10 Years In the Making Undone? :: Infinity War Review

Infinity War Review IN PROGRESS 4/28/2018

TL DR; 10 Year Wait, 10 Minute Drive, Not A Waste Of Time

SPOILER FREE!

Time is money friends, and BOY did we spend both waiting for this thing right here. As movie theaters (greedily) attempt to keep up with digital streaming services, and the all too comfortable movie night at home, the overall price of the movie going experience has cancerously transformed from a 20 dollar outing to a 40 dollar one in the span of my young adult years with the only thing I assume I'm paying more for is the pleather on the seats- I dont buy concessions. 10 years of waiting, and 10 years of premiere midnight shows and it's all come down to this. Better be good right? Well, I had a dream Avengers Infinity War was bad because the dialogue was awful and the pacing was off. That, is how much this movie was giving me anxiety. "What if it's bad? What if it's bad? I think it's going to be bad." Is something I would tell myself and my friends, maybe because I didn't want to expect too much because hey? We're used to being disappointed right? Those of us who suffered 10 long years of universe building. Trial, error, trial again, and just plain bad ideas. 

We sat through 3 spidermen. One who's writers thought it ingenious for him to get a testosterone level boost after the symbiote and shoot finger guns at women on the street, another who's character depth was as shallow as a kiddy pool, and finally Tom Holland who can actually act, but his writers find it ingenious for him to make pop culture references like he's a broken record. This is why I have commitment issues. 

We suffered through Guardians 2 who's writers thought it was great to make (literally) every other line a joke or a pun. We dredged through the mud of Civil War, who was just a big giant excuse to have everyone on set, and we were thrown a vine from this quicksand of banality with the release of Black Panther. We sat and watched how Hollywood told us by force that these movies were not going to be anything like the comics, and saturated us with their limited visions. We've endured, and it about damn time we get what we deserve. A cataclysmic finish.  

I glance over the bulk MCU's past sins and successes but you all get the point. We look back on the MCU positively not because it was all great. But because we want to. Marvel made something whole. Something we have history with, something we can cling to. I've sat back and watched these movies evolve on people's tongues from "you have to be a fan to see this" to "these movies are for everyone". I don't rub it in their faces, even though I've been saying the latter since the first Iron Man. Marvel built this universe, and now it's at stake. For those of us who hoped and prayed for it to culminate in this fashion got what they wanted, The Mad Titan himself, and I was numbing myself to the horror just because I didn't want to be disappointed. But I was not disappointed. And this was not a waste of my time. 

Avengers Infinity War was a tumultuous undertaking. Balancing that many stars on screen while giving everyone their moments was a juggling act with daggers. One false move and the production staff could impale themselves on their own ambitions and lose the loyal trust of the comic and cinematic universe fan base. It took some tactful screenwriting to make these jumps from story line, to story line so smooth. The movie accomplishes that. I assume Guardians 2 and Thor Ragnarok were the beta-tests for this editing. Because unlike those, Infinity War's transitions to the interweaving plots is seamless like a fresh quilt. The action is nonstop. The heroes barely have time to breathe because Thanos' boot is upon their necks (literally). He's come to collect, and he's not letting up. We do not make any divergent pit stops from the main story that isn't integral to the overarching doom of the universe. Everything we see is what's important, and what's important only. It felt like an actual comic book event, complete with cameos from random badasses past with similar goals, aspirations and valuable knowledge. We also see the fights we want to see, and the feats performed in this movie feel fresh off the comic book page. The movie has heart, it circles around the relationships we're "supposed" to care about (if they spent more time developing them) and it's evident the heroes are feeling the weight of fighting against something they just can't be stopped. The frustration is there, the hopelessness is there. It's a thrill ride and leaves your mind wondering just what Thanos will do next and if you're rooting for him (like I was) you wont be disappointed. Destiny has arrived. Check it out, if nothing else to see it reach it's climax.

STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS 

Synopsis

Infinity War begins immediately where Thor Ragnarok left off, with the ship carrying the remaining Asgardians decimated in space by Thanos' ship. Thanos and The Black Order: Corvus Glaive , Cull Obsidian , Ebony Maw, and Proxmia Midnight have all boarded this ship seeking the Cosmic Cube (I refuse to call it the tessaract). Thanos threatens to kill Thor if Loki doesn't surrender it. The Hulk interjects and fights Thanos. Thanos boxes the hulk into submission. With his last dying breath Heimdal sends the Hulk to earth to warn the Avengers of Thanos' arrival. Thanos kills Heimdal. Loki surrenders the Cube which houses the space stone inside. Thanos now has two infinity stones in his possession. He sends the Black Order to Earth to fetch the Mind, and Time stones. But kills Loki, and leaves Thor to die upon an exploding ship. 

