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My overall feeling on the movie is I liked it, but I did not love it. Maybe I expected too much. I don't know; I really didn't expect much beyond possibly some time travel, an epic battle scene, and for Iron Man to die. All of which were delivered. I'm going to break down what I liked and talk about some of the things that kept me from loving it.
Things I loved:
- Literally every time Loki appeared. He was perfection. Every time.
- Hulk/Banner - I liked this new version of the Hulk/Banner; they were much more interesting to watch and I feel like the character now can do a lot more. I wish this had happened earlier in the series, but I understand why narratively it wouldn't have.
- Captain America's ass (America's ass). That joke never got old. I also liked when the Captians America were fighting themselves and the past CA says, "I can do this all day," and the present CA responds something like, "oh I know," with a sigh.
- In general, the comic relief was good (as always) with one storyline joke exception (more on that below).
- All the tear-jerky scenes with Iron Man. Man, they laid that on thick throughout the movie, and I was totally there for it. "I love you 3000" is going to be on tote bags and tattoos, I've no doubt.
- I have never seen any of the Spider-man movies (the only Marvel movies I have missed), but I love that kid, and the reunion scene with him and Iron Man was perfect (this is really a sub-point of the above Iron Man point, I guess).
- The moment when all the yellow Strangelove space/warp circles appeared and all the fallen appeared ready for battle. This was epic. And awesome. Expectations met!
- That the Ant-Man movies really mattered and he was an integral part of the plot.
- The scenes between Captain America and Black Widow. I know we're supposed to ship her and Banner, but I just never have. I think she and CA are where it's at and he needs to get over Agent Peggy Carter. But alas...that seems to be a moot point now!
Things I didn't love:
- Not enough Captain Marvel. Or maybe enough, but the last few movies & the previews really made it seem like she would have a larger role. I'm fine that she didn't; I just feel mislead.
- When Thor cut off Thanos's head - that was awesome- but everyone's reaction "what did you do?!" was super lame. He killed this asshole that should have been killed long ago- thank him!
- Not enough Bucky. I loved the scene between Sam and Cap (although not everything about how it was happening), and I get that it would have been too much to have another heartfelt scene, but damn, Bucky gets like no real love and only a couple of lines in the whole movie. They keep teasing that he's going to be a bigger part of the story, but that just doesn't seem to be happening.
Things I found....problematic (with some burning questions thrown in)
- We need to talk about Thor. So, I would have liked to see a story-line where he dealt with his depression or PTSD or whatever he was going through in a way that did not involve fat jokes. Or play alcoholism up for laughs. The scene when he is revealed to now be fat with a huge beer belly was played for laughs - laughs where fat Thor (AND FAT PEOPLE IN GENERAL) were the butt of the joke. Not funny. And the jokes were there throughout the movie. I love Thor, - he might be my favorite Avenger - and I felt this storyline did a real disservice to his pain and also caused harm to those who deal with fatphobia and fat oppression on a daily basis (because movies do impact real life & representation matters). His friends, instead of seeing the pain he was in and trying to help him, looked at him with disgust and disdain for "letting himself go." Not okay.
- I'm not really sure how the Captian America living his life in the past and becoming old in the present works. Time travel is always messy; the laws of time travel even when well explained usually are flawed, and I thought this movie had finally figured it out so the story would all "work." But then that last scene... no. It messes it all up. If it doesn't mess it up, please explain it to me - if Cap time travels back to 1950 (or whatever) to live out his life with his Peggy, then how is he also the same Cap in our present? Shouldn't he be in another timeline? Ugh. They should have left that be and just had Captain America retire (which also doesn't make ANY sense for his character) or die. Or have him just never have come back from his time travel expedition and we could wonder.
- Black Widow dying for the Soul Stone. One, Hawkeye didn't sacrifice her, she sacrificed herself, so does that even work by soul stone rules? Two, hasn't the "woman (super)hero" sacrificing herself for the greater good been done to death? I'm not talking Marvel, I'm talking the history of film. It's a tired plot device. Also, why didn't Nebula give Hawkeye and Black Widow a heads up about this?
- The scene during the epic battle when Scarlet Witch is battling Thanos (which was awesome), then he starts to win and says something about her being alone and ALL the women superheroes appear and say she isn't alone. I mean, yeah, it was cool, and I got the feels, but then I recognized that scene for the empowerment breadcrumbs that it really was.
More Burning Questions:
- So....is Loki still dead? Because I need him to be alive. I'm hoping that something in all the time travel stuff means that he somehow will be alive. Unlike with the Captain America storyline, I will be totally fine if all laws set for time-travel logic have to be upended to make this happen (sorry, love is illogical). He has a show coming out (which means I will have to get a Disney streaming subscription), so what timeline will that be set in?
- Am I going to have to watch Guardians of the Galaxy to get my Thor on? I hope not.
- Black Widow is dead, but I thought she had a movie coming out? So, I guess similar question as the one about Loki.
- Does Captain America's time-hopping new life also mess up Agent Carter's choices and character motivations? Is it all part of the past/present/past/cycle and it's fine?
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