Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

[Zarius]

I thought it was an unpleasant dirge to be honest.

 

[Bobson Dugnutt]

I thought it was an unpleasant dirge to be honest.

Dirge? Now thats a word I've never heard before. What exactly made you think the movie was a "a song or piece of music that is considered too slow, miserable, or boring". It felt like it was fast for me considering it was 2:40 long

 

[Zarius]

I've never been high on many of the MCU movies. I can count how many good ones there's been on one hand with few fingers, this one didn't do anything for me. Had I read spoilers it probably would have went faster. Everything dragged a lot to the point I could see a character death or an obvious plot twist coming and I was like "get to the point already" and then they happen and I felt nothing.

 

[bionicbob]

Watched this past weekend at a sold out non-3D matinee.... overall, I enjoyed it.

It is certainly epic by Marvel movie standards and it pays off many of the plot threads teased in the past 10 years of movies.  In fact, it could be argued this movie is solely for the hardcore invested Marvel Movie Fan as every moment, scene and characterization hinges on the plots of previous movies.  I imagine if you had never seen a Marvel movie (what dimension are you living in??? lol) you would be completely lost.   So as a culmination of a 10 year narrative, it is a marvelous achievement.   As a stand alone movie, well..... 

This movie is overloaded with characters, so of course not everyone gets equal screentime or proper character development.  This is essentially RDJ's movie with strong support/cameo's (including some very nice rewarding surprises) from the majority of the Marvelverse.   The story is told in vignette structure, teaming up heroes into three separate but connected narratives... the two super-egos of Iron Man and Strange with Spidey stuck between them, the comedy side of the franchise is represented by Thor and the Guardians together and the grounded serious side of Team Cap with Black Panther.  (Hawkeye and Antman are MIA in this movie).   Of all the big players, Captain America felt the most surprisingly ignored in terms of character moments and development.   Though I imagine they are saving that for Avengers 4 since it is Evans last contractual movie?

The directors handle the over abundance of characters and shifting tone very well.   For me, since I was not a fan of Thor Ragnarok, I did not care for the continued comedic evolution of Thor and Banner.  The majority of the film's comedic moments do work and helps relieve tension is some very dark scenes but some of the jokes do go on too long (Drax "I am invisible") or fall flat. 
 
Thanos.   What to say?  Easily the best realized CGI Marvel villain by far.  Josh Brolin brings surprising depth to his performance and the FX teams perfectly captured his likeness and emotional facial expressions.   In fact, the first 10 minutes of Infinity War is a perfection execution in film story craftsmanship as it clearly establishes Thanos' character and threat level.

As for the rest of the FX work, it is overall very solid.   Marvel definitely put extra time and effort into this production, and is far superior to their most recent outing of Black Panther.   But there are a few messy shots scattered here and there, with the absolute worst imo being right at the end, with a defeated Team Cap and Banner's very poorly inserted head on the helmetless Hulkbuster suit... wow, is that a horrible rendered shot...yikes!

But overall, this is a well crafted production that entertains.  It has some nice heroic moments and some genuinely powerful emotional beats.  It does end on a dark cliffhanger, which I noticed left many in the audience, especially the younger pre-teens, in a state of shock and disbelief, and some others very angry.   Myself, I viewed this as job well done by the filmmakers if they can manipulate an audience this way.

However, it is a movie that loses some of it's weight after you leave and think about it.  If you are aware of source material or what sequels are already in production or consider that the macguffin is a device that can alter time, space and reality, you can guess many of the shocking moments in this movie will be undone in the next movie.

Though if AGENTS OF SHIELD is renewed for season six, I don't know how they are going to deal with the fallout from this movie?

All in all, I found it to be a fun ride that full filled 10 years of movie continuity nicely.

 

[Q2]

I've never been high on many of the MCU movies. I can count how many good ones there's been on one hand with few fingers, this one didn't do anything for me. Had I read spoilers it probably would have went faster. Everything dragged a lot to the point I could see a character death or an obvious plot twist coming and I was like "get to the point already" and then they happen and I felt nothing.

I'm not really sure what you were expecting going in. After all this is a movie by its design a culmination of--what?--17 individual films. If you haven't been following those then why did you think seeing this one would blow your mind?

And I haven't seen many of the MCU films either which is why I'm not bothering to see Infinity Wars. I've only seen the original X-Men and Spider-man trilogies, Iron Man 1, Deadpool, and Guardians 1 & 2.

