10 Reasons ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Was A Bit Disappointing (Spoilers)
25.04.19 # Review # 29 Comments
Avengers: Endgame is by no means a bad film, in fact it’s a very good one. But coming off the back of the superlative Infinity War it can’t help but feel disappointing in certain aspects. It’s Return of the Jedi to Empire Strikes Back, or Dark Knight Rises to The Dark Knight. Right now we’re in the sea of fawning reviews but, over time, these issues will start to emerge and be talked about. Here’s my list of 10.
– FULL SPOILERS AHEAD –
(1) From the moment Ant-Man was released from the torturous quandary of being stuck in the Quantum Realm by a stray rat on a keyboard, it was obvious that this wasn’t quite going to be cinematic perfection.
(2) Fat drunk beardy Thor. He’s just too ridiculous, and never snaps out of it. Hemsworth plays him like he’s spoofing himself on SNL. It detracts from serious moments to see him in the background. There’s a reason he was removed from the trailer shot of the team striding toward the quantum machine. Which brings us to…
(3) Dramatic tension. Right from the first scene of Infinity War, when Thor was on his knees and Hulk is beaten, it bristled with edge-of-the-seat dramatic tension. Thanos was an unstoppable force and anybody could die. There’s no impending threat here (any deaths are more of a surprise), and after ‘true’ Thanos is quickly dispatched the tone is closer to a good time romp. It mocks itself too much and plays for laughs too much. Romp-y time-travel significantly reduces the finality of character death and, hence, tension. There isn’t even a villain in the 2nd act.
(4) Ignorant Thanos. Thanos has the time in Infinity War to lay out his (somewhat-logical) philosophy and present nuance as he goes about his business. He was a tortured protagonist in his own film. Here he’s reset without the curse of knowledge and is just a bad guy in pursuit, with all-out murder on his mind and none of the depth. He and his children were dispatched perfectly first time round, to see them all reset and reappear…well, let’s get this done again.
(5) The way time travel is discussed. Constant time travel pop culture references add nothing but take you out of the film – A film talking about other films only reminds you you’re watching a film, which is immersion breaking. Furthermore, playing Ant-Man’s time travel test 100% for laughs also breaks the gravitas (and tension) of what they’re doing.
(6) The whole film has to stop so the director can make an extended ego-stroking cameo. A boring and pointless monologue.
(7) Captain Marvel is overpowered (able to take out Thanos’ entire ship in 10 seconds), and the attempt to explain away her absence in Infinity War, and then for the vast majority of this film, is paper thin. She’s like playing a game on cheat mode (which further takes away the tension).
(8) There was no exploration of what it meant and felt like for all the characters disintegrated. What was their experience and path back to existence? The in-between is fascinating and profound, but it was unsatisfactorily brushed off. Spider-Man simply says he “felt dusty” then woke up. Infinity War had metaphysical moments. Here we had 20 minutes of discussion about Thor’s beer.
(9) It’s a convoluted film for the uninitiated, heavily dependent on having watched multiple previous entries. There would be no way to bring in someone new to the series. Got a new date who doesn’t watch Marvel movies? 8 hours of prep needed first.
(10) Box ticking. Somewhat inevitable at the end of a series but it’s also a self-congratulatory movie.
– Endgame is still a great time, full of brilliant ideas, heart-wrenching moments, big laughs and excellent acting.
The discussion about Thor’s Beer is more fun than exposition heavy metaphysics. Time travel always ends up as Deus ex machina in stories with lots of beloved characters that have to be brought back and so knowing references make a certain kind sense. It credits the audience this is a convenient trope more than serious science. Stories with reoccurring characters are basically soaps. In the case of superhero films they’re soaps with action and fantastical plots. In some ways they also resemble wrestling. The heroes get thrown against the ropes by a big bully and then form a tag team to strike back, people who seem out for the count are brought back The soap aspect is in the continuing personal stories and interaction of the fans. The main issue with Captain Marvel is that she’s hasn’t had time to establish a relationship with regular viewers and thus ends up as more Deus ex Machina.
Having said that. I really liked it and was happy the story resolved in a pleasing way . But I think I might call it quits coz it’s eleven years now.
This movie was just another slap in the face to Hulk fans. The Hulk deserved a more exciting sendoff than just comedic relief taking selfies. He only has a cameo in Infinity War and has no action in this movie. What a waste of potential for one of Marvel’s most iconic and recognizable characters. Makes no sense at all and very very stupid on the filmmakers part. This version of the Hulk will not age well, it will be compared to how Joel Schumacher handled Batman. Total disappointment.
endgame was the most overrated movie for me, Lack of potential fight scene between thanos and Cpt Marvel or mybe hulk doing his overcomeback winning fight after his defeat on his first meet with thanos, very predictable storyline..5.0 out if 10 for me
Endgame sucked. It was not good and has more plot holes than a colander. The time paradox they say can’t happen in the first half becomes overarching reality in the second and shows how lazy the writers were because idiots will love it either way. The virtue signaling with weaker female heroes easily winning where the stronger male heroes failed is just the turd cherry on a pile of diarrhea sundae. This movie is one of the worst productions made with a massive budget yet critics are shying away from calling it the crapshow it is.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one who noticed some glaring issues. Don’t get me wrong it was a good movie with some great moments but with all the hype leading up to it, I was also kinda disappointed with how it panned out overall (with some of the same points as you have mentioned before). Great article!
