Movie Talk - Avengers: Infinity War

Well, we’re on the precipice of a big event… the release of Ma starring Olivia Spencer. I don’t know where this movie’s gonna go but—oh yeah, there’s that independent movie featuring the Avengers and Grimace’s evil cousin, Thanos, being released on April 26th. That’s the one I might not be able to see that day because I haven’t gotten my ticket yet. I don’t think Liz would even  be into a possibly 3-hour movie either. Anyway, we’re definitely in the endgame now. Before I get there, I wanted to look at the other Marvel movies I haven’t talked about here. So, it’s Avengers: Infinity War for this post. The other two will get their own post.

 I saw Infinity War last year when it was released at Pulaski’s theatre. I also recently re-watched it on Netflix. I did plan on talking about it last year, but I never got the chance to. It’s pretty much what the MCU has been building up to over the last 6 years. Here, Thanos and his Black Order start to form the Infinity Gauntlet, a device made up of six powerful stones. When put together, the wearer has the ability to rewrite reality. Since this is a major threat to the whole universe, the Avengers aren’t the only heroes on deck for this one. We got Doctor Strange, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Black Panther, and Spider-Man to thwart this threat. Would it be enough to stop Thanos and his reign of terror? Well, since Avengers: Endgame is about to be released, you can kind of guess that unfortunate answer.

PROS

He looks good.

So what can I say that hasn’t been already said about this one? It’s a blast, pure and simple. It’s the culmination of six years’ worth of movies. I can’t call it perfect, but it did a lot of things well. It pulls a lot from everything done in the MCU. It even has some surprising characters show up. It also pulls a lot from stories that involved Thanos and the Infinity Gems/Stones in the comics. I bet we’ll be getting more loose adapting in Endgame.

I’ll just get the big, purple awesomeness out of the way first. Besides, it’s been said that Thanos is the protagonist of the film and I can kind of see it. Even though he’s a villain, he has reasons for doing what he’s doing and you kind of empathize with the things he does… kind of, mind you. He’s still a murderous butthead, after all. The stuff he does here is one-part awesome and one-part terrifying. Let’s just say some characters don’t make it out of this one. The ending especially punches you in the stomach. Even though I knew it was coming, it was still a shock when I first saw it.

As for our actual heroes, they were good for the most part. You get to see how the team has been ever since their little Civil War. You get a crapton of stuff thrown at you in the movie, so some heroes don’t get a lot of time. That’s not a bad thing since we are getting another movie with some of them. We end up following three groups of heroes doing things to thwart Thanos’ plans. Iron Man’s team was probably my favorite with the Thor/RR/Groot team being second. By the way, this definitely redeemed Thor in my eyes. Ragnarok helped a little, but this was pretty awesome. Other standouts in the movie were Dr. Strange, Nebula, Gamora, Steve Rogers, Iron Man and a couple of others.

Lookin' good, Odinson.

This movie also has the tough job of balancing a lot of tones. We got the mostly serious Earth heroes mixed with the jovial Guardians. We get pretty dark with some scenes while other scenes had me cracking up. It doesn’t always succeed in the comedy department, but I’ll get to that later. The action scenes were pretty good for the most part. Thanos’ fight on Titan is pretty awesome since we got the Guardians, Strange, Iron Man, and Spidey going at him. The big fight in Wakanda is also pretty cool to see. In fact, the special effects were good especially with how Thanos is realized. Finally, the music from Alan Silvesteri is gold.

CONS

Here's hoping that green guy in the back gets some redemption 'cause... eh.

As for the dislikes, there are few, but there’s nothing that’s movie-breaking. Some characters get the short shrift here like Steve Rogers and his group of heroes. It’s understandable, but I did want a little more of bearded Steve. Man, that was a good beard! I also  felt like Bruce Banner/Hulk really got the short end of the stick. There were a couple of moments here where I wasn’t liking his direction. Hopefully, Endgame can fix that. Also, you had some Guardian characters that were “meh.” I’m looking at you, Drax. There were also some humorous moments that didn’t work as much.

Yeah, I'm a little disappointed with that CGI too, Tony.

I was kind of underwhelmed on how the Black Order was used. They were there to be henchmen and nothing more. That’s not a bad thing, but they kind of felt lacking. The best one from the group (Ebony Maw) gets taken out in the lamest way. While I did like the effects here, there were some that were lacking. The biggest ones that kind of got on my nerves was when Spidey and Iron Man were unmasked. It just looked so fake on-screen and on TV. Other than those things and small nitpicks (Quill, sit down), this was a pretty good movie.

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Well, that’s all I got for this one. In closing, Infinity War was a cool movie. I can only hope that Avengers: Endgame can bring it all home. As for the other two movies, I touch on those this weekend. For now, I’m going to check on my hamburgers, exercise, and finish out Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Also, learn to keep your cool.

I like that look. I felt the same way when that happened.