Avengers: Infinity War

[HappyGilmore]

Saw this last night. It delivered.

Josh Brolin was awesome as Thanos.

[clockworkcanary]

I thought it was good. Loved the interactions between the various arrogant heroes. It was weird how power levels weren't consistent from previous outings (Vision, wth?). Also, thought Darkseid and the Furies...I mean, Thanos and his black guard or whatever were ok (all kidding aside, Thanos was a better developed villain than most Marvel). I especially loved Dasaadd... I mean, the Voldamort -a pretty cool henchman.

Glad it ended the way it did, but it's pretty clear how they plan to use the same plot devi...gauntlet to undo everything, so the stakes really weren't that high when there's an obvious douche-ex-machina available.

Still, it was a fun ride.

Dislikes: the Jack Kirby 4th World New Gods rip-off, but more infuriating was the lack of Black Widow's red hair. Unforgivable sin lol.

[Archivist]

YES, you need to watch both Guardians of the Galaxy movies first.

Thank you!  I'll go buy the DVD's this weekend.  I don't think Infinity War is going anywhere, anytime soon.

[Olivia Bauer]

I was the most nervous about this movie. Age of Ultron's ultimate downfall was that it had too many characters. I assumed that Infinity War was also going to be a huge mess and that it wouldn't live up to six years of hype. I was pleasantly surprised that they somehow managed to give most of the characters equal spotlight.

I think the most shocking thing is that they made Thanos empathetic instead of a megalomaniacal mustache-twiddler. Throughout he seemed unhappy with what he was doing, seeing it as necessary evil.

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Spoilers
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I noticed as the movie went on that Thanos used a suspicious lack of lethal force aside from killing Loki at the very start of the film and leaving Thor for dead. His goons used lethal force but he had many chances to kill the heroes and even accepted Dr. Strange's plea to spare Tony Stark's life. While still a terrible person he came off as a sort of Lawful Evil, holding to a code of ethics. It was also surprising that he saw Gamora not as a tool, but a true daughter and was very upset that he had to kill her.

He also wasn't completely incorrect, sadly. Overpopulation is a very real issue and there would be benefit to 50% of humans dying in real life, as horrible as that is. Not that I'm defending what he did. The end of the movie shows how terrible killing half the universe is. Everyone that died had individual personality and loved ones that will mourn their loss.

While Infinity War obviously will have a part two it's very, very strange to end a superhero movie with the villain winning. When the credits rolled in I heard my sister go "What? What?!", and it was kinda funny.

However the ending is ruined by corporate cynicism. Yeah, sure. Spider-Man is totally gonna die after he only had one standalone movie, ya got me, movie. I'm absolutely convinced they won't come back to life. I'm completely convinced that Disney is fully willing to miss out on a s**t-ton of money by killing off major heroes. They even show right at the end of the movie that Thanos can use the time stone to bring Vision back to life (Just to kill him again). They very clearly established the mechanism that I can guarantee will be used to resurrect the heroes in the next movie. I'm hopeful some of the minor heroes stay dead but it's obvious certain characters will be coming back.

As usual it's not exactly high art but I was very impressed by the emotional heaviness of the film and the fact that they somehow were able to give most of the twenty-eight characters decent amounts of screen time. I think the only character that got shafted in terms of screen time was Black Panther. But his movie sucked balls so I don't care. Also, apparently the film hated Iron Man 3 as much as I did because they came up with an excuse to give Tony Stark another synthetic heart.
The post-credit scene wasn't able to get me pumped, I'm afraid. I had to Google what that symbol even meant and when I found out I said "Oh. A Hero I've never heard of. Ok.".

The comedy was really funny as usual. Let's be honest, every Marvel movie is an action/comedy. I lost my s**t when one of Thanos's goons was called "Squidward". Some people complained about the Guardian's jokes but I think most of them worked. The part where Peter Quill starts mocking Thor was just kinda awkward and uncomfortable. Still, it's one thousand times funnier than "WHAT ARE THOSE?!". Also, while this wasn't a joke, Peter Dinklage being taller than everyone else is unintentionally funny; especially after seeing Three Billboards.

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No more spoilers
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Anyway, I can only recommend this film if you've seen the other Marvel movies. I skipped Ant Man but that literally doesn't matter at all. A new viewer won't know what the hell is happening and won't be invested as much in the characters which isn't good for a film. But as someone that has seen most of them it worked well for me.

