Infinity War (spoilers, obvs)

[stubbleupdate]

Well,

My quick thoughts

Thor, again, steals the show.
Only two bits that genuinely surprised me
Thanos's plan will instead lead to a social meltdown/apocalypse, so thanks for that.
Generally handled well.
I've been told that the sign in Edinburgh is just a prop. So disappointed

Comments

[tripodeca113]

Personally I feel this unique masterpiece deserves our attention.
May The Asylum continue for years to come.

[gnarll]

Something happened that I've never seen before: Everyone stayed in their seats for the after-credits scene. Everyone. Packed theatre, not a soul got up. Just sat there in silence waiting.

A clean-up guy came in towards the end of the credits, looking down. Then he looked up and clearly had a moment of surprise and terror as he realized the room was not empty, but packed with people just sitting there in complete silence, staring at him.

[mastermahan]

My theater was very into it. Cap showing up drew cheers. Thor Bifrosting in drew bigger cheers. A baby starting crying during the last bits, and I don't think any cared because it really fit the tone.

Various reactions: If you'd told me how much I was going to love Thor before Taika Waititi came along, I'd have called you a damn liar.

Thanos is really terrible at his key issue. There are less murdery way to deal with overpopulation, young man.

It's not like the Asgardians had too many people when he dropped in. That was like saying "Pandas are losing their habitat? Quick, kill half of all pandas!"

Peter Quill screwed us all. Completely in character, really.

I was surprised how much I liked the Black Order, but they made great minions.

[lucean]

I'm still mulling over the film, so keeping it brief and hopefully non-spoilery:

-I thought the action scenes were a lot more creative than in usual Marvel films. I especially liked that almost all the Black Order guys were taken out in imaginary ways instead of just punching them until it was enough.

-This film had a bizarre approach to sacrifice.

-Thor was awesome and when him re-entering the fray was one of the biggest Hell Yeah moments for me.

-Peter Quill is legitimately the worst and his relationship with Gamorra continues to be one of the creepiest in Marvel films.

-The moon scene was so ridiculously dope. As was the verbal response to it.

-I did appreciate that they tried to give Thanos clear motivation and explanation on what was the end goal. Was still somewhat confused by the source of his original power before the gauntlet.

-There were a lot of things in this movie that made it clear that Black Panther was a much bigger success than Marvel had originally expected.

-Downey's expression game was gold in this film.

[dr_archeville]

The theater near my home wasn't going to do any Thursday night showings, but I discovered the one near where I work did. And bonus, while cleaning my wallet the other day I found a gift card to that theater chain, so I got to see it for free!

Overall I loved it. I felt there was a bit too much comedy in places, but that's really my only complaint. Tom Holland was great at "brave but also terrified teenager." Some of those deaths hit me hard, but looking back I can see why (most) were chosen.

I did not expect the Guardian/Keeper of the Soul Stone to be... that person. O_O

[gnarll]

One thing I did not get-Thors farewell to the Guardians. Did they introduce themselves to him as "the morons" or something, and I missed it? Because it seemed really out of character otherwise.

[thezmage]

As someone who liked the prior two Thor movies more than Ragnarok, I felt a bit of schadenfreude that Valkyrie and Korg were taken out with as much care and respect as the Warriors Three.

Had a bit of a nerdgasm at the protector of the soul stone.

Loved pretty much every scene of Thanos using the reality stone.

It ended in exactly the way I always expected it to. Anyone know when Ant-man and the Wasp is set?

[jencaasi]

I liked the movie a lot. Russo bros are 3 for 3 on directing Marvel movies with great action and compelling stories in my opinion. They did a great job of juggling more stories and characters than any other Marvel movie too.

Thanos was a surprisingly compelling and watchable presence in the film. His motivation seems kind of...dumb, though. Like, best case scenario, there's a couple hundred years before overpopulation becomes a problem again, right? Plus, when you're looking at the concept of "life" on a universal scale, I don't think overpopulation can really be a problem. At any given time, there's as much life as the universe can handle...

His "in love with death" motivation in the Infinity Gauntlet comics seems a lot more believable to me.

[thatnickguy]

I'm copy/pasting this from a forum I frequent where I wrote all this up before going to bed last night.

The Russo brothers said in an interview that this was Thanos' movie. They wrote him like he was the star. And by God, they were right. We got to know Thanos so well throughout this movie. Which works because no new characters were introduced, with one minor exception. We already know everyone involved, they didn't need to be explained, so the movie had plenty of room to explore Thanos, his motivations, and a little of his back story. He is now unquestionably the best Marvel villain to date. What I really liked about him is he was the best kind of villain: the one who believes they're the hero. That they're the one who's right. All the build up to him was worth it because they definitely made him work from beginning to end.

