The film is 3 hours split into 3 distinctive parts, the first part is a beautifully measured look at the aftermath of the Snap, how it has effected our core heroes, it's sombre for the most part but there are moments of humour in there. I thought Cap and Nat in particular shone here, and Tony's intial response to Cap is perhaps RDJ's finest scene in his entire MCU run.
I have to mention Professor Hulk here, I loved how this was pulled off, I can just imagine how much fun Ruffalo had doing this version of Hulk and I thought he nailed it, creating some of the most entertaining moments in the film amidst the heavy stakes.
The second half of the film is the aptly named 'Time Heist' as The Avengers go after the Time Stones in different eras of the MCU timeline. This is great fun, firstly we get the recruitment part with some very amusing stuff with beer belly Thor, and the gritty realization of what has become of Hawkeye, his sequence as Ronin in Japan is our first glimpse of the Russos impeccaple hand when it comes to action.
Once the Time Heist kicks in it's kinda like a Mission Impossible sequence with all the moving parts, it's an entertaining, at times touching, and in the case of Clint and Nat's mission, a heartbreaking sequence of events. Thor's mission to Asgard served up a nice scene with his Mom while the initial heist for 3 stones that takes place in the Battle of New York is fun.
The two standout sequences here for me were Cap and Tony travelling back to the 70's and Nat and Clint going for the Soul Stone. Tony meeting his father in the 70's was so well written and acted, while Cap gets a glimpse at Peggy while recovering Pym particles. The "fight" between Nat and Clint over who is going to give their life for the Soul Stone was so well shot and a heartbreakingly desperate struggle between two friends that love each other like brother & sister, I wasn't sure until the last minute which of them would die, I'm sad to see Nat go but she went out giving Clint the second chance he gave her, which was bittersweet perfection.
The last part of the film is pure spectacle mixed with some wonderful character moments before the final character beats play out. It features some time travel-fu that I'm not even going to pretend to have fully grasped yet. The first snap led to one of the most visually stunning shots I've ever seen as all the heroes returned to take part in a battle reminiscent of those seen in LOTR.
In this battle everyone pretty much gets a chance to shine, Hawkeye is badass, Black Panther and Spidey run for the endzone with the Gauntlet, Iron Man & Pepper do a Mr & Mrs Smith before she rescues Spidey, Wanda hands Thanos his ass in a colossal show of power before he calls in the gunships, Captain Marvel swoops in to take out Thanos' mothership and almost him before he outmaneuvers her, and the MCU Ladies all come together for a powerhouse attack on Thanos forces that features a string of big moneyshots with an especially cool one for Valkyrie as she takes down a Leviathan. I felt Ant-Man & Wasp got a little short changed here as their part in Cap's plan didn't come to fruition and Wasp didn't get a big moment, which Ant-Man did....literally.
At the core of this battle is the big 3 facing Thanos, and the real center of this is a fantastic one on one battle between Cap and Thanos, the Russos absolutely captured the titanic struggle in all it's glory, and the moment where Cap summoned Mjolnir had my audience gasping.
As the dust settlled and Thanos turned to dust in a fantastic shot after Tony delivers the 2nd snap with "I am Iron Man!" it dawned on me that we'd "only" lost Nat, the big 3 were still alive.....then the camera turned to Tony and I knew.
The aftermath was filled with fantastic, if bittersweet, character scenes. The funeral for Tony was really nicely done and kind of reminded me of a more sombre version of the end of ROTJ, it was nice to see Clint back with his family and Scott and Hope starting their life together with Cassie, and the little scenes with Clint and Wanda and Happy and Morgan were nicely done while the shot of T'Challa, Shuri and Ramonda overlooking Wakanda as Tony's holomessage played was grand. I think the choice for Thor to make Valkyrie Queen of Asgard and for him to jet off with the Guardians was a good one, Hemsworth's humour fits with that motley crew.
Then we get the finale........I knew the moment Cap set off to take the Time Stones back that he wouldn't return, at least not as we know him. The little interaction with his boys Bucky and Sam played well here and I loved the scene with him and Sam when he reappeared as an old man, it looks like they are going down the route of Falcon becoming Captain America afterall. Evans kinda looked like Clint Eastwood in that aged up guise. Then we get the shot of the wedding ring that leads us into the final shot of Cap and Peggy having that dance at last!
Overall this is a triumph, you can argue over pacing, it will suit some more than others, there isn't much action in the first 2 hours of the film but the character and story work is excellent. The choice to have Tony finish off Thanos was fiiting as everything began with him, and to end with Cap and Peggy together was pitch perfect from the Russos, even if I wish Tony had lived, his sacrifice heightened by seeing the life he'd made with Pepper in the 5 years post-snap. The Russos have done what only George Lucas and Peter Jackson have done before IMO, hats off of them!
9.5/10
