Continuing my MCU rewatch

This movie, of all movies, gets a pass from me in the category of "how well does it stand on its own." It's the second part of the finale of a 22 movie epic famous for how it overlaps. It shouldn't be anyone's first MCU movie.
Fair, but I also think that takes it out of the “just a really good movie” category. And some of the “time heist” bits are just absolutely awful except as pithy little jokes: “eat a salad” stands out for me as literally the bottom of the barrel of shitty, mean-spirited “jokes” as well as just absolutely gut-punching Thor’s character development for the sake of a cruel quip. Not remotely the payoff of seeing his mother again I’d have hoped for.

On the other hand, I think Infinity War stands on its own very well, and is much more re-watchable. I think it’s an “actual good movie” on its own merits even if I don’t love the aggregate mass from which it is spawned.
 
“eat a salad” stands out for me as literally the bottom of the barrel of shitty, mean-spirited “jokes” as well as just absolutely gut-punching Thor’s character development for the sake of a cruel quip.
For what it's worth, the scene between them *is* really good, and Hemsworth acts the shit out of it.

But yes, undermining the drama of a scene for the sake of a dumb joke has become Thor's thing.
 
That line is one of my favorite MCU lines. It's completely in character and in context and it does not trivialize Thor's three-second-prior victory. Also, he should eat a salad. It's also completely unexpected from a regal queen, which makes it all the more funny.

I'm on record as loving Gwyneth as Pepper Potts in the MCU - she's very high up there in my favorite characters. The second Tony tells her he figured out time travel her face shows she knows she's going to lose him to save the universe.

"Something tells me I should put it in a lock box and drop it at the bottom of the lake. Go to bed."
"...but would you be able to rest?"

It's a beautiful exchange.

I like the idea of fitting Coulson in somewhere, but Marvel really wanted to keep Agents of SHIELD separate so that probably kneecapped that idea. Also, scheduling. But he should have been in the roll call at the end.

As should Paul Bettany!! Vision not being included feels really off to me. I know he's not in the movie, but giving him a tiny bit so he could be included would have been worth it. He and Natasha are both standing in my Endgame line-up.

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I'm on record as loving Gwyneth as Pepper Potts in the MCU - she's very high up there in my favorite characters. The second Tony tells her he figured out time travel her face shows she knows she's going to lose him to save the universe.

"Something tells me I should put it in a lock box and drop it at the bottom of the lake. Go to bed."
"...but would you be able to rest?"

It's a beautiful exchange.
Conversely, Pepper's one of my least favorite characters in the MCU (post-Ironman 1, at least), so it stands out to me when she's used really well. That whole scene was really good, and I think they ended her character strongly, not because she fought as Rescue, but because of the way she kept her composure for Tony's sake and eased his death. I don't think Ironman 2 or 3 Pepper would've held it together like that.
 
That line is one of my favorite MCU lines. It's completely in character and in context and it does not trivialize Thor's three-second-prior victory. Also, he should eat a salad. It's also completely unexpected from a regal queen, which makes it all the more funny.
Wow, couldn’t disagree more, it literally made me tear up for poor Thor that his mother was so shitty to him, just an awful “kick him when he’s down” moment. The poor guy is depressed and suffering, and it’s constantly used as an excuse for low-hanging-fruit body shaming, even by his own mother. Exactly the kind of nasty put-down played for “laughs” that I hate about these films.
 
Wow, couldn’t disagree more, it literally made me tear up for poor Thor that his mother was so shitty to him, just an awful “kick him when he’s down” moment.
Or, people who have a healthy, caring relationship can poke a little fun at each other with mildly snarky comments and have no malice behind it. Or use a joke to serve as a little nudge to remind someone who they are as well.
 
I watched that scene again and she is so supportive and concerned, and he is so clearly feeling better after the talk, that I feel the "eat a salad" line is just a typical Mom line like "clean your room" and is barely even a joke but a worst a slight rib - more about a parent believing in her child while pushing him to be the person he could be, or had been - and this is just after absolving him for not being perfect which he needed to hear, but also that he can pull himself together, which he also needed to hear.

I think some scenes/films play differently in a theater than at home. In theaters I suspect some people laughed, but I do not see anything about how that was written or performed that it was meant to be even remotely cruel or an attack. At home, I think it plays innocently.

But that's just me, we all view things through different lenses.
 
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More thoughts on Endgame:

- Love how this movie uses the two missing characters from IW - Clint and Scott - to catch the audience up. It's clever, it's quick, it's devastating.

- I think they miscast Cassie by hiring an actress who looked so much older than the original actress and with different eye color. It looks like 10 years have gone by, not five. The subsequent re-recast did not help matters.

