Just got back from seeing it. My thoughts, first character by character:
Captain America:
-The Cap vs Cap fight was insane. Like...I didn't know how much I needed that.
-CAP WIELDING MJOLNIR AND STORMBREAKER YASSSS THAT WAS THE BEST SCENE IN ANY MARVEL MOVIE
-"Avengers...Assemble". I knew it was coming. I still got chills.
-Cap soloing Thanos for a while, beating the ever loving crap out of him with Mijolnir and his shield, and still getting his butt whooped. There was definitely a moment where I thought "Oh no. This is it. This is where Cap dies. Not like this" Kudos to the Russo Brothers and Markus and McFeely for even allowing that expectation to exist.
-The freaking combo moves he did with Mjolnir and the shield were INCREDIBLE. And him summoning
lightning
WHAT
-The frequent callbacks to and cameos by Peggy Carter. First in the watch moments, then in that bit in the 70s, and finally in them finally shacking up in the end. I'm really happy that's how Cap's character arc ended. Honestly, it was either that or him dying and I would have been satisfied with either one.
-Passing on the shield to Falcon Sam was really touching. Was half-expecting Cap to have been Stan Lee there. A little disappointed it wasn't, but then again I think it might have been a bit much.
-The dance with Peggy at the end. Yes. So many happy tears.
-The musical callback to the First Avenger was so nice.
-"That's America's ass." Amazing.
-The Hail Hydra bit somehow being one of the best parts? It's amazing that they managed to redeem one of the most controversial comic moments.
-Cap's potty mouth was a really great way of showing his character development.
Iron Man:
-Like with Cap, this was one of the only ways his arc could have ended. There's a lot of bait and switching with our expectations on whether him or Cap was going to die, and that made his final death all the sadder.
-"I love you three thousand" at the end is what broke me. I was quietly sobbing. Even thinking about that now is making me teary eyed.
-The kid from Iron Man 3 being at the funeral was a really nice touch.
-"I am inevitable" "I am Iron Man" is up there with Cap wielding Mjolnir as one of the most awesome moments in the MCU, if not movie history.
-Speaking of which, THE THIRD SNAP. I did NOT see that coming and it was incredible.
-The fact that, for 5 years at least, Tony actually got to have his dream of settling down with a family.
-Every interaction he had with his daughter was either hilarious or sweet or a total tear jearker or all three.
-A mention of cheeseburgers somehow being one of the biggest tear jearkers in the entire franchise.
-The lightning powered laser blasts. That was SO cool.
-Nebula and Tony playing the game on the ship was hilarious.
-Also "Build a Bear". I'm really going to miss his quips.
-The comments about Cap's butt is going to write a thousand fanfictions.
-His gigantic explosion at Cap at the beginning was masterful acting.
-Also basically beginning and ending the movie with a hologram voice over of him was a nice touch.
-I don't think enough people are talking about how AWESOME it is that he a) not only invented time travel, b) fixing an alien ship he's never even seen before, and c) made a freaking INFINITY GAUNTLET. I know a lot of people complained about Shuri overshadowing Barton in the last movie, but I think this firmly established Stark as the smartest character in the MCU.
Black Widow & Hawkeye/Ronin:
-Her death was such a poignant sendoff for the character and imo the only way you could have wrapped up her character arc. It made perfect sense.
-Her being the de facto head of the Avengers during the time-skip was one of my favorite parts.
-The back and forth of who's going to sacrifice themselves at Vormir made her death all the sadder, and in a way it was darkly hilarious. Like...the whole scenario is COMPLETELY ridiculous, and yet it totally works because it manages to build so much tension in such a short period of time. That was fantastic directing.
-ScarJo was one of the MVPs of the movie acting wise, no question. She became one of my favorite characters after this movie.
-I'm also 10x more excited for the BW movie after this. Like...I want to see MORE of this character now that she's dead.
-imo this movie retroactively improved that weird Banner/Romanov relationship from AoU. It didn't really go anywhere, but honestly I think it's more impactful that it didn't. It showed that these were two completely romantically incompatible characters that would have been a hot mess together, but their mutual love was an integral part of both of their character developments and it made her death a lot more tragic. Honestly, I really liked how it was handled. It a messy, illogical, mutual attraction that never really went anywhere. That's something that happens a fair bit in real life (as listening to a lot of pop songs will tell you) and I'm happy it wasn't a "they lived happily ever after hiding the zucchini" relationship.
-Also, she got the funniest line in the movie imo. I was surprised the whole theater wasn't rolling at the "I learned quantum physics to make small talk for a mission" bit.
-The movie starting on the death of the Barton family was chill inducing. It also comes out of nowhere. There's no set-up, no pre-credits, nothing. Just the trailers end and we're on the Barton ranch. It really captured the atmosphere and horror of the snap perfectly.
-Barton's absolute terror when his family disappeared was some of the best acting in any movie period. Incredible.
-This movie proving that Romanov and Barton ARE actually useful parts of the Avengers and not having them be completely overshadowed by the dudes with powers. This movie did a great job of showing just WHY Fury had them as part of the Avengers.
-Ronin absolutely slaughtering the yakuza was not something I expected to see on the big screen. That's the level of brutality I would expect from one of the Netflix shows.
-Also, the tunnel scene with those creatures. SOOO cool.
-It's a subtle one, but I loved how confused he looks in most of this movie. He's totally out of his element, but he's just going with it because he's got a job to do. Especially in the scene with the two Nebulas in the tunnels. That was perfect.
