Avengers: Endgame (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Joe Russo and Anthony Russo

Starring:  Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Don Cheadle, (voice of) Bradley Cooper, (voice of) Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth

I won't give away spoilers, since if I did there may be a warrant issued for my arrest.   The spoilers are mostly inevitable and the events which unfold are anticlimactic.   Perhaps it was asking too much of the Russo Brothers to top their far superior Avengers: Infinity War.   Endgame is among the middle of the pack of Avengers films.    It seems to have borrowed its inspiration not from Infinity War, but from Back to the Future II and the lesser Avengers movies.

I will tread lightly.   At the conclusion of Infinity War, Thanos (Brolin) succeeded in his plan to gather the six infinity stones into a giant metal glove and finger snap half of the population of the universe out of existence.   Some members of the Avengers disintegrated into nothingness, but some survived, such as:  Iron Man (Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Evans), Hulk (Ruffalo), Thor (Hemsworth), Black Widow (Johannson), and others.   Thought to be lost was Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Rudd), who was seemingly stuck in a quantum zone during Thanos' finger snap and escaped death. 

The remaining Avengers attempt to undo the present by time traveling, as suggested by Lang, and away they go to the past to capture the stones before Thanos could get to them.    There are some heartfelt moments created by the Avengers meeting people from their past, and a few comic ones in which they run into their past selves.    This is where the movie reminded me all too much of Back to the Future Part II, while the ending battle reminded me of the endless war of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with thousands of CGI figures hurling themselves at each other in a dizzying, confusing fervor.    Soon, the outcome hinges on who can stop whom from snapping his or her finger. 

Avengers: Endgame pushes a three-hour running time, but to its credit, it doesn't move slowly.  However, the movie doesn't exactly take us anywhere inspired or challenging, unlike its predecessor.
Even some moments in which Tony Stark runs into a key person from his past, or Captain America's ultimate fate, aren't the emotional powerhouse scenes they should be.    It is amusing to see Thor sink into a drunken stupor of self-pity and wind up looking like, well not the Thor we've come to expect.
It is fun to see Hemsworth's comic side after having Thor behave as a platitude-spewing bore in the first two Thor movies.    The actors aren't bored with playing superheroes after many films together, which is also a testament to the caliber of performers here.

After a climax which leaves us with more questions than answers (and not the good kind of questions), we realize it is fitting that Endgame is said to be the final Avengers movie.    There isn't much more which can be done with the gang, and their final journey together isn't terrible, but surely disappointing.