I agree the movie was “good” but left me feeling very disappointed. I feel they missed several opportunities to give the fans long awaited moments. Such as the Hulk. They reduced him to a brainy celebrity taking pictures with fans who is unable to get angry enough to save his friend’s from Thanos this time around. That was very disappointing. Instead he spent the whole time holding up a boulder so that Rocket and War Machine didn’t drown…Ant Man had to save all of them.
Another disappointment was killing off Black Widow and leaving her dead body to rot while going after the soul stone. I was hoping after Captain America went back in time to return all the stones that somehow she would come back with him. She at least deserved a eulogy.
The next disappointment was Thor. They reduced him to a fat alcoholic that never recovered. Even after having two weapons he still couldn’t beat Thanos without a weapon. Captain America wielded the power of his hammer better than Thor did. I thought for a second I would see something special when Thor’s eyes turned blue and called down lightning….nope.
My last big complaint is the lack of Captain Marvel’s ability to kick Thanos butt. I realize she could singlehandedly take him and that would be the end of the film. But she fell for the same trick he pulled on Captain America when he tried stopping Thanos from clicking his fingers. Unoriginal. Then the flick of one infinity stone and she’s gone for the rest of the fight. A pathetic show of her powers.
It also would have been so cool if Ant Man’s friends who owned the van showed up at the end giving us a breakdown of their dusty vanishing and then their back to life experience.
I could say more, but those are my biggest complaints.
I loved Infinity War. HATED THIS MOVIE. Best friend hated Infinity war and almost WALKED out of this one. So many things are garbage. Fat Thor and Wimpy Hulk to start off. Not even following rules of previous movies, for instance to get SOUL stone you have to give up what you LOVE THE MOST. Not just something you care about. Oh I guess anyone can hold an Infinity Stone now. Not to mention it takes a neutron star to make an infinity gauntlet, but if Tony Stark has some spare parts laying around he can throw one together. Lets also get rid of all common sense. If half of the planet goes away, lights water and stuff like that stops, so that fully functioning Avengers Base able to build liquid crap to send you back in time, or the computer stuff or hell even cell phone service… yeah right. Its a super hero movie so no reality right. Or you can simply say that the soul purpose of this movie is to try and be better than all the other big series movies and play to the crowds love of the characters they have seen. All I can say is crap crap and more crap. Final scene with Captain America sums it ALL UP.
Because of his enhancement, probably doesn’t grow old
Because he goes back in time to live out his days, it affects almost all of the previous movies changing the plot line.
Because he chooses to not be a superhero, that he feels he should have a life of love, goes against everything he ever was.
But because the directors felt they needed everyone to be happy, they did it.
cg allen said ” If half of the planet goes away, lights water and stuff like that stops”. That’s a reach. This planet could function quite well with 3.5 billion peopl left over. Earth had about 3.5 billion in the 1960s…we had lights and power just fine.
Endgame was extremely disappointing, and I can even admit actors were really trying.
But direction, pacing, reasons why actors even were made to act out emotions – it all made little sense. It seemed a broken movie.
I am NOT a superhero movie fan, but I really loved Infiity war. It felt like there is this unstoppable villain, who in turn also is somewhat anti-hero, rather than plain villain, and there was suspense – they had no options to win.
Endgame was a clusterfuck of very, very bad ideas, they gave looooong emotional moments to heroes we did not care about at all.
Thanos was reduced to a joke.
Too many jokes (I don’t mind jokes, but man.. they should be tasteful and and have at least some pacing.. if this huge budget movie can’t hire few writers, just ask Conan obrien or someone else to write few jokes. They would definitely be better than what we saw in endgame).
SJW references made me cringe. Ok, we get it, it’s 2019, but we actually paid to see artistic movie and not be fed politics.
I would give this movie 5/10 – 4 to actor’s ability + 1 for CGI (It was enormous, yet completely wasted and clusterfuck-y). Director’s and writer’s job is valued at ZERO, because they ruined series.
I think Avengers would actually be a better series, if they ended with infinity war and big “The End?”.
This movie could have been so much better. But I agree it was trying to hard to be funny and it fell flat a lot.
This movie was ok. It wasn’t better than avengers 3 1 or ragnarok.
I don’t think Endgame would have been as disappointing if it weren’t for Winter Soldier and Civil War. Those two films really elevated the story potential of the MCU and gave both Captain America and Black Widow deeper and richer character arcs than anything they had in prior movies. Tony’s character also benefited from Iron Man 3 and Age if Ultron. Endgame did nothing with these characters until the final 10 minutes (other than fridging Nat).