 

[Zarius]

I've never been high on many of the MCU movies. I can count how many good ones there's been on one hand with few fingers, this one didn't do anything for me. Had I read spoilers it probably would have went faster. Everything dragged a lot to the point I could see a character death or an obvious plot twist coming and I was like "get to the point already" and then they happen and I felt nothing.

I'm not really sure what you were expecting going in. After all this is a movie by its design a culmination of--what?--17 individual films. If you haven't been following those then why did you think seeing this one would blow your mind?

And I haven't seen many of the MCU films either which is why I'm not bothering to see Infinity Wars. I've only seen the original X-Men and Spider-man trilogies, Iron Man 1, Deadpool, and Guardians 1 & 2.

I said I've never been high on them, I never said I did'nt see many of them. I've seen almost all of them. I just think they're shit.

 

[Q2]

I said I've never been high on them, I never said I did'nt see many of them. I've seen almost all of them. I just think they're shit.

I misread your comment "I can count how many good ones there's been on one hand with few fingers" as "I can count how many I've seen on one hand with few fingers" so that is my mistake. However, I still wonder what made you thought you'd enjoy this one if you've mostly disliked the previous 18 films? And if you've mostly disliked the MCU films why would you keep seeing them? That's just punishing yourself for not reason.

 

[Zarius]

I said I've never been high on them, I never said I did'nt see many of them. I've seen almost all of them. I just think they're shit.

I misread your comment "I can count how many good ones there's been on one hand with few fingers" as "I can count how many I've seen on one hand with few fingers" so that is my mistake. However, I still wonder what made you thought you'd enjoy this one if you've mostly disliked the previous 18 films? And if you've mostly disliked the MCU films why would you keep seeing them? That's just punishing yourself for not reason.

Sometimes I have to watch them out of obligation to kids I'm working with or babysitting, or relatives who are keen on watching them. It's often at times a social courtesy on my part you know?

I also like a superhero movie when it's competantly done, does'nt matter if I think a majority of them are bad, all it takes is one or two good ones to give me hope...plus these are interpretations of characters I've read as a kid all my life and I like to see if they can be done justice.

For the record, here are the Marvel movies I love

1. Winter Soldier
2. Civil War
3. Ant Man

There's a few more I like, but they're marred a lot by too much comedy and low stakes.

As you can see, I quite like the Russo Brothers Marvel films, so I was hoping they'd deliver with this, but alas they did'nt

 

[Sinbad]

I saw it today too and I liked it probably a bit more than Zarius but I'm pretty much in the same camp as him. Ive seen all the films apart from GOTG2 but I only find them pleasant enough time passers for the most part. The best for me being

Thor Raganrok 
Ant Man
Iron Man

I tend to prefer slightly more grounded super hero stuff like Raimi's Spiderman trilogy or the original Superman where the world feels a little less cartoonish.  It was a decent enough movie but I find it really hard to connect with any of the MCU heroes because they seem pretty indestructible and there is rarely any true peril at stake. This definitely brought that to the game this time but being as we spend so little time with most characters in this it just felt a little late in the day to truly invest... Thanos was a pretty darn great (and sympathetic) villain though!

Not a bad movie by any means somewhere in between Avengers 1 and 2 I'd say but I was pretty indifferent to who lived and died and if they stopped making them tomorrow it wouldn't bother me.

 

[Neglify]

I've never been high on many of the MCU movies.

I bet though, if you were high when you saw them, you might enjoy them more.

 

[Nic]

Saw this on the weekend, probably going to see it again in theaters if I can help it. Rarely are their any MCU films that sink below the average (looking at you, Iron Man 2, Thor 2, Incredible Hulk, and Homecoming), and I genuinely believe that films like Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 3, GotG 1 & 2, The Avengers and Black Panther are going to go down as classics, with the last two specifically cementing themselves as generational touchstones. Why? Because movies don't regularly make billions without good reason. Yeah, they're funny, but they're also solidly written, have good characters, and hold up to repeat viewings.

Infinity War, if not a classic, is at least better than Age of Ultron. That has a lot to do by mixing up the different groups to give characters who'd otherwise never crossover a chance to bounce off each other and keep the movie fresh, something that Ultron was sadly lacking. It also provides a very compelling villain in Thanos, who believes so much in his goals that he'll carry them out despite not seeming to take pleasure in doing so.