And the thing that makes this movie work so well is the casualties. Of course there were casualties, but they work because they were earned. There's been an ongoing complaint that there aren't any stakes or that no one really dies in the MCU. Those particular complainers have no room to talk anymore because boy howdy were there casualties here. Some I expected, some I didn't. Since I knew this was essentially Part 1 of a 2-parter, I had a good feeling how it'd end. And it did, but the difference is that I actually cared. Which is why Marvel has made this work: they took their time building this universe. We're familiar with these characters. We've seen them grow and develop over ten years. So when one dies? It actually means something.

And now I'll get into more spoilery talk.

I will admit, all the characters at the end will probably come back. We know Spider-Man has another movie planned. Black Panther is a shoe-in for a sequel. Some of them might not, but I feel like most of them will. But even still, those last 10-15 minutes? Amazing. Zero music to really nail it home, too. That said, I think the characters killed before Thanos snapped his fingers will stay dead. The only exception might be Gamora. I don't think her story is over. I think she essentially became the Soul Stone, so there might be a way to reverse that. I think losing her would be a major disservice to the next Guardians movie, since she's a major part of the group dynamic.

Speaking of dynamics, I loved all the new character interactions we got. The three snarky loudmouths working together was hilarious (Stark, Quill, Strange) and led to some great moments. I loved the short between between Rocket and Bucky. That was perfect. The best part of the team Avenger movies is seeing all these personalities clashing. This one, in particular, really felt like a giant comic book crossover event.

The effects were gorgeous. I've always wondered if the CG teams save money by being able to reuse assets from previous movies. Like the effects on Dr. Strange's magic and such. I wondered that before when some people use the same costume as previous movies or, say, Iron Man's repulsor effects and such. Either way, it paid off because it was so much fun seeing all these different characters breaking out their abilities.

A few nitpicks & criticisms:
-There was a bit of repetitiveness in dealing with each stone. They did the same "We need to do this with the stone, but can't for one character's personal reasons!" Which is a minor nitpick because, honestly, it only further shows how much we care about these characters. Each time we see it happen, it makes sense because of the characters. Which is, again, the biggest testament to Marvel's success.

-Parts of the movie felt really expository. Like the quick explanation of the stones. Or, most especially, how characters meeting other compared notes with glorified recaps of their own movies. It was a little jarring. I understand why they did it, but I feel like it could've been done in a less clunky matter.

-I'm kind of surprised how little we got from Bruce & Natasha's relationship. We got a little nod of them seeing each other again, but then nothing.

-Thanos' flunkies, while certainly interesting and unique, were kind of an afterthought. I also think it's interesting how they all failed to bring a stone to Thanos. As he said at the end of Age of Ultron, "Fine, I'll do it myself." Which made the movie even more about him. And I'm okay with that.

-Anyone else notice the big money shot in all the trailers (with Cap, Hulk, and the gang all rushing forward) wasn't in the movie? And it couldn't be because Hulk was in that shot, but Bruce wasn't Hulked up for the Wakanda stuff. That might have been misdirection, but it seems odd to tease such a big money shot and then not have it happen.

-Once he obtained it, Thanos didn't use the Soul Stone once. Which, for all its build up, was both surprising and disappointing. Though maybe that bit at the end with Young Gamora took place within the Soul Stone? I have a theory that all the people that were wiped away are actually trapped in the Soul Stone. I could be wrong.

I'm REALLY surprised Cap and Iron Man survived. Given that both actors' contracts are up, I thought for sure one of them would bite it. And of course, they teased it with Tony. But they'll want to have him and Steve reunite at least, before either of them die.

Speaking of Hulk, I can't wait to see what happens in the next movie with him. I discussed it with a friend of mine and we concluded that Hulk is scared of Thanos because he got so succinctly beaten by him.

[ekrolo2]

My impressions of it were that it's a more effective version of the last Hobbit movie. There's a lot of moving parts with various characters working separately or against each other punctuated by actions scenes throughout.

But ultimately, it's all just kind of nothing.

Don't get me wrong, the spectacle is pretty damn effective and if I was ranking it just on that it would probably be an 9 or 10. But as I reflect more on the movie, there's nothing there but the spectacle and even a lot of THAT aren't gonna matter one year from now.

Once again, the very comic book business model of the cinematic universe format shows up to bite this franchise in the story-telling ass because if this was the penultimate film for the MCU ever? I'd call it a damn masterpiece. But we know none of this shit will matter, everyone's deaths will be reversed and we'll keep marching on into creative oblivion with more and more sequels.

That really kills a lot of the movie when most of its "story" hinges on the effectiveness of the characters demises that we know will get reversed thanks to comic book cosmic book malarkey.

[shakalooloo]

It was awesome. Just a pair of SPOILERY problems, and not major ones.

Loki seemed rather keen to die, huh? Even if his plan had worked, Glaive or Midnight would have cut him down where he stood. In the immortal words of Tony Stark: "Not a great plan."