-The "death seeker" element of his character coming into play. No matter how, he just wants to be reunited with his family. Whether that be through death or bringing them back.
-"Don't give me hope. Please." DANG
-Who would win in a hallway fight, Ronin or Dardevil?
Hulk/Banner & Thor:
-Surprisingly, Banner was the humor MVP of this movie. Almost everything out of his mouth was hilarious.
-Just the sheer amount of character development he went through off screen. It's played for laughs, but honestly it was the best way to reconcile both Hulk and Banner's character trajectories and their personalities.
-WIELDING AN INFINITY GAUNTLET. HOW WHAT
-Again, how real this made the Natasha/Bruce romance seem. Especially him throwing the bench into the lake in frustration. Such a powerful scene.
-Hulk being mad about the stairs was hilarious.
-The callback to Spider-man with Hulk lifting up the rubble was awesome
-Thor becoming a miserable alcoholic in between the movies was one of the best ways they could have handled the character honestly.
-Because of that, him summoning Mijolnir for the first time in the movie and saying "I'm still worthy" was very poignant.
-Also, him dual wielding Mijolnir and Stormbreaker was FANTASTIC.
-Korg and Meek playing Fortnite. Like...what? That was definitely the stupidest thing in this movie and I loved it.
-I like how his entire character arc in the movie was just him wanting to feel USEFUL after screwing up so royally in IW. Nothing about his character felt unbelievable in the end.
-The callback to the AoU hammer lifting scene was so nice. "I KNEW IT" indeed
-THOR JOINING THE GUARDIANS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED I'M SO HAPPY
Ant-Man:
-The scene where he first comes back from the Quantum Realm is soooo good. Like, his panic and looking for Cassie's name felt so real to me.
-Him meeting up with Cassie (now 5 years older) was the first moment I cried at during this movie.
-Paul Rudd is up there with ScarJo as one of the MVP actors of this movie. His disorientation during the part right after he escapes the Quantum Realm is so believable and not something I would have expected.
-Him going giant and PUNCHING A LEVIATHAN was sooo cool
-Also it's Paul Rudd so you know he has some of the funniest parts of this movie
Thanos:
-If there was any doubt about how threatening of a villain Thanos is after IW, there shouldn't be in this movie. He's almost completely unaffected by going toe to toe with the Big 3.
-Now, I may be crazy here, but there are moments where Thanos is wielding Stormbreaker and Mijolnir in the big battle. Does that mean he's one of the 4 characters deemed worthy?
-Thanos's complete moral breakdown was great. It honestly made him that much scarier. In IW he wanted to wipe out half the universe so they never face his over population problem, but after seeing that the survivors can't move on and flourish (this is also boosted in a blink and you'll miss it moments in GotG too, where it lists Gamora as the last survivor of her species, implying that the rest of the planet died off after his "salvation" and he never bothered to check) he just decides to wipe out the Earth and then remake the universe in his image. Dang.
-The scene at the very beginning where the past!Avengers fail for the second time. For a while, Thanos truly won.
-How absolutely calm he is during his death was great. It's also a nice mirror to the end of IW.
-I'm glad that they basically established him and Cap Marvel as equals in terms of power. It's really nice that they didn't just turn her into a Deus Ex Machina.
-Thanos realizing that the van was their ticket to removing the Infinity Stones from his reach and just chucking his sword into the quantum realm portal. Incredible, small detail.
Misc:
-The fact that this movie made about a dozen MCU movies retroactively better. THAT'S good story telling.
-JARVIS FROM AGENT CARTER APPEARING IN THE MOVIE. WE FINALLY GOT A TV SHOW/MOVIE CROSSOVER
-The girl power thing at the end was really silly, but I still loved it.
-Wanda wiping the floor with Thanos was sooo cathartic. I think she could have solo'd him right then and there if he didn't start firing on the battlefield with his ship.
-I'm in the minority here, but I actually really liked how Captain Marvel was used in this movie. She's not really a deus ex machina (there's no implication that she could've soloed Thanos and his forces, as she ultimately LOSES her one-on-one battle with Thanos once he's able to use even ONE of the Infinity Stones, and she also doesn't act as the end-all plot device when she's introduced at the beginning), she's not overbearing in this movie (her on-screen time is only 15min), and it sets up her character arc as being similar to Thor 10 years ago: she's one of the most powerful being in the universe, but she's incredibly cocky about it. I think the next Phases of the MCU are going to show her getting humbled in the same way that Thor did. I'm kinda excited about what they're going to do with her character arc going forward!
-Honestly, as much as this is a culmination and finale of everything so far, I like how it gives just enough to be excited going forward. It's boosted my interests in the upcoming Spidey, Black Widow, and GotG movies and the Disney+ shows.
-EVERY character gets a chance to shine and an awesome moment during the final battle. Except Mantis.
-The OG6 get the exact send-off they deserved. I wouldn't have changed a thing.
-War Machine and Falcon got a big boost from this movie and IW. I always felt they were very underutilized, but this movie and IW gave them both a lot of awesome and funny moments.
-THEY FINALLY REUSED THEMES FROM THE PREVIOUS MOVIES I AM SO HAPPY
-The score for this and IW are hands down the best in the MCU.
There's...there's just so much good stuff in this movie. It's almost impossible to list it all. I don't think there's than anything I actively disliked about this. Fantastic, 10/10.
Topic: Marvel's Movie/TV Universe v2 (SPOILERS) (Read 251114 times)