My biggest complaint is that

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the movie doesn't have a pre-credits scene or something like it with Thanos attacking Xandar and getting the Power Stone, with some explanation from either John C. Reilly or Glenn Close of him being free to do so because Odin isn't alive to stop him. Further cement that this movie is more about Thanos than The Avengers.

I also didn't expect to kill off most of the new cast and keep the original Avengers, but it makes sense. This series started with them together and it should end with them together. Also, totally didn't see Spider-Man's death coming. As a life long Spider-Fan, I felt more for him in this movie than the entirety of Homecoming, and just him crying that he's not ready to die was just too much.

Plus, still has me looking forward to the last three movies set for release, especially Ant-Man and The Wasp. Lord knows people are gonna want to see some levity after this movie.

 

[Gaith]

I enjoyed the movie, though I kinda wish they'd kept "Part I" in the title. It's not too late to still call next year's sequel "Part II", and retroactively apply "Part I" to home media releases!

In terms of ambition, scale, hype, and inherent incompleteness, I was reminded of The Matrix Reloaded. And while I'm sure these two movies will go down in history as better than Reloaded/Revolutions (especially their second halves), I will say that, for all its smackings and thwackings, Infinity War lacked a standout action sequence on the order of Reloaded's Burly Brawl, chateau fight, garage/street/highway chase, power plant/skyscraper assault, or Civil War's airport battle. There were lots of cool action moments in Infinity War, especially the many Stranges, the fight for the gauntlet, and Thanos' arrival in Wakanda, but the overall sequences, especially the Edinburgh fight, often felt kinda samey and inconsequential. The big Wakandans vs. space dogs battle was particularly unremarkable, seemingly just there to finally add some scale to what had been, until then, a movie almost entirely devoid of bystanders, or indeed anyone not a main cast member from an earlier movie. Also, apart from gauntlet tussle, none of the action sequences really had clear objectives, apart from kinda-sorta buying Shuri time to untangle Vision, or even moving parts, to make them stand out. Here's hoping that next year's movie, with fewer characters to juggle, can take the time to make its action sequences really pop.

B+

 

[gazza]

i dont know if it is the star wars fan in me but did anyone else notice the similarities when the wakandans used their shield capes under a defensive dome it reminded me of the gungan army vs the droid army in sw episode one

 

[Masirimso17]

i dont know if it is the star wars fan in me but did anyone else notice the similarities when the wakandans used their shield capes under a defensive dome it reminded me of the gungan army vs the droid army in sw episode one

Actually no, I thought it was very similar.

 

[darthrush]

Just finished catching up on this thread, and I must say, I am genuinely so surprised how many of you guys love Ant Man. No offense to your opinion, but I thought it was one of the most terribly bland and average superhero movies I’ve ever seen.

 

[Masirimso17]

Just finished catching up on this thread, and I must say, I am genuinely so surprised how many of you guys love Ant Man. No offense to your opinion, but I thought it was one of the most terribly bland and average superhero movies I’ve ever seen.

I think it's pretty good, but not great.

 

[addiesin]

i dont know if it is the star wars fan in me but did anyone else notice the similarities when the wakandans used their shield capes under a defensive dome it reminded me of the gungan army vs the droid army in sw episode one

They're both based on the same real thing, the phalanx army formation.

 

[Masirimso17]

i dont know if it is the star wars fan in me but did anyone else notice the similarities when the wakandans used their shield capes under a defensive dome it reminded me of the gungan army vs the droid army in sw episode one

They're both based on the same real thing, the phalanx army formation.

Yes but there's the added similarity of a force field

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unless I'm missing something

 

[TomH1138]

Wow, I’m glad to see that at least others share some of my frustration with this movie. My Facebook feed is filled with overwhelming praise for the film, so it's refreshing to read the reviews here, and find that even people who like the movie are at least willing to acknowledge some imperfections with it.

It's taken me about a month to process my thoughts and feelings towards the film, but here goes. If you loved the film, more power to you. This is just my own take. (Warning: Long-winded, spoiler-filled rant follows.)

