AVENGERS INFINITY WAR REVIEW ... SO SPOILERS
So to start off, I absolutely love this film. This is the best conceivable movie I could have imagined to be the start of the conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. The film has so much fan service, and it does touch upon nearly every plot thread in the MCU films to date. With the fan service, we saw so many great charcter meetings which were some of my favorite parts of the film.
But going through the film, that first scene was amazing. I did like the voice transmissions over the Marvel logo regarding the Nova corps getting attacked, but when the camera went to the Asgardian ship and you see everyone on the ground, you knew stuff was going to go down. In that scene I saw Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) on the ground, however, I didn't see Korg anywhere. Korg might have been there, I don't know. I'm willing to bet that those two did manage to survive. When Thanos shows up and he confronts Loki, that was amazing. I like the way that Thanos still wanted to punish Loki for his failure in the first Avengers, and he eventually did with killing Loki, which was an insanely heartbreaking scene; all the more so when you see Thor there helpless.
Hulk vs Thanos. That was a brilliant fight sequence. The CG could have been touched up a little more, more so on the Hulk, but it still looked awesome. I liked how the camera zoomed out to the side acting like this scene was a fighting game. With that fight scene, you grasp a sense of how strong Thanos is because he sort of makes the Hulk cry, and that is why we didn't see the Hulk after that scene. I liked how Ebony Maw said, "Let him [Thanos] have his fun" that is the basis quote for why Thanos doesn't kill any other Avenger immediately. Heimdall (Idris Elba) sending Bruce to Earth was brilliant. It created for a good final use of his powers before Heimdall was killed. Infinity War very much does conclude the Ragnarok for Thor. All of his family, childhood friends and half of his people are dead. That does also follow with Thor throughout the film, potentially giving him the most development out of all the heroes.
New York was once again under siege in an alien attack in Infinity War, and this is where we see some of the greatest pairings in the MCU come to the screen. That being with Iron Man and Doctor Strange. The characters interacting with each other was the greatest thing ever, even better than I could have imagined. The wit that both Benedict Cumberbatch and Robwert Downery Jr. conveyed on screen made for some interesting scenes, and a lot of great humor between the two. Throughout the film, the two having their differences was an interesting concept, seeing as though both had similar origins, however, where they are at the moment are very different. In the mix of them was Spiderman, who balanced the humor amazingly well. In that New York battle, I liked how Wong and Bruce were used, and it their exits from the scene fitted when the other three left Earth.
Getting the Soul Stone was one of the biggest mysteries regarding Infinity War, the last Stone that was to be discovered. The film did do a great job in showing why it was a secret to everyone because it was one of the most dangerous stones to get, someone has to die. When Thanos and Gamora went to Folder, I was interested to see if the Soul Stone would just be lying there, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Red Skull shows up. I freaked out when that happened. Because this is one of the most asked questions "Where is the Red Skull". Missing for 14 films, he re-appears. The character looked mostly CG and not practical like his appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger.
The death of Gamora was one of the best scenes of the film. We saw the absolute twisted emotion on Thanos when he had to kill Gamora. The use of the flashback before that scene really emphasizes the impact of the death of Gamora on Thanos more.
On Titan, we saw Iron Man, Spiderman, and Doctor Strange meet Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis for the first time. This was so fun to see. I loved that first interaction when we Tony said to Star-Lord about Missouri, "That's on Earth dumbass." The way the Guardians of the Galaxy humor played with the Avengers humor was interesting as you get this sense of how the Guardians are essentially a dumbed down cosmic version of the Avengers. The battle of Titan was brilliantly executed, and we saw Nebula join in on the action. Before the battle, we did see Doctor Strange go through the 14,000,605 different possible timelines, and only one timeline had the Avengers win. I will discuss that set up for Avengers four tomorrow. But it looks interesting in the way it played out.
Having Star-Lord be the one to jeopardize the plan was great, especially how that played out with Gamora's death. The film did heavily rely on you watching Guardians of the Galaxy, as Gamora wished that Quill would stop Thanos for his mother, and he saw that he failed her in doing that. That Star-Lord not only saw the love of his life, Gamora killed, however, he had the sense of his failure from his mother. However, the film did do a great job in conveying the intimate relationship between Star-Lord and Gamora in the film, creating a larger impact on that scene.
Seeing the Avengers on Titan struggle in their fight against Thanos was amazing. We saw the Spider legs on the Iron Spider suit which was awesome to see, and I was glad they were revealed officially in the film. Fighting Thanos on Titan looked gorgeous. From the bleak orange lighting in the background of the Avengers and Guardians hopelessly fighting Thanos looked amazing. There was some great thought going into the filmmaking. In the fight, I loved how Iron Man used all those Extremis attachments from the suit, but nothing worked. It showed how strong Thanos is.
In that Titan battle, the Reality Stone was used a decent amount, and it was awesome seeing its different abilities, none of which were shown off in Thor The Dark World.
