me. For the past year, I have been pointing to the scene where Shuri quickly separates the mind stone from Vision, snapping closed the last several main connections. I had been betting that Vision would be returning because he was made of Vibranium and they were in Wakanda. It felt like a safe bet. Vision is one of my favorite characters and it felt right to see him. That is not what happened and I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.
That brings me to my last couple of things and they're both negative, sorry.
Captain Marvel was in this movie. I like her new haircut, looks good. I hated her. I can't tell how much of it is my dislike for the actress and how much is the character. But she comes across so arrogant and, for lack of a better word, bitchy. There is really very very little effort put across to make her likable in this and with very little issue she could be cut from the movie. She wasn't in it that much and it felt like she was tacked on and integrated into the plot poorly. I did like to see her being shown to not be as strong as Thanos. It seemed like even while she was going full "super saiyan" she was still that little bit weaker. Though that could come down to technique.
And lastly, we have the villain of the story, Thanos. The good, I liked the scene of him picking fruit. The bad, the rest. I must admit to being mildly disturbed watching one of my two favorite characters kill him while he is making amends to Nebula, but I honestly saw it coming and I will never say he did not deserve it. And then we get to reset Thanos. The Thanos who has not given up Gamora, who has not fought quite hard to achieve anything. Instead, he has a double-ended sword that is so powerful it can stop the Stormbreaker (with the added bit of Mjolnir slamming into the back of the axe), can chew through Cap's shield, and can take the combined heat of so many of they sparkly hand beams, that it just felt silly. Why didn't he have that in the last movie? Why does he have it now? If he hadn't had that sword thing he would have been defeated so easily. It's not explained and it felt kinda cheap. I disliked them using that younger version of Thanos anyway. It felt like a cheap trick so the heroes could fight Thanos and win. Would have been more interesting if someone else did it. I mean Marvel has other villains.
As one final aside, the time travel did not make sense. It was not clear on if they could change anything and they left a massive Loki sized hole in that. (Also removing the Mind Stone and the Space Stone from their respective cases required breaking them in the beginning, how did they get them out this time and how did they get them back in to return them to where they belong in the end?)
All in all, this is by far the lesser of the two Infinity War movies. It felt cheaper and way more gimmicky. It was a lot of flash and not nearly enough substance for what it was. It would have been better if they had broken it in half and explained things better. An Infinity War Trilogy would have been just fine with me. As it is, it was long but felt rushed all the way through. The stuff they do take their time with I liked. I would have liked a few less hanging plot threads, but I figure that's for upcoming movies and TV shows.
For me, it's all about what happens with Guardians 3 at this point. It can redeem a lot of my major complaints, at least in terms of Gamora and Nebula, and I think it will be a fine movie. I am not hyped for more of Thor and Peter competing with each other, or rather Peter feeling like he has to compete with Thor. It's peter's freaking ship, that's why he's in charge. he's the keystone piece that brought the guardians together and it felt wrong for him to need to act cooler than Thor, one of my 2 complaints about Infinity War was the scene of Peter making his voice deeper. It felt forced to me, but I feel like James Gunn can take care of that and make something watchable, hopefully with Adam Warlock.
So, in conclusion, Endgame is an ending to what feels like a massive story arc about Iron Man, the Avengers, and the origins of a new Marvel Universe. It was a movie I would rate at a solid 8.5 out of 10, where I had given Infinity War a 9.5. Only Thor Ragnarok got my 10 out of 10 because honestly, it was a great movie from start to finish. This movie was good. It fell flat in some places, but it made me cry in the theater, so it can't be all bad. I think the Infinity War movies will go down in history at this point. This movie is likely going to break 2 billion at the box office and I am likely going to see it again, in theaters, within the next month or so, and I only do that for movies I feel have earned it, this one did.
