The only movie that I saw this year was Avengers: Endgame, which was a bittersweet letdown for me. Time travel stories are risky and I'm of the mindset that they usually feel like the "easy way out", plus I believe that concept should have been ignored completely the moment it reared its head; it wasn't needed, plain and simple. I agree with a post I read somewhere where the OP opines Marvel underestimated its audience by not trying to delve deeper into the cosmic aspect with this movie. In short, Thanos seized six gems of immeasurable power that should have undoubtedly alerted, at the very least, The Living Tribunal...or Death for the sake of keeping within the boundaries of what has been established so far, as well as trying to stay true to the comics. Thanos repeated the snap and "used the stones to destroy the stones", so that alone should've had the cosmic klaxon blaring. These cosmic beings were introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy, so we know they exist and are a fundamental part for the existence of these stones, so why not propel their inclusion within the MCU with this movie. I get they wanted to have an "earthly" story where the heroes save the day and are the focus, but the movie as a whole is no more than basically three hours of fan service. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but not so disparagingly. I mean, this is a three-hour long film where at times all we get is noise. For instance, we didn't need a scene at a diner where Prof. Hulk explained to us how he managed to merge his two halves while being so insufferable with the way he behaved. Too much exposition in this movie, quite frankly. The scale of what Thanos did was more than just snapping his fingers and getting his wish granted; he played God using instruments that weren't meant for him or anyone else, so the involvement of the Cosmic Entities should have been a given. It's cool that they apparently will explore this with Phase 4, but Avengers: Endgame was the perfect opportunity to do so, which is what this movie is for the most part: a case of missed opportunities. This movie was basically used as a promotional vehicle to push Disney+ shows.
Overall, when I watched the movie I felt as if they wrote the script the day before, or rather as they went along, like when you were at school and had to turn in an assignment and did it on the way there. They had an entire decade to perfect this movie, and, to me, they chose the easy way out. There's a little bit of truth to what Martin Scorsese said of Marvel movies not being cinematic given they don't bring anything new to the table or challenge the medium, they're more of a spectacle than anything else. I do believe Martin should watch some of those films, though, as I'm sure, taking their grandiosity away, he'll appreciate movies like Thor and Captain American: The Winter Soldier, and quite possibly The Avengers.
I've concluded that Far From Home will most likely be the last MCU film I watch; Phase 4 opens up with Black Widow, and I honestly think that movie is, at least, 4 years too late, and bringing in The Eternals seems great, but again, the opportunity to do so was missed a Phase, maybe two ago. There's definitely potential with what Phase 4 is offering, but overall I'm not particularly interested—I'm still quite bitter with the way they have treated the Hulk.
