Avengers: Endgame Review - 11 Ups & 4 Downs

3. The Character Work

Part of the reason why the film is so long and another reason for its satisfaction rating being so high is the craft with which the writers and the Russos approached character development. Even though this was SUPPOSED to be an escalation and you might have expected everything to be turned up to 11, the things the creators actually turned up mostly were the characters.

There's a lot more Cap here than there was in Infinity War, there's further examination of Tony Stark's reactions to trauma, there's a whole new dynamic for Thor and Hawkeye and Black Widow and Hulk are completely different too. And despite all of the changes, nothing feels like an ass-pull: everything is set up and measured thanks to the luxury of time afforded by the decision to focus mostly on a smaller core cast.

Barely anyone that matters up to the point of the change of gear into the third act sees any of their story-telling compromised (Rocket SLIGHTLY takes a backseat, but he's not an OG Avenger, so it's justified) and that's impressive in a film of this scale.