On Earth, The Hulk, now Bruce Banner crashes in the Sanctum Sanctorum where Doctor Strange and Wong are. He warns them of Thanos' arrival. Dr Strange interrupts a Tony Stark and Pepper Pots' attempt at taking their forthcoming marriage to the next level to bring Tony with him to talk about Thanos. In the Sanctum, Wong, Strange and Banner tell Tony about Thanos, and the stones. Tony tries to come up with a plan to call Captain America, and find The Vision, but two members of the Black Order have arrived: Ebony Maw, and Cull Obsidian. Doctor Strange, Wong, and Bruce Banner are ready to fight but Bruce cant hulk-out so he's sidelined. Spiderman arrives to help but to no avail. Ebony Maw abducts Doctor Strange because he cant remove the time stone from Strange's neck. Iron and and Spiderman are stalking the outside Ebony Maw's ship and follow unsuspected. 

In Scotland The Vision and Wanda Maximoff have been trying to make their relationship work post Civial War. They're on two opposite sides, Iron Man and Captain America's respectively but they want to say with each other. That tender moment is short lived when Corvus Glaive and Proxmia Midnight ambush them and almost win until Captain America, The Falcon, and Black Widow provide assistance and subdue the members of The Black Order. They wish to interrogate instead of kill them, which gives the two time enough to escape their spaceship and flee. 

In Space, the Guardians arrive upon the wreckage of the destroyed Asgardian ship. A barely conscious Thor collides with their ship. Mantis resuscitates him and Thor tells them about Thanos. Thor tells the guardians what Thanos' plan most likely is. To grab the Soul Stone from The Collector, an rendezvous on Titan since no one knows where The Soul Stone is. Thor wants to go to the Space Forge Nidavelier, where Moljnir was forged to make a weapon capable of killing Thanos. Rocket Racoon and Groot take an escape pod and go with him. Star Lord, Drax, Gamora and Mantis head to Knowhere to get to Collector before Thanos and stop him if they can. 

On Earth, War Machine is talking with the Secretary of State about the current situation. The Secretary wants to know where The Vision is. War Machine has no idea. Captain America enters, the Secretary asks War Machine to arrest him. War Machine ignores the Secretary of State. The Vision, Wanda, Scarlet Witch, Hulk and War Machine talk of Thanos and speculate of what to do with The Mind Stone. The Vision wants to destroy it. Wanda's not having it. Bruce thinks they can surgically remove it and still keep Vision whole. But Bruce cant do the surgery, so they will take Vision to Wakanda where hopefully Shuri can. 

Back In Space, Iron and Man Spider Man engage and dispatch Ebony Maw and free Doctor Strange. These two egoic characters clash about who's idea is best. Doctor Strange is loyal to protecting the Time Stone and nothing else. Iron Man wants to take the fight to Thanos. Eventually they decide to head to Titan and Take the Fight to Thanos knowing that the Time Stone is their greatest weapon against him.

The Guardians Run into Thanos in Knowwhere, the Collector is dead and the Reality Stone is in his possession. Thanos threatens to kidnap Gamora. Gamorra made Star Lord promise to kill her should he fall into Thano's grasp, but Star Lord fails. Thanos abducts Gamorra, takes her back to his ship and interrogates her for where the Soul Stone is. She says she doesn't know. So Thanos tortures her sister Nebula until she reveals the location. Turns out the Soul Stone is on the planet Vormir. Thanos and Gamora head there and encounter The Red Skull who's been waiting there for an eternity because the Soul Stone deemed him unworthy to pay the price to claim it. You must sacrifice something you love, and trade a soul for a soul. Gamorra thinks Thanos has failed because he loves nothing, but Thanos loves Gamora dearly, launches her off the cliff and achieves the soul stone for himself. Thanos heads to Titan with The Space, Power, Reality and Soul Stones. Nebula escapes her imprisonment and heads for Titan.