Speaking of Thor, we saw him go on a quest with Rocket and teen Groot to get a new weapon. The dynamic between Thor and
On Earth, we saw the rest of the Avengers group back together. We got some amazing shots in that Scarlet Witch and Vision fight scene against the Black Order. Moving from there, I loved the Avengers meeting in the HQ. We did get a General Ross cameo in there which was great. The Avengers meeting back up again was something which was special. I do wish that we saw a little extension of that scene, especially with Black Widow and Bruce Banner meeting together again. Wakanda was displayed a little more in this film, more the immediate surrounding of the city. I liked the assembly scene of T'Challa gathering all the heroes in Wakanda to fight, like Bucky and M'Baku. Shuri had some great moments in the film, like how she teased Bruce for his work on the Vision.
The climactic battle in Wakanda was brilliantly executed. I loved seeing the tribes of Wakanda unite and form an army. The backing of an army behind the Avengers looked brilliant. At first thought, this felt like a repeat of the other Avengers films where there is an alien army. There were so interesting team-ups in the fight when Scarlet Witch comes to fight. I absolutely loved the Black Widow, Okoye, and Scarlet Witch tag team fight on Proxima Midnight. It was great seeing the Avengers characters fight alongside the Black Panther characters. In the middle of that battle Thor, Rocket, and Groot come to Earth, and it is the coolest entrance ever. From there, the team-ups go to a whole new level of awesome. Bucky and Rocket had a great Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1 style team up. I did like Steve telling his name to Groot. There were so many great scenes with Rocket and Groot in Wakanda, and they all defined my expectations. I have been waiting for scenes like this since 2014, and to see them unfold on the big screen is amazing.
Back on Titan, we see the Avengers and Guardians combined team take on Thanos. That fight went on for a decent amount of time, and it was awesome. You have to remember, that Thanos wants his "fun", that's why he doesn't kill anyone immediately. That and also Thanos was nerfed a bit in this film. When Tony gets his armor shredded, and is impaled, I thought that was the end, and it was crazy to think that he was going to go without reconciling with Steve and the others. Before he kills Tony, Doctor Strange offers the Time Stone in exchange for Tony's life. That was a scene which stood out to me, in the way that it was a weird option to choose. This seems like it will lead the Avengers down the path to victory. Tony living may have been the one in 14 million chance that the Avengers have at beating Thanos. I do love how Thanos adds the Time Stone to his gauntlet and then heads to Wakanda.
With all the Avengers gathered in the forest, and it is silent, you knew sh*t was going to go down. I loved the build of suspense with the camera panning around everyone as they look scared. When Thanos steps out of that portal, and all the Avengers start tackling at him, it is amazing to see them being taken down in like two seconds. The use of the slow motion was great, as it showed the full impact of Thanos kicking everyone down. When Scarlet Witch was holding back Thanos and pulling out the Mind Stone from Vision, I was so excited. That is the ultimate power of Wanda in use, and it looked amazing. When Scarlet Witch took out the Stone and destroyed it, I completely forgot about the Time Stone, I made a parallel to when Captain America destroyed the Stones in the comics. I loved how Thanos used the Time Stone it was amazing, bringing back Vision. And then it happens, Thanos rips the Mind Stone from Vision and completes the gauntlet. I liked how completely mortified Scarlet Witch was when she saw Vision die. It was great, as she didn't go Super-Saiyan, and try to kill Thanos. She was in this state of absolute devastation where she didn't do anything. But then Thor comes in and stabs Thanos with Stormbreaker. I loved the quote "Should've aimed for the head", it was amazing as the camera zoomed over to Thanos snapping his fingers, and everything turns to white.
I got this sense where I knew where it was going to go, and I was scared for everyone. That moment when Bucky said quietly "Steve" I was like oh sh*t, and then he turns to dust. There was this sudden panic of who's next. One of the deaths from this balance which hurt was Falcon. Rhode shouting out to find Sam was heartbreaking, especially as you see Falcon dive on the ground and turn to dust. Rocket seeing Groot go was super sad. It was devastating seeing how sad Groot looked knowing this was the end for him, and that with him turning to dust, he couldn't come back again. When Black Panther goes to pick Okoye up, you were expecting Okoye to die, but I was shocked when T'Challa turned to dust. It was also sad when you see Scarlet Witch looking at the corpse of Vision, as she turns to dust.
On Titan, the balancing wasn't any less sad. We see Mantis fade away along with Drax, who calls to Star-Lord for help, who with a tear in his eye also turns to dust. Tony Stark looks around as he sees Doctor Strange turn to dust. That was an interesting death because of Doctor Strange somewhat looked at peace with his death. But then the hard one comes. As soon as Peter said "Mr. Stark, I don't feel too good." my eyes watered up. Tony reassuring Peter that he was fine was even more heartbreaking, and to top it all off Peter apologizes that he failed to stop Thanos as he fades away into Tony's hands. That right there was the tipping point to cry. You know that everything will most likely be reverted in Avengers 4, but all of the deaths were hard to watch, as they were definitely all the more sad with the brilliant acting from everyone. I did like the way that on Titan, Nebula wasn't too phased by the death, but just by the idea that her father won.