- Nebula, Rocket and Rhodey are a fun trio. From the "we work with what we got", to Nebula's thoughts on Thanos to her interaction with Tony, to Rocket's pretty much everything - his "I can't breathe, I can't breathe!" in the end battle always gets to me. Every character gets good moments in this film, but these three are especially on point.

- Shoutout again to Carol's intro scene with Thor. I just wish there was more of this/her.

What I always admired about this film was how it condensed an at-that-point already sprawling MCU cast back down to the original six plus a few for most of their finale. The Time Heist was a very clever plot mechanic to revisit fun things and re-setup Thanos for the Endgame. I don't mind they fought Thanos twice - I think it's quite clever and entertaining.

"On your left" never fails to get me.

I think it's super important that not every main character ended in this film - Thor continuing on makes the most sense since he's not mortal. I would have liked to have seen more of his time with the Guardians not directed by Taika, but whoops.

On the Guardians front, I loved the Nebula/Gamora/Nebula bits. Re-introducing Gamora worked pretty seamlessly and Karen Gillan did an amazing job showing the utter wreckage Thanos did to her.

There should have been a Hulk follow-up, and Hawkeye probably should have been a movie about exactly what the series was about - the human toll of being a hero and passing the torch. Widow gets her prequel, Hawkeye gets his sequel. Remove Maya, remove Fisk, use Valentina and Yelena more and better. Has anyone seen anyone fan-edit Hawkeye into a film? I'd be very curious to see that.

If you've watched all the Endgame deleted scenes, it's amazing how fine a line the final film walks. A lot of ideas were shot and tried - and that's admirable - that I'm so glad were re-thought. It just shows how delicate this whole thing was - and how many things had to go exactly right for this to work. For instance:

I am inevitable. And I... am... Iron Man.

Being one of the last things added. Holy crap. I hope that editor got a massive bonus for that idea.

Last idea I just had, building on my last post about including Paul Bettany. What If Wanda was conjuring a vision of Vision when Clint walks up to her and she tries to hide it. Would have included Vision better and set-up what was already in-progress to follow. He deserved it!
 
- I think they miscast Cassie by hiring an actress who looked so much older than the original actress and with different eye color. It looks like 10 years have gone by, not five.
Yes! Like I said, I had to do the math to confirm the age of the actor was "accurate." To be honest, her most important contribution to this movie was showing us how much time Scott has missed out on while stuck in the quantum realm, so an older-looking Cassie was the direction they needed to go. But I feel like there's a compromise somewhere where we can get that visual cue without being kicked out of the story but what seems like too much aging (even when it isn't.) But to be honest, I didn't even notice the eye color.

- Nebula, Rocket and Rhodey are a fun trio. From the "we work with what we got", to Nebula's thoughts on Thanos to her interaction with Tony, to Rocket's pretty much everything - his "I can't breathe, I can't breathe!" in the end battle always gets to me.
Gillan never won me over. There's probably a dozen good scenes I could point to about the character, but I found her Gamora uniquely grating (meaning I've liked Gillan in everything else I've seen her in). But I did appreciate her role in making Rhodey stand out, something I don't think he'd been able to do before as the "other" Iron Man in all those Iron Man movies. But yeah, Rocket is so good with the Avengers. He was an absolute breakout in an truly packed movie. He's the kind of character that is so competent and cocky, that when you see him break down, you know it's for real.

I think it's super important that not every main character ended in this film - Thor continuing on makes the most sense since he's not mortal. I would have liked to have seen more of his time with the Guardians not directed by Taika, but whoops.
I've the exact opposite opinion. I believe very strongly they should've used Endgame to wrap the stories of all the original characters like Steve, Thor and Tony, and left the newer characters like Wanda, Strange and T'Challa to bridge the way into the next Saga.

For the most part, that's what they did, but aside from Bruce and Clint sticking around to launch their replacements, it was Thor who just refused to stop. His Endgame ending was not what I would've picked for him, but I still respect what they did, and I would've been very satisfied if that was his swansong as he went off into the universe, free of the responsibilities of the throne. But then he gets a 4th movie, does an about face on his responsibilities, and generally undoes the character development they'd done over Dark World, Ragnarok and Endgame. Hell, they even reverted him back to using Mjolnir at the end of Love and Thunder. Just a big step backward.

I am inevitable. And I... am... Iron Man.
I had thought that was improvised by RDJ, but can't actually imagine a version of the script without it. I may've heard wrong and haven't seen any of the deleted footage, so possibly apocryphal.

Wait, I take that back. I have seen some footage of everyone kneeling next to dead Tony, usually by some internet goober trying to be deep about it. I hate it so much that I was bracing for it when we got to that part and was ecstatic it never happened.

What If Wanda was conjuring a vision of Vision when Clint walks up to her and she tries to hide it.
Oh shit. When she said "they both do," I had been assuming she meant Pietro. Forgot all about Vision there.
 
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