- i think they took thor's 'funny' characterisation a step too far, maybe? his initial reimagining in ragnarok was goddamn inspired, and they balanced his humorous and serious aspects beautifully in infinity war, but he just felt a bit too goofy for me in endgame. idk. maybe i am being harsh. but his arc was the only one - compared with the other original avengers, anyway - that felt kind of unsatisfying imo
- on the other end of the spectrum, i goddamn loved banner-hulk. that was absolutely wonderful and a far more satisfying outcome for that character
- steve's arc, also, just beautifully wrapped up. also lol @ "that IS america's ass"
- i accept the 'going back and changing the past doesn't change the future' rhetoric, which enables things like future nebula killing past nebula without erasing herself -- even if it feels flimsy as hell compared to the more logical framework presented by back to the future etc -- but surely thanos travelling to the future and dying there would change things regardless; i.e. thanos goes to the future to attack the avengers and ends up getting dusted; therefore, thanos isn't around to make his later attack(s) in 2018, meaning he never gets all the infinity stones, meaning the events of infinity war should never have happened in the first place. right?!
or is this some kind of "no, it created an alternate timeline, so there is a future where thanos doesn't attack in 2018, but that's not 'our' timeline because time travel is bullshit" bullshit
- so there's a random loki out there somewhere with the tesseract -- presumably gonna be the loki we get for his series. deft workaround, i guess
- i guess if gamora's in gotg 3, she's gonna be 2014 gamora also?
- ok so speaking of gamora, the soul stone demands a sacrifice from the person who wants the stone, right? hence why thanos flings gamora off the cliff -- he sacrifices her to earn it. but nat/clint were both trying to kill themselves; doesn't that mean the other one didn't actually sacrifice anything? sure, clint lost someone he loved, but he didn't sacrifice her. in fact, he was actively trying to stop her sacrifice. i dunno. this film was so narratively overstuffed i might have missed some logical explanation for why suicide would work as a means of giving someone else the stone but it seems a stretch
- also how is clint just holding the soul stone when he wakes up, when it was made clear in guardians and other movies that ordinary people can't just handle the stones? the collector's offsider tries to grab the power stone in gotg 1 and literally explodes. actually, this movie has a lot of problems now that i really think about it
- odds that the 'falcon and winter soldier' series will be called 'captain america and winter soldier'? or will sam keep the falcon name regardless? either way, i really loved the way cap's (and sam's) story played out. again, contrary to thor, i think steve's arc really was handled beautifully
- the random teen at stark's funeral was the kid from iron man 3. i had to look it up because in the cinema i was just like 'who the fuck is that?' -- and i watched iron man 3 like two weeks ago so i am sure i am not the only one who doesn't recognise him.
- on that note, i was actually surprised that only nat and stark died. i was expecting a higher body count for the avengers themselves tbh
- i like that they gave carol her comics-accurate haircut. suited her well. i also appreciated that they didn't really make her the be-all-and-end-all deus ex machina i was expecting her to be. she helped a lot, but was hardly vital
- rocket holding nebula's hand on the ship's steps, his distress when he's trapped under the building debris, and when he tries to shield groot during the end battle are all heartbreaking li'l moments. i know he is a cgi raccoon but goddamn
- tom holland is, as always, an absolute joy. paul rudd also really good at bringing levity where it was needed and appreciated
- whole theatre popped like crazy for cap wielding mjolnir. that reveal and sequence was, admittedly, glorious
- 'i am... inevitable.' 'yeah? well, i... am... iron man' -- predictable as hell, but also absolutely perfect
so yeah... this all may seem like i'm being super-down on the film; i'm not -- i really, really enjoyed it and will undoubtedly watch it again, possibly even once more while it's at the movies, but i also don't think it was the best thing i've ever seen in a cinema at all. to each their own though i guess