Back on Earth, we see the remaining Avengers live looking at Steve who is kneeling by the corpse of Vision. Seeing everyone in peril was insane. Earth's mightiest heroes saddened by the death of their fellow members, and half the population. I knew this was going to happen. I thought the film would have ended with the gauntlet snap, but we saw the entire impact on the Avengers, and it was sad.
There is the one post credit scene with the Captain Marvel tease which I have a breakdown of.
I do have to say that the final 10 minutes of the film, the balancing of the universe, that was my favorite scene from the film, potentially from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The emotional depth that the film and entire plethora of the MCU films have created and built upon, are really defined and shown off in this scene. The heartbreak of seeing these characters perish hopelessly is sad and was well performed as even though I know they're coming back, it still leaves a dent in your heart for their deaths. The acting which complemented the deaths was impeccable. It emphasized the emotional drama that was going on when these characters died, and it made everyone being erased that much more emotionally distraught. The final scenes of some of the Avengers, especially Spiderman will definitely haunt, well until Avengers 4 next year.
The tone of the film was amazing. I loved how it captured the tones of the different characters. With the Guardians of the Galaxy is was a lighter, comedy-centric tone, all the while with Captain America it was a little more serious, as Steve has been in hiding for the past couple of years.
There was not at any point that I can remember that any character was out of the tone of their character, or out of character regarding the scenario that is going on. The vibe you get from watching an Avengers film was in the vibe in this film. Not only did this feel like an Avengers film, it was equally a Guardians of the Galaxy film and also a Thanos film. But the relatively lighter tones of these stories weaved together by the end to this insanely dark tone, which was derived from the story. That dark tone didn't feel forced, it was created from the dire scenario going on.
With so many characters, there are a few members who get the short end of the stick in this film. Three of the main ones are Captain America, Black Panther, and Drax. Those three could have used a little more screen time. Avengers 4 will hopefully feature those a little more. Out of the three, Captain America more so. There were a few characters who were left out of the film, such as Ant-Man, the Wasp, Happy Hogan, Nakia, Ramonda. Yep, that's all who was left out, cannot think of anyone else. Oh, wait, Laura Barton wasn't in the film as well. I am sure most, if not all those characters will appear in Avengers 4, being alongside Captain Marvel.
Josh Brolin was definitely the strongest character in my opinion in the film. The way that Josh Brolin portrayed the character captivated me and me interested in his ideologies and almost created a little sympathy for the character. The character had clear motivations in the way that he saw that there was too much life in the universe, and it needed to be balanced, so it created an intense objective for the Galaxies heroes to stop, as there was a 50 percent chance that if Thanos wins, they die. I will talk specifically about each character in the discussions I do about them in the next few weeks.
The cast of the film was amazing. Everyone, I mean everyone did an excellent job of portraying their characters in the film. There were characters who had amazing comedic timing, and there was a decent amount of improvisation in the film, so congrats to the actors for pulling off many great jokes.
Starring in the film we had Josh Brolin (Thanos), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/ Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor Odinson), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/ Captain America), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/ the Hulk), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff/ Scarlet Witch), Paul Bettany (Vision), Don Chedale (James Rhode/ War Machine), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/ Falcon), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Karen Gillian (Nebula), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/ Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Bradley Cooper [voice] and Sean Gunn [body] (Rocket Racoon), Vin Diesel [voice] and Terry Notary [body] (Groot), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Stephen Strange), Tom Holland (Peter Parker/ Spiderman), Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa/ Black Panther), Dania Guriria (Okoye), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/ Winter Soldier), Winston Duke (M'Baku), Jacob Batalon (Ned Leeds), Benedict Wong (Wong), William Hurt (Secretary of State Ross), Benicio Del Toro (Collector), Peter Dinklage (Eitri), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), Ariana Greenblatt (young Gamora), Tom Vaughn-Lawlor (Ebony Maw), Terry Notray (Cull Obsidian), Carrie Coon [voice] and Monique Ganderton [body] (Proxima Midnight), Micahel James Shaw (Corvus Galive), Ross Marquand (Red Skull), Stan Lee (Combi Smulders (Maria Hill), and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury).
Avengers Infinity War is an amazing film, and viewing this film as a fan makes the film so much more special. When you reflect on all the films from the past ten years, this doesn't feel just like a film, it very much feels like the start of the concluding experiencing that has been the MCU so far. I loved this film, it exceeded my wildest imagination, with the character pairings, the actions scenes, the comedy, the tone, and the cliffhanger that the film ended on.
I will give Avengers Infinity War a 9 out of 10.
Please, let's continue the discussion about Avengers Infinity War down in the comments below. This is a spoiler review, so no need for spoiler tags. Comment on your favorite characters and scenes from the film. I'll read on them in between writing up the character discussions. As always thanks for reading, take care.
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