It's better than the first Avengers and is my third favorite Marvel film next to the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies. It's surprisingly emotionally heavy and I am willing to overlook most of its flaws.

8/10

[HappyGilmore]

I hope the heroes that died early (Loki, Heimdall and Gamora) stay as such.

I'm fairly certain those who suffered the "snap" are back in some capacity.

[Zapranoth]

{spoilers}


So if you read the source, you know that the gauntlet can restore anyone or anything back.   So the revolving door of death from comic books is indeed kept in the movie -- and I'm okay by that.  That's how comic books are.   I'll be curious to see if they let the gauntlet just rearrange matter and energy to bring someone back, or if it'll require a time-turner and change something in the past approach.   But either way, of course it can be all undone.     I'm surprised when people show up to see THIS kind of movie and expect anything otherwise, frankly.

[RCMerchant]

Zap's right. NOTHING is written in stone in the world of superheros.
Nobody dies forever in comic books. Captain America, Superman, Batman- they all died. It's comic book land, people. Anything can happen.
Just like Monsterland. the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man. I mean-cmon.  
If the box office does big-they will come.

I mean- How many FRIDAY THE 13TH movies (the FINAL CHAPTER) or NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (FREDDY'S DEAD) s**t did they continue when it was supposed to be over? Saying 'the end' to something is just a come-on to get you to buy tickets-until the next one. Called 'ballyhoo.'

When you get down to it-this is comic book stuff. Not the GODFATHER.

[Olivia Bauer]

I hope the heroes that died early (Loki, Heimdall and Gamora) stay as such.

I'm fairly certain those who suffered the "snap" are back in some capacity.

Vision also wasn't killed by the snap. He had his infinity stone manually, and brutally ripped out of his head.

[HappyGilmore]

That is true about Vision.

Fairly certain he'll stay gone, although given Stark's nano -technology and access to the technology and Shuri in Wakanda, Vision can maybe be rebuilt

[clockworkcanary]

After thinking about Thanos' motive a bit more, I think he comes off kind of short sighted.

Essentially, he's kicking the can down the road instead of really solving anything. Rather than wipe out half the universe, why not attack the disease instead of the symptom and fix the resource problem with the ultra powerful plot glove? With his solution, eventually the universe will repopulate and encounter the same resource problem again and again.

I think there's some interesting social undertone here. The ultra powerful would rather kick the can down the road while folks die rather than fix the real problem (i.e. resources). Sounds like both parties in Congress lol (grandstanding, but ultimately ineffectual).

Why does Thanos go this route? Because he's evil and insane. Out of all the "end of the world" villains, at least he has motivation, even if short-sighted and misguided.  

Great friggin movie, though. Best Darkseid knock-off to date.

[Ted C]

Rather than wipe out half the universe, why not attack the disease instead of the symptom and fix the resource problem with the ultra powerful plot glove?

In this continuity, while the Stones may have unlimited power, the glove used to control them clearly does not. The "snap" looks to have seriously damaged it.

It's entirely likely that what you are proposing, conjuring more resources into the universe, is beyond the glove's capacity.

[Alex]

Don't forget that Thanos is known as "The Mad Titan", not the sane and reasonable Titan. That would be his distant cousin Edwin.

[Chainsawmidget]

I think they did a great job of actually making Thanos sympathetic and giving him a good reasoning behind what he does, but that doesn't change the fact that he's not actually right and is still rather insane. 

Also, Thanos may be the ripoff, but he's better than Darkseid has ever been. 

Also, I LOVE the interacts some of the heros had.  Starlord's jealous over Thor and his pop culture banter with Spider-man was great. 

Dr. Strange also made a wonderful foil for Ironman. 

Thanos's henchmen where pretty disposable except for the telekinetic guy.  He rocked, but the big brute, the girl, and the guy who looked like Green Goblin, they were just kinda there. 

Also, they brought back red Skull.  Didn't expect to ever see him again in the movies. 

[HappyGilmore]

Thanos came across really well. I'd say it's partially how they wrote it and how Brolin acted it.

I've grown up a Marvel guy, and loved the comics. I've waited my 34 years of existence for Thanos.

[Olivia Bauer]

That is true about Vision.

Fairly certain he'll stay gone, although given Stark's nano -technology and access to the technology and Shuri in Wakanda, Vision can maybe be rebuilt

Vision is a pretty boring character, IMO. I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed dead. I don't think he was exactly a fan favorite and was pretty disposable.