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Despite having taken the “Part I” off of the title, Infinity War is only half a movie. Nothing that is set up is paid off. Thanos isn't defeated; we still don't know why Bruce can't Hulk out; etc. The film ends at the bleak midway point of the story. There is no valid story reason for this choice; the only goal is to get the audience to drop another $40 next year to see the story reach a proper conclusion.

There was at least one child being brought out of the theater in tears. Imagine spending that much money on a film, only to leave with your child traumatized. I haven’t seen kids and parents this upset since Disney’s 1995 Pocahontas debacle.

There are so many characters crammed into this film that virtually none of them have any time to get their story developed or characterizations deepened. Characters exist in this movie only for name-checking sake: “Remember this character? Yeah, well, remember this character?”

For instance, there’s supposed to be tremendous emotional impact in the Wanda-and-Vision storyline, but we’ve seen so little of them that it’s just a little weird that she’s dating a robot, even if he suddenly looks human now. Maybe these characters should have been on Agents of SHIELD for half a season so we would actually care when tragedy strikes them.

About the only material that works in this movie is the funny interaction between Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Their scenes prevent this movie from getting a worse review from me nearly all by themselves.

Because this movie doesn’t have a proper conclusion, we don’t even get a fully realized theme for why Thanos’ actions are wrong. In fact, because the theme wasn’t fully developed, many have gone online to proclaim that Thanos was right. This may be the first major blockbuster to inadvertently convince audiences of the supposed virtues of genocide.

The movie also has an odd, off-putting anti-Christian vibe, with Thanos’ unambiguously evil followers worshiping him as their “lord” and referring to the “salvation” that he brings. There’s even a disrespectful joke about Jesus. I don’t expect non-Christians reading this review to care about this point, but I’m surprised that none of the Christian/family viewing guides I read prior to seeing the movie warned me about Thanos’ “disciples.”

Believe me, I take no pleasure in saying bad things about this movie. The first Avengers is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I’ve defended Marvel against many a critic over the past 10 years. But this time, everything that critics have complained about in the past was accurate (particularly, the notion that the movies only exist to advertise the next movie).

 

[Gaith]

Not sure if spoiler tags are still necessary, but...

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Despite having taken the “Part I” off of the title, Infinity War is only half a movie.
I mostly agree with this.

Nothing that is set up is paid off.
The Snap is - not to mention Thor and Tony's visions and anxieties from Age of Ultron onwards.

we still don't know why Bruce can't Hulk out
The Hulk persona is a child who got his ass whupped and is terrified - I think this was quite clear.

The film ends at the bleak midway point of the story. There is no valid story reason for this choice
There is if one considers the story to be Thanos' quest - which, admittedly, isn't quite the POV the movie presents.

There was at least one child being brought out of the theater in tears. Imagine spending that much money on a film, only to leave with your child traumatized.
It's PG-13 - words mean things. If a kid is too young to handle a downer ending in an action movie, maybe that kid's parents should have done better research or been more cautious. I'm sure that resisting the Disney marketing machine wouldn't have been easy, but, it can be done.

we don’t even get a fully realized theme for why Thanos’ actions are wrong. In fact, because the theme wasn’t fully developed, many have gone online to proclaim that Thanos was right. This may be the first major blockbuster to inadvertently convince audiences of the supposed virtues of genocide.
Honest question - were you disturbed by the running gag of Legolas and Gimli joking about their orc kills in the Lord of the Rings movies? Because those flicks certainly paint orcs as genocide-worthy, even if a convenient earthquake (and a ghost army) does the bulk of the slaughter (albeit in a battlefield context) at the end of RotK. Also, I don't agree that the concept of mass murder being wrong necessarily needs a thematic explication.

The movie also has an odd, off-putting anti-Christian vibe, with Thanos’ unambiguously evil followers worshiping him as their “lord” and referring to the “salvation” that he brings. There’s even a disrespectful joke about Jesus. I don’t expect non-Christians reading this review to care about this point, but I’m surprised that none of the Christian/family viewing guides I read prior to seeing the movie warned me about Thanos’ “disciples.”
I'm not a scholar on religion, but I'm certain that Christianity didn't invent the concept of disciples, and the word "salvation" has connotations other than the Christian doctrine of redemption from Original Sin. So, with the disclaimer that I'm an anti-monotheist, I don't see why Christianity should get special consideration with regards to these two points. As for the joke about Jesus, well, Cap made a pretty clear statement of belief in the guy in Avengers 1, so... we're even?