On Nidavelier the forge of the dying star has grown cold. The entire forge that used to be bustling with Dwarves has grown desolate, Eitri is the only dwarf that remains. Thanos spared him after he created the Infinity Guantlet and encased his hands in metal so he would never make anything else ever again. Thor and Rocket Racoon restart the forge which leads to Thor almost dying. Eitri makes Thor a new hammer, Stormbringer, which brings Thor back to life. Storm Bringer can also open the bifrost, so Thor, Rocket and Groot head for Earth. 

In Wakanda, Bucky Barnes, Scarlett Witch, War Machine, The Hulk (In the Hulkbuster Armor), Captain America, T'Challa, All of Wakandas Forces, M'Baku, Okoye, and The Falcon prepare for battle to buy Shuri time to extract the mind stone from The Vision so Wanda can destroy it. The Black Order arrives: Proxmia Midnight, and Cull Obsidian flanked by an endless supply of outriders and siege engines. The Vision and Wanda must rejoin the battle when Corvus Glaive infiltrates Shuris lab and tries to take the Mind Stone. They escape and rendezvous with everyone on the battlefield.  Scarlet Witch, Okoye, and Wanda dispatch Proxima Midnight. Captain America, takes out Corvus Glaive. But the horde of outriders is still overwhelming. Thor, Rocket and Groot arrive and provide support assisting with the endless hordes. Bruce Banner kills Ebony Maw with some innovative thinking in the Hulk Buster armor. 

On Titan, Starlord, Drax, and Mantis encounter Iron Man, Doctor Strange and Spiderman and they are searching for Gamora. After a fight they figure out they are on the same side and decide to concoct a plan to subdue Thanos and remove the guantlet. Doctor Strange gazes into the future and foresaw 14 million possible outcomes with only 1 in which they are victorious. Thanos arrives, and the group nearly removes the gauntlet but Star Lord lets the grief of losing Gamora enrage him to compromising the plan he had concocted. Furious, Thanos unleashes hell upon the group, Nebula arrives and tries to assist but Thanos nearly kills Tony Stark which causes Doctor Strange to surrender the time stone. Thanos heads to Wakanda with all stones save for the Mind Stone.

Thanos arrives and easily dispatches everyone and makes his way to The Vision. The Vision begs Wanda to kill him. She does. But with the Time Stone in hand, Thanos rewinds time, brings The Vision back and claims the stone for himself. His gauntlet is now complete. Thor arrives and strikes at Thano's heart. With his dying breath Thanos snaps his fingers and destroys half the universe and half of human kind along with it. Thanos' original plan was to purge the universe of half it's total population at random, so there is no meaning behind who dies and who doesn't but the body count is as follows: T'challa, Mantis, Drax, Star Lord, Doctor Strange, Spiderman, Wanda, Bucky Barnes all day along with a host of Wakandans and the rest of creation leaving: Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Thor, War Machine, Nebula and Tony Stark (who are both marooned on Titan) to deal with a suddenly very empty world. 

The post credit scene involves Nick Fury and Maria Hill navigating the streets of New York during the massive rapture. Nick Fury and Maria Hill both die but before Nick Fury can die he sends a distress signal to Captain Marvel who is destined to arrive in the sequel. 

Time To Nitpick...

A proper comicbook crossover book like, Secret Wars, Avengers Vs Xmen, and the like stick to the main story, cover an odyssey of events and relevantly tie in characters without straying from the main path. Infinity War feels exactly like I'm reading one of those books. We never see Pepper Potts escape from a burning building, or waste any time watching some random planet vanish at the snap of Thanos's fingers. We're engrossed in the action from beginning to end, and the only tie in we get, that made the movie for me, was the apperance of the Red Skull. It's a shame his appearance will fall short on some of the casual fans of Marvel, but fans of the comics know the Red Skull is not to be trifled with. Like Doom, The Red Skull is always on business, and is always ambitious. It's only right he would be seeking the stones, and is unable to achieve the soul stone because he loves nothing. It was so poetic to see him advise Thanos in his quest for ultimate power. His tie in was so seamless, and absolutely warming. 

The comic book crossover feel came from more than just the timing and scope. There were so many feats! Thor, opened a dying star, took the nuclear blast so Eitri can make his new hammer. He swung Rocket in his escape pod at near warp speeds to build enough momentum to get the ancient forge going again. Doctor Strange uses his space altering magic to block energy blast after blast from Thanos only for the Mad Titan to use to use the Space Stone to collapse space and throw a black hole at Doctor Strange. Thanos throws a planet at Iron Man! Captain America stops Thanos' wrath just long enough to get Wanda to destroy The Mind Stone, and Wanda effortlessly banishes a legion of Thano's outriders with some telekinetic calamity. This action is unprecedented in the MCU and I loved how they pushed the envelope (and the budget) to make the level of affects possible. 

