My family and I just got back from seeing this first thing in the morning, and we were all in agreement on our thoughts. Time and time again, we've seen varying results for finales. Be it tv series, movie series etc. Some have been good, some so-so and others whiffed in more ways than one.
So for a film to have a build up of 11 years and 21 movies beforehand, for us it's a insane achievement that they stuck the landing on this one! It was a sheer rollercoaster of emotions, there was a metric ton of callbacks and nods to all the various films, and like with Infinity War, the film nailed multiple emotional beats/moments which you only really have one shot at. (Something which certain previous DC films have failed completely at.)
An that final act is gonna' go down as one of the greats. So many bad-@$$ moments happened in that act, including one which made me instigate a full-theater applause. I've never done that before, but when that moment happened, I didn't even think about it, my hands instantly slammed together like one of those deranged toy monkeys with the cymbals.
There's a few other things I wanna' mention, such as going in detail on the moments I mentioned, so MONDO SPOILER ALERT.
First up, a note on those emotional moments. Which also has a HUGE ENDING SPOILER, so seriously, don't click on it if you haven't seen it.
So Infinity War gave us some whoppers of emotional moments you can only really do once due to the element of surprise. Thanos sacrificing Gamora, Scarlet Witch mercy killing Vision (complete with Thanos reversing that and coldly killing Vision) and finally, the Snap. When I saw those moments, I could help but think that DC really botched the emotional moments in BVS: DoJ.
...and then came Endgame which has a more direct comparison to the Death of Superman. An Endgame lands it perfectly, especially with the funeral with everyone there. With the Death of Superman in the comics, there's a lot of emotional weight to it with one, a Superman we actually care about and two, all the heroes at his funeral. BVS screwed that up royally in so many ways, and Endgame legit showed how it should've been handled.
Finally, two other moments. One is the moment that made me start a applause in the theater. The other is a line I do wanna' mention, but even hinting at it can be a spoiler. I put both of these under FAN SERVICE SPOILERS.
Ever since Age of Ultron, I wanted to see him wield it...the moment I heard that sound effect I nearly screamed.
As for the line, I love that they took a line used in one of the most universally despised moments in recent comic history and made it work perfectly in context. Hail Hydra indeed.
END SPOILERS
All in all, it's been one heck of a journey, and I'm happy I got to experience this from the very beginning. It's had it's ups and downs, but this was a triumphant finish to the Infinity War Saga.
Oh yeah,
@Brian G. Reading your twitter, what was "THAT scene" that some dude went to the bathroom right beforehand? There was a good chunk of scenes which would qualify for it.