Here’s my list of 5 reasons why Endgame was a poor finale
1) Fridging Black Widow: Natasha has always struggled to find her place on the team so making her the de facto leader in the first act of the movie was a step towards the completion of her character arc. This is what makes her sacrifice so frustrating as it comes completely out of left field and renders her newly found place on the team meaningless. In fact, the whole “sacrificing for the soul stone” plot line is as convoluted in this film as it was in Infinity War with Gamora.
2) Lack of stakes: After the team discovers the stones have been destroyed, we are left feeling as defeated as our heroes. The time heist is their Hail Mary. There is no back up plan, no chance for failure. Yet, the stakes have never felt so low. These are the funniest parts of the movie. Why?! I understand that this is supposed to be a walk through the MCU’s greatest hits (but Thor 2? Really?!) but if there are no stakes then there is no story. As said before, Winter Soldier and Civil War elevate the storytelling in the MCU. This is the finale- it should not be a light hearted affair. Heroes need to be challenged. Black Widows demise coming out of left field is not enough.
3) Lack of follow-through: Infinity War set up a new and unexpected story potential for Hulk. Ragnarok set up Thor’s destiny as king. Civil War set up Visions destiny of taking control over the Mind stone. Guardians set up Drax’s and Xandar’s destiny with Thanos. Captain Marvel set up a trump card to step in when all else fails. NONE of these are resolved or addressed in a satisfactory way.
4) The final showdown: Thanos is dispatched in the first 10 minutes when Thor finally goes for the head. This is all the resolution we get to Thanos’ story after his epic win in Infinity War. Past Thanos is an infinitely inferior villain. Because he has no memory of Infinity War, he is essentially a completely different character. This makes the final climax so disappointing and bland. Wanda tried to exact vengeance for Vision, but this is not the same Thanos who killed Vision and he has no idea who Wanda is. No conflict is no story. Thanos is essentially a generic phase 1 baddie
5) Time travel inconsistencies: again if it weren’t for the superior storytelling of prior MCU films then it wouldn’t matter if nothing makes sense. Just have fun, right? But no. This is the finale and we deserve a complete and consistent story. Instead the Avengers mess up past timelines with no repercussions whatsoever. Where did Loki go with the space stone (and why could he use it to escape now when he couldn’t at the beginning of the original Avengers, needing to hitch a ride with Hawkeye)? And don’t tell me about any upcoming tv shows. Endgame is a finale. Why is Tony so insistent on reversing the snap without sacrificing his future family whereas Steve has no issues sacrificing Peggy’s family for his own selfish desires. THIS is not consistent with Cap’s nature, but hey it made fans happy to see his dance fulfilled right? Time travel rules be damned.
Russos, what happened?? Entertaining scenes does not equal a story. A finale without coherent resolutions is no finale. Fans are overwhelmingly positive about this movie but I suspect that will change once the initial excitement wears off. Time will tell I guess.
Incredibly OVERRATED movie! You could skip the first 2.5 hours and not miss any action! Tried to be too funny, too much political correctness, very little action!!! Mostly depressing emotional garbage… and to win the battle.. just a snap of the fingers!!!! Really? Lazy writing, and just overall not good.., 5 out of 10! If you haven’t seen it… wait for it to come out on netflix or DVD…
bruh are u dumb the snap of the fingers thing wasnt lazy it came straight from the comics which was the main idea of the mcu it was based on the comics but more realistic and cinematic you dumbass, thanos was supposed to be seen as a unstoppable demon of a creature
Was entertained but by mostly by expectations that never materialized. Too bad. Walked out feeling like I just watched the same movie from a different perspective. Infinity war = trying to stop Thanos from getting stones and big fight with him at end and lose. Endgame = trying to get stones while Thanos tries to stop them and big fight with him at the end and win. No creative solutions or story-telling follow-through in storylines they set-up previously.
Definitely thought after Winter Soldier, Civil War, & Infinity War that the Russos were better than this but it just got too big for them and they couldn’t pull it off. Granted it’s way easier to set up for great ending, then actually tie it all together (ala G.O.T.) but it didn’t even seem like they tried. (Simple things like how they had introduced Tony’s B.A.R.F. tech in Civil War, but didn’t refer to it at all – where they could have had Tony utilize it to pinpoint the exact times they needed to go in order to retrieve the infinity stones.) But instead I guess we needed all the extra gags and joke material to make it three hours long.
Nice tribute movie with a nod to the past, that pretty much retells the same story. (Much like J.J. Abrams first Star Trek movie AND first Star Wars movie.)
I mostly agree. I just got home from my theatre viewing. Most of the movie, I sat there thinking.
SERIOUSLY?!?! WTF!! TIME TRAVEL?!?! AND I PAID FOR THIS????
And then, as soon as the cliamx ended, i was almost timing out when the credits played.
Havent went to a theater in years, I did today. This one movie makes me not want to ever go back again, and waste my life away
Just a very pretty , terrible movie.Makes no sense and full of plot holes and devices.
Would have been nice if
1) Captain America had traded the soul stone back to the Red Skull did Natasha
2) They had used the mind stone to bring back Vidiin
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