But to that end it's also apparently that Marvel is writing for drama and not sticking to any rules of their own universe which creates so many plotholes it's like we're driving in Chicago. Obviously they had had to scale down certain character's powers to make the movie reasonable. But as the movie's progress its obvious the writers don't talk to one another to make the power levels synonymous across the films. The Hulk gets effortlessly beat by Thanos in the first 5 minutes of the film. In Thor Ragnarok, not only did the Hulk suplex Fenrir- the hound destined to kill Odin, and cause The Titan of Destruction Surtur to recoil in pain, but he's been training for however long he was in Thor Ragnarok. Isn't Surtur on par if not stronger than than Thanos? Why did he lose so easily? In Black Panther, we saw T'Challa recoil into a wall after a point blank grenade blast from a standard issue grenade launder from Killmonger. In Infinity War, T'challa was doing just fine adjusting to blows way more deadly. I would have let it slide if Shuri chimed in and said she improved upon his suit, but she didn't. So it's another inconsistency. Tony Starks new suit is composed of nanites, and apparently it can near effortlessly take raw blasts from the Power Stone which kills everyone else it touches save for Peter Quill/Star Lord in Guardians 1. Does that mean Tony Stark got his hands on some space tech or vibranium? Another thing the writers just expect us to take for granted. WHERE DID THE HULK GET THE HULK-BUSTER ARMOR AND HOW!? They cant just expect audiences to play along with this anymore as the universe grows more complicated. The potholes are so obvious it looks like the movie is made of swiss cheese. And these things, left unexplained just make us angrier and angrier. 

We also look for cross character banter in comicbook crossover events. I thought it wouldn't get better than the first avengers when Captain America delivered his signature line to Tony: "Take all that away and what are you?" only for Tony to smugly reply "A billionaire playboy philanthropist". But the egos clash in Infinity War. Tony Stark (Robert Downy Jr) Is a man on a mission. We can see his face is pressed for time and the world unravels around him. He's fighting an enemy he cannot predict, with resources he barely knows anything about. His jaw his set, and his eyes are wide as he searches frivolously for the best possible outcome. He just wants everyone to get in line and follow his best plan of attack because Thanos has been haunting him since Avengers 1, and now it's time to teach him to not mess with Earth. And here comes Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who's a savant at all endeavors, telling Tony that he refuses to listen because "he doesnt work for him" only for Tony to reply "And that's your problem" as they are marooned in space with no where to go. Tony Stark thinks that if Strange had just fallen in line like everyone else, they wouldn't be in this mess. It was humorous to see Star Lord (Chris Pratt) to get so obviously jealous of Thor as the rest of the crew gawks at how beautiful he is while Rocket rubs it in and says "Your a half sandwich away from fat". There's much more of the cross-chatter to look forward to in Infinity War, the giant cast opens the world up for an infinite amount of possibilities to see people's colorful personalities collide. 

Of course Marvel STILL can't let a moment breathe without throwing in some crap-tastic one liners. Humor had it place in Infinity War, and I know it killed their comedic staff to write under their joke quota but I still found it to be too much. When Spiderman pursues Ebony Maw into space, Spiderman is running out of oxygen. Iron Man tells him to let go and that he will catch him. Spider Man does and Iron Man catches him with a rocket propelled pod containing a new suit only for Spider Man to say "Mr Stark it smells like a new car in here!" I could feel wrinkles form in my skin from how hard I was cringing. Why can't they let a heartfelt moment live? It gets worse. Star Lord, Mantis, and Drax have a texas standoff with Iron man, Doctor Strange, and Spiderman only for Star Lord to ask "Where is Gamora". Confused, Iron Man replies "Who is Gamora" and Drax replies "Why is Gamora". Ridiculous. I would like for Spidermans writers to detach him from making impulsive pop culture references, and allow us to see more of Peter Parker the genius, and stop ruining every moment with a quip or a pun. It's becoming some manic compulsion now. Like that one friend who doesn't take anything seriously.

To their credit, when Thanos finally arrives in Wakanda and effortless ransacks the Avengers, the whole moment is drawn to a focus. Every aspect of the production, sound, camera and perspective is from the Avengers' POV. The Mad Titan walks with such determination and grace, knowing he's a God and is unstoppable. Once he finally snaps his fingers, everything is silent. You could hear the theatre go'ers hold their breath as their favorite heroes fade to dust. 

