#Review: 'Avengers: Endgame' is just ambitious fan-service riddled with problems
What's the story
It's taken 11 years and 22 films for the Infinity Saga to come to a close. While watching Avengers: Endgame, one can immediately tell the amount of hard work and heart that went into it. It was a challenging feat and although the film has been received positively, it's hard to create a film of this scale without mistakes, and there are a lot.
Details
To a non-fan, the film might seem hedonistic and garbled
From the looks of it, Endgame was specifically designed for fan-service: to be respectful to the characters whose stories conclude with it, and the fans who adore them. Endgame is essentially grim, but it retains MCU's signature tongue-in-cheek humor, a few tearjerkers and of course, bathos. But to a non-fan, the film might seem hedonistic and garbled without any significant payoffs.
Hits
It's a miracle 'Endgame' is not an utter disaster
There's a reason why critics have been raving about the film and it is that Endgame brings a fulfilling close to the arcs that end with it. With so many plot-lines to juggle, a gazillion characters, and a story that travels back in time to the previous films, all within three hours, it's a miracle Endgame is not an utter disaster.
Misses
No justice to Bucky-Cap and Carol-Fury
Endgame does no justice to Bucky Barnes. He may as well have not been in it, and he barely says a full sentence to Cap, his supposed best friend. Another friend duo that didn't get *any* screen-time was Fury and Captain Marvel. The people who vanished are brought back without proper discussions/debate about the re-adjustments it would take.
Tokenism
'Endgame' only gives token representation to female superheroes
Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers was marketed as the strongest Avenger, who would take down Thanos, but she hardly gets any screen time. Although Carol still beats the majority of Thanos' army single-handed, it's Iron-Man who beats Thanos and takes the cake. Grandstanding much? And of course, Marvel throws a bone to feminists with a two-minute sequence of female heroes being awesome. *eyeroll*
Plot holes
'Endgame' contradicts MCU's own established logic
Endgame's non-linear structure allows several glaring plot holes to go overlooked. For example, whether a major character is even dead/alive is not addressed at the end of the film, and it doesn't seem like it's intentional. The film also contradicts several of MCU's own established logic: "A soul for a soul" and how one Pym particle takes one person through time once.
Conclusion
'Endgame' neither tries nor claims to be great cinema
However, considering Endgame's design, it's hard to take it seriously. It neither tries nor claims to be great cinema, even more so than other MCU films. The film was made to serve one purpose, to conclude this story in a fashion that doesn't disappoint the fans of two specific characters. It is what it is: glorified fan-service; and at that, the film delivers elegantly.