It was finally here. The big culmination of this Infinity Stone arc — Avengers: Infinity War (2018) — Dun Dun DUN! This was a big one, because they had a lot of characters in this first half of the big story. We were able to secure decent seats on the Sunday evening at the tail end of opening weekend. I didn’t necessarily need to see it opening weekend, but Josh was concerned about some classmates spoiling it for him Monday morning. We made it happen, but let me warn you, it’s a long movie at 2 hours and 29 minutes. We had a 7 PM show, and by the time we were in the car driving home, it was after 10 PM. I may want to see this again on IMAX 3D this time.
The film starts with a distress call from Thor’s ship seen at the end of Thor: Ragnarok. That means, it’s been five seconds since the last movie before the events of Infinity War kick off. Without spoiling too much, we get introduced to Thanos and his crew as they have boarded the ship, kicked everyone’s posteriors, and many of the Asgardians are now dead. Thanos wants the Tesseract, and he’s already got the Power stone. That means he’s already done some have damage to Xandar (not witnessed on screen.)
After these scenes at the beginning, the movie turns into a true heist film where Thanos and his minions are out stealing the remaining stones — Reality (last seen on Nowhere in Thor: The Dark World), Mind (last seen on Vision’s forehead on Earth in Captain America: Civil War), Time (last seen with Doctor Strange on Earth in Doctor Strange), and Soul (not yet seen.) Everyone is broken up in teams trying to stop Thanos from collecting all of these Pokémon. Kidding, I meant Infinity Stones.
Meanwhile, Thor, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon are off to Nidavellir to ask the dwarves to help them forge Thor a new weapon.
It’s a busy movie with a lot going on. There were a few scenes or events that I expected would happen. There were many scenes of events that I did not expect to happen. I was fairly impressed by how deadly the Black Order was – they were not simple low-level henchmen. They were formidable warriors, but I’ll admit I don’t remember their names.
The filmmakers certainly demonstrated that the events of this film, which I believe transpire over the course of 48 hours after Thor: Ragnarok, were a big deal. Thanos and his crew were not to be trifled with. This was not a walk in the park. Favorite heroes die in this film, and while no one ever truly seems to die in the comics, I believe a number of them aren’t coming back.
I have to say that the filmmakers did a nice job with Thanos as the villain. He didn’t want to rule the Universe. He wasn’t out for revenge because someone took his puppy. He strongly believed that wiping out half of all living creatures in the entire Universe was the best thing for it to properly survive. He also showed a lot of emotion about what he had to do, and he was a pretty well-rounded character.
I did have some reservations about the special effects in this film. Some of the CGI when you see Banner or Rhodes pop their heads out of their respective suits look unfinished and jarring. Also, Tony’s latest suit for himself, and the Iron Spiderman suit for Peter Parker, are unrealistic. The Iron Man suit can do all these things and create gadgets, but there’s no respect for mass. Don’t these nanites have weight? How does he carry an infinite number of nanites ro create an infinite number of add-ons or gizmos? How does Spiderman retain the ability to adhere to surfaces with a metallic armor as a barrier between him and his fingertips? It all looks cool, but it’s bordering on fantastical.
I enjoyed watching Thanos using the Stones, and you can quickly see how they’re a game changer for the one wielding them.
It’s an interesting film, but even with the big horrible fates that appear to befall our heroes…. you also know that Disney/Marvel announced sequel films for them. So, it’s only a flesh wound? Hmmm. In any case, I still may see it again. More than anything, I’m looking forward to the Captain Marvel film next Spring.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)