Having Xandar decimated off-screen (and they actually used that term! Did Thanos under-kill himself, or did they use the word incorrectly, and he over-killed his requisite half? Either way, his calculations were off!) was a bit off. They guarded the first stone that Thanos took, so that means he took them out without any problems from the Nova Corps. That makes the Guardians - and especially Gamora - seem like callous morons, leaving the stone in the hands of people who not only wouldn't stand a chance of successfully defending it, but would die in droves trying.

I think it would have been better if Thanos had taken the Collector's stone first, as who really cares about the cinematic Knowhere? Leave the attack on Xandar until after he gets the space stone, meaning that he uses it to teleport behind otherwise impregnable defences; that way, rather than the Guardians just putting the stone somewhere easily in Thanos' reach, he actually thinks his way around them. To have a reality-bending confrontation amongst the ruins of the Nova headquarters would be a lot more of a gut-punch than just seeing the Collector's cases busted up.

[lissa_quon]

Enh I liked snippets of it but I didn't "enjoy" it.

I actually don't know much about the Infinity War so watching half of everyone die was sort of a surprise. Don't think many of the folks in the theater I was in were expecting that either. A lot of confused shock in the room when the credits rolled.

My main beef is the futility of everything in the movie. People do things that lead to nothing. Axes do nothing - plans do nothing - stands are made and fail. The whole Vision story drove me bonkers - the big deal about how he had to be saved and then they failed at that and then even failed at sacrificing him.

That and the ending which didn't even bother to try to give anyone a hope spot, something to at least imply there was hope or possibility of gaining ground, just made the thing feel exhausting and bleak.

Then again that could be me personally. (I have depression and tend to get burned out on grim gritty shit pretty quick,)

[drexer]

It was a perfect encapsulation of an event comic. Overblown, lesser than the sum of its parts, and destructive towards the singular movies it draws from while knowing little what it wants to do with itself.

That's not to say that there were not good bits, some of the interplay was interesting and certain individual action bits were fun, but the attempt at crafting a cohesive whole was profoundly failed.

Peter's attempt at killing Gamora for instance was a nice bit of character development and could have formed an interesting arc, but the movie squandered it away. Thor + Rocket + Groot at the star forge could have been a dynamic moment where we saw interactions between the characters which grew their value as a group, but the actions were all detached and individual. The addition of the Red Skull at the soul stone was nonsensical and reminded me more of one of those 90's superhero movies attempts at references than any honest attempt at integrating him into the themes of the story.

I came out very disappointed, I went in with low expectations and they were not met. I guess I expected a good event movie, but instead it seemed like one of those which is very dedicated to burning out the people who like what the individual storylines were exploring.

[liliaeth]

I loved that it was basically a heist movie with Thanos as the protagonist, with the Marvel heroes as the antagonists.

[mesmiranda]

I liked it, but more than anything else I felt like it didn't take any time to stop and just breathe. Everything was like quip, battle, quip, battle, quip, quip, people punching each other, stuff blows up!, and snarky post-mortem one-liner. There's some great moments and great lines and I really did like it--I had a great time--it's just... there was a lot going on. Maybe too much for one viewing.

Some random notes:

- Josh Brolin knocks it out of the park.
- Dave Batista continues to knock it out of the park.
- Chris Hemsworth's Thor fits with the Guardians of the Galaxy like peanut butter and chocolate.
- Wanda and Vision were really sweet together, especially Vision stammering and acting all dorky in Scotland, and I totally bought it.
- If Ben and Jerry's hasn't come out with those two flavours by now (Stark Raving Hazelnut and the other one, Bruce Bannaner?) they will.
- At the risk of being callous: when was Heimdall upgraded to best friend status? Don't get me wrong, he was awesome and Idris Elba is a literal golden god, but somewhere Sif and the Warriors Three are going "THANKS BUDDY".
- Chris Evans and his magnificent beard really didn't have much to do this time around except be leaderly and stalwart. Considering Chris Evans has one more movie left in his contract, Avengers 4 better send him out in style.
- I love Peter Dinklage, but Eitri was basically Tyrion-at-the-start-of-season-five--surly, disheveled, possibly hungover, with a slightly dodgy RP accent. (Seriously, please get the man a vocal coach.)
- Strange vs. Thanos was the one battle I really went "ooo" at, in the middle of all the people punching and laserbeaming each other.
- I'm starting to suspect the Russo Brothers ship Stucky, and I'm totally here for it.
- My theatre cheered at Cap's appearance and Thor's reappearance.
- My theatre groaned as one when there was no mid-credits scene. (But nobody seemed to quite get or react to the Captain Marvel symbol coming up.)
- Is it my imagination, or was the movie more profane than normal? A lot of "asshole" being flung around, Strange calls Tony "douchebag", I'm pretty sure they said "shit" more than once... funny considering they censored the hooey out of the Deadpool 2 trailer beforehand.

Overall I really think I need a second viewing to unpack all my thoughts.