Avengers: Infinity War (Spoiler Review)

Before we get into the topic of this post I will say that this post will contain SPOILERS for Avengers: Infinity War. If you haven’t seen the movie, then please don’t read any further until you have. Or if you don’t care about spoilers, then don’t complain at the end. Thank you.

 

Avengers: Infinity War. The culmination of 10 years of Marvel story telling, and build up across 19 movies. A cinematic universe that had never been done, on this scale, before. Multiple movies, as well as television shows, all coming together to tell stories across a single shared universe.

Can a movie that has been building for this long pay off in the way that fans expect?

The answer to that question is yes. It most definitely can.

Writing, Directing, and producing a movie that has so much build up is not an easy task; particular due to the fact that it has never been done before. The impossible task has seemingly come together. While this movie is still part one of a two part film that will conclude in 2019. It is also very distinctly it’s own film. A nice beginning, middle, and end that both satisfied the viewer and shocked them.

An impossible achievement that the Russo Brothers (also known for Captain America Winter Soldier, and Captain America Civil War) have created what I believe to be a masterclass in character handling.

The movie contains 76 main characters, all of which have their own storyline, and moments that have to be handled. A job the they handle perfectly. The pacing of the film is great, and at least to me never felt too long or too quick with scenes. Every character had their moment to shine in some way.

Teen Groot was one of the stand outs in that “shine” to me. From the beginning of the movie he was disinterested, playing a video game all the way through. The moment (I believe) for him culminated when he sacrificed his arm, even with the ability to regrow that’s a sacrifice, to create a handle for Stormbreaker when he saw that Thor was in trouble and needing it.

Another was Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). Usually relegated to the background, because all everyone is interested in is The Hulk, this movie created the atmosphere for him to have his part. While it was obvious that this was a last minute change of plan, especially for the final battle at Wakanda, it worked. (see picture below from the trailer as to why I believe it was a last minute change).

 

This culminated in a better character arc for Bruce himself, as he now knows that Hulk both can choose to remain hidden, as well as showing Bruce that he is potentially scared of something. While this aspect might be strange to some fans of Hulk, it is refreshing and comes about because of him getting a complete beat down by Thanos at the beginning of the film—coincidentally causing Loki to use a fairly well known meme in the process but whether that was a reference to the fan base, I don’t know. 😉

But let’s discuss Thanos for a moment shall we? Avengers Infinity War is definitively a Thanos movie. It’s his story, so much more than it is the Avengers. One thing I never expected though, which shows the great writing in the story and the acting of Josh Brolin even through motion capture, is that you would actually feel something for the bad guy.

His motivation is changed somewhat from the comics; something I’m glad about because this is better.

Originally, Thanos does the killing due to his love of mistress death and desire to impress her.

In the Infinity War movie on the other hand, his goal to wipe out half the population of the universe is motivated by the fact that he believes it’s the right way. Having witnessed the same problem happening on Titan, and his solution being rejected, he saw what the planet became. A dessicated shell of broken remains.

He truly believes that what he is doing is the right thing.
While you might not believe it yourself from whatever moral code you believe. You understand that he believes that it’s his destiny to bring this about. As well as keeping in mind that he doesn’t need the Infinity Stones to do this. He already began doing this, as shown in flashback with Gamora’s mother when he decimated half the population. He saw the result of that later, as he says to Gamora in the movie, the children have grown up not knowing hunger, or poverty.

He believes he saved them.

While you may think that yes, it will need to be done again. That’s not the point. Thanos is solving it as an immediate solution. His decision to use the Infinity Stones actually comes out of compassion. The ability to do this with a snap of his fingers, brings the ability for people to just not exist. They fade away as they do at the end of the film. Collapse into dust.

Again. This shows a masterclass in story. To make you feel something for the villain that is committing genocide across the universe. Compounded further when he attempts to attain the soul stone which leads to the cameo appearance of Red Skull; a character not seen since the end of Captain America The First Avenger all the way back in phase one. Although not played by Hugo Weaving, but instead played so well by Ross Marquand (from The Walking Dead) who actually had me believing the first time that it was actually Hugo Weaving. So bravo.

In the scene for the Soul Stone, Red Skull reveals that it takes a sacrifice of something you love. A soul for a soul. This leads to an emotional impact as the audience realises that he does indeed feel love for his adopted daughter, Gamora. The regret shown in his eyes as he casts her down over the chasm is strong. It’s clear that he doesn’t want to do it, but he believes that this is his destiny, and he ignored it once before. A powerful piece of storytelling as he receives the soul stone with the ache of knowing what he’s done.

As we lead into the ‘endgame’ of Infinity War, we see Doctor Strange give him the time stone willingly. Something that he was not willing to do earlier in the film, and told Tony that he would let Thanos kill everyone before letting him take it.

So what changed?

Obviously he saw the one future that lead them to winning in whatever fashion that looked like in the end. Does the win require Tony Stark to do something that only he can do? Well, that’s something for 2019’s Avengers to answer.

What about all the ones that fade out after the snap, and just dissolve? Has Doctor Strange put some kind of spell on the timestone that will help the Avengers before he disappeared? Maybe Antman’s ability to enter the Quantum realm comes into it, and that ties in with Captain Marvel being the one who will get them out of this. To me, I suspect she is the one who is taking the place of Adam Warlock from the original comic version. Especially as we have been told that Adam won’t appear until Guardians 3.

One question I do have. It could be considered a flaw, but it depends on whether they do something with it in the next movie. So I will wait until then to make a complete ruling.

But to me, when Wanda destroys the mind stone in Vision’s head and Thanos uses the time stone to rewind time, the Mind stone should not be affected. The Infinity Stones are a subset of each others powers. They balance each other while not being completely affected. So the mind stone should not return, in my thinking.

Now perhaps, that break in time is what helped cause the Gauntlet to basically melt. Maybe it will create a paradox that will assist Captain Marvel in the next film.

I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of anyone that died after the snap, mostly due to existing movies already announced. But I wonder whether they have been transported to Soul World; in the comics as part of the Soul Stone. Something that Antman’s ability would help them access, or escape from.

Who knows.

But that’s it from me. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I urge you all to keep watching it. As for myself. I’m going to go and think about this some more, because this has brought up way too many ideas. I’ve probably missed a lot in this review, but there it is anyway.