David Bloomquist

Just came back from this wild and unpredictable ride of a movie (here’s to living in Hong Kong, where movies come out a few days earlier). First the good. Lots of good. It takes a lot of skill and guts to create a cinematic world like this. And the payoffs were spot on. You applaud and cheer for scenes you’ve been waiting years for. You get choked up when you realize you’re saying good bye to characters that have become cinematic institutions. You see evolutions of characters that make them feel fresh even after 3-4 movie appearances. The battle scenes are hands down the best in MCU history. And every question that some IMDB message board shut-in will ask is pre-emptively answered. The three hour run time feels much less. It’s gripping. Thanos is much more sinister and powerful than in Infinity War. There will be no “Thanos was right” movement this time. Now the bad. Some characters are so far off their beloved norm (Thor and Hulk) that it was uncomfortable and jarring. I wasn’t really pleased with that. There were two socially conscious scenes that were absolutely crowbarred in and were eye-rollingly condescending and unnecessary, IMO. We know from the way they were written and portrayed that Marvel has powerful women characters. We didn’t need the insulting “Me Too” appeasing scene. Dumb. A totally out of context homosexual reference was also crammed in for no apparent reason. The setup of how deep the emotional sting of loss was for everyone dragged a bit, but once the plan is put in place, the movie doesn’t stop rolling. From surprise cameos to unexpected lines and scenes, this was a wonderful gift to dedicated MCU fans. I look forward to the inevitable multiple viewings.