Romance is at the core of hollywood movies. Unlike Star Wars Rogue One, and Pacific Rim few Hollywood action movies take the risk of putting a man and a woman in a trying relationship and not have them fall in love. It's just formula, and sometimes it gets in the way. For instance, I thought Gamora and Star Lord just shouldn't have been in a romantic relationship. They were always at each others throats, and I felt they achieved a mutual respect for one another, than a romantic relationship. So it was awkward and unearned for me to see them kiss, or for Gamora to tell Star Lord she loves him above anyone else as Thanos Abducts her. The Vision and Wanda's relationship is not the driving force of the conflict in the movie. Thanos is. The movie moves with him. But, we can see the pain on Wanda Maximoff's (Elizabeth Olsen's) face every time someone even remotely suggest that the Vision may die. "Can you do it" she says coldly and stoically to an unsure Shuri about the gravity of the task it would be to reconstruct Visions mind. Only later The Vision (Paul Bettany) mouths "It's okay... It's okay" to a traumatized Wanda as she destroys him by her own hand with Thanos raging in the background.

Speaking of Thanos. Let's discuss the performance of Josh Brolin, The Mad Titan himself. I've had people say a good villain think's hes the good guy. That's not entirely true. The universe is finite, Thanos knows this, so he's doing the lucky one's a service by giving everyone else some breathing room. Infinity War attempts at making his character deeper and detaches Thanos from his fascination with death as per the comic books. He's more fascinated with his ambition and his will to succeed. He speaks without doubt, moves like a vector of force and magnitude and never shows any emotion save for when people get in his way, or when he's speaking with his daughter Gamora. There is a price of ambition, one that must be paid and Thanos tells The Red Skull he was willing to front the cost but you can see the sadness in his eyes as he drags an unwilling Gamora toward the highest peak in Vormir and launches her off the cliff to her death. Comic book fans know Thanos as a raging killing machine but most will get lost in the fact that Thanos has to arrive there, and I appreciate the time Infinity War takes in developing his character. Now that he has nothing to lose, he will be even more fearsome to protect what he has achieved, since that's all he has. In Avengers 4 we will see Thanos become the spine removing, vaporizing, killing machine he has now become and I can't wait.

Ultimately there's something here for the fans of the comics and the movie go'ers alike. I think both sides get what they want in the perfect blend of both feels. But the list of praises continues.

There are some beautiful shots here as well. One of my favorites is after Bruce, Doctor Strange and Wong catch Iron Man up to speed on the lore of the stones. He looks out the glass panel of the Doc's front door and sees people running at full speed down the street. In one shot, we follow Tony out the door, and see absolute havoc. Cars are over turned, people are tripping and falling. Street signs are being contorted and the camera leads us up to the sky toward the arrival of Ebony Maw, and Cull Obsidian. I wish moreshots were like this, no cuts, just one take, of a characters POV and the scope of the damage. It's here the audience can finally get settled in the moment without Marvel's static jumps from one moment to the next like in Ragnarok, or Guardians 2. With every movie it appears Marvel finally learns from it's mistakes, I hope they continue to do so. 

The cliffhanger of Thanos winning is absolutely perfect. The smell of disappointed fans and the scent of their tears as their favorite heroes died was nourishment from the degree of starvation I was feeling waiting for the Avengers to lose. I'm sad It's a short wait for Avengers 4 because I wont be able to wait relish in it for long. But it's which it's slated to release in May 2020. Now that we've got the minute out of the way let's speculate from theories.

Predictions And Prophecy

Doctor Strange put himself in a meditative trance and foresaw all foreseeable futures that yielded the Avengers' victory. He only found one. And was this the only one where he gave up the time stone? Were there 14 Millions other futures where Doctor Strange failed to surrender and Thanos did not spare Tony Stark? Is Tony the key to saving the universe? During the movie Doctor Strange flat out tells Tony that his moral allegiance is with the Stone, and he would sooner let Spider Man and everyone else die if it meant protecting it. But after he saw the future he had a change of heart. His dying words was "This was the only way" as he fades to dust. I believe Tony, or Captain America will wield the gauntlet to restore the universe back to the way it was. 

What do you guys think?

If you have seen the movie, remember Thanos DEMANDS your silence don't tell anyone because the best parts of the movie is being blindsided with the amount of surprises!