Avengers: Infinity War - SPOILER REVIEW

     Okay. It’s been a week since the opening of Avengers: Infinity War. In that span of time I have seen the film three times, and every showing has been vital in the processing of the film. It has taken me a while to figure out how to approach a review for what is truly a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience. No other movie in history that I can think of has attempted to do what this movie has done. Marvel has practically serialized their cinematic universe, with interweaving story threads that almost give each individual movie an episodic feel. It’s as if the MCU is one giant TV show, and each movie serves as an epic episode, pushing the narrative towards a turning point that will shape that universe in the future. Infinity War is in every way the season finale. The genius of this movie, of its creators, and the crews that worked on it, will go down in history for playing such a huge narrative step forward within the lore of cinematic storytelling. I believe, as of the posting of this review, the movie has grossed over $1 billon, a feat only a few movies have done and it did it faster than the reigning champ, The Force Awakens. I’ve got some thoughts about this film people, some feelings that are still processing as we speak, even after seeing it three times. This is going to be a SPOILER HEAVY review. If you have not seen this film yet, I implore you to stop reading now, go watch it, and then come back. I don’t want to be the one to ruin anything for you. I went into this movie knowing only what the trailers had told me, and as the credits began their crawl after that initial viewing, the only thought in my head was “I wasn’t ready.” So, again, HEAVY SPOILERS are coming. Consider yourself warned.

     Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, it’s safe to say that most of the world is familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. From its humble beginnings with Iron Man in 2008, Marvel has carefully crafted a narrative thread that not only introduced various characters and story points, but managed to drop connective nuggets along the way, promising an epic payoff if you but wait patiently. It began with the appearance of Nick Fury at the end of Iron Man, mentioning the Avengers Initiative. The ‘post credit scene’ has become a staple for movie-going all around, thanks primarily to Marvel. It doesn’t matter what movie I watch now, I always find myself staying after the credits, just in case there’s a snippet more to behold. These Marvel post-credit nuggets have been hinting at a larger, looming threat. The appearance of Thanos in the first Avengers film back in 2012 nearly melted every nerd’s mind, while also leaving the uninitiated questioning “who the heck was that purple guy in the floaty chair?” Marvel has made it possible for a wide audience to go into their films with little-to-no knowledge and still be able to grasp the concepts of the narrative, all while hitting those extra notes that fans will enjoy. If you’ve been following from movie to movie, then you’ll be rewarded with a greater, more fulfilling experience. The first Avengers film was the first of its kind, bringing together characters from multiple franchises into one big event film. Now, after ten years and 18 films (from Iron Man to Black Panther), Marvel has given us the ultimate payoff with Infinity War. It is brutal. It is mature. It is epic. It is entertaining beyond your wildest imaginations…and it is harrowingly disturbing.

     I don’t want to spend a lot of time hashing out the story. It’s really quite simple: there’s this big baddie named Thanos who is searching for the six infinity stones – powerful gems that have been introduced to us throughout the span of these films (Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers/Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange, respectively). Thanos needs these gems to wipe out half of the known universe, a task he feels burdened to bear (we’ll get to Thanos in a bit) and our heroes have to stop him. That’s all we need to know for this review. The story isn’t really that important, if I’m being frank. If you were to look at Infinity War separately from all of the other movies, and just look at it as one, singular film, it really doesn’t hold up narratively. There’s no context or real character development (other than Thanos). Yet, what sets this movie apart is that it doesn't need to do that. Everything you need to know has already been established in past films, giving this movie the awesome task to do one thing: pay off all of those narrative threads.

   
    It can be argued that there are certain characters that go through some type of arc. Thor has a bit of a jouney reclaiming some piece of himself after the events of the first five minutes, and I really enjoyed the Doctor Strange we meet in this movie – a seasoned sorcerer who has fully accepted his role in the universe. The fact of the matter is, this movie isn’t about furthering the storylines of the heroes. I truly believe that if anyone had progressive arcs, it would be Gamora and Thanos. Gamora is almost the central heart of this movie, and has the longest screen time of any Avenger. Her relationship with Thanos plays a key role, and Zoe Saldana gives an amazing performance throughout. At the end of the day though, this is Thanos’ movie. He’s the only character that has an emotional character arc that spans the entire film. Critics have dinged the movie for feeling like a mess, and to be fair there is a lot of characters, events, and places to juggle. The Russo Brothers, who have proven their merit in directing The Winter Soldier and Civil War, had an insane task ahead of them, and I think they pulled it off brilliantly. You have to take this movie for what it is. It’s a culmination of ten years of storytelling. As a fan, I didn’t need it to be anything but that. I wanted to see team-ups between characters who have never met each other, a villain worthy of being the best and most formidable, and I wanted real stakes that mattered. We get all of that and so much more.

     The team-ups were amazing. There were a few characters that felt underutilized, but for reasons I think will pan out in Avengers 4. Captain America, Black Widow, and even Black Panther were barely used, and yet they still served important purposes throughout the film. Despite screen time, every character had their moment to shine, just certain characters shined brighter. The various pairings felt real, and I loved the story threads that took place. Seeing Tony Stark and Doctor Strange meet was hilarious. Both of these characters are egotistical alphas who answer to no one, so to see them butting heads was a pure joy. The two of them, along with Spider-Man and a handful of Guardians, find themselves on Thanos’ disheveled home world of Titan, and their throw-down with Thanos is insane, emotional, and heart-breaking to say the least. Cap and company end up in Wakanda to participate in an epic Lord of the Rings battle between Thanos’ army. Thor, Groot, and Rocket (probably my favorite pairing in the entire film) travel to a star-fueled forge in order to obtain a new hammer, one that could supposedly kill Thanos. The quips, the action, and the interaction between characters we’ve come to know and love over the last ten years was worth every penny.

     Okay. Thanos. Marvel has been bogged down with the issue of having underwhelming villains. Loki has been the most consistent of the bunch, and Black Panther’s Killmonger easily takes the cake for being the most compelling…at least until now, that is. As a character, Thanos is the most fleshed-out one of the bunch. Josh Brolin does a phenominal job with his motion-capture performance. The CGI in this film is off the charts, and you can tell where they spent their visual effects budget: on the big, purple, California Raisin. He looked so good, and at times even real. Some of the best motion-capture work can be found in this film, and I applaud all who worked so tirelessly to bring us such awesomness. Thanos is a character that is believable, scary, compelling, and pure evil. He is so well-written, with an arc that is complete and emotionally-driven. From the opening moments of the film we learn that he is a formidable character, kicking the crap out of Hulk with nothing but speed, strength, and the will to win. He whooped Hulk so bad that we never see him again. The Banner/Hulk relationship in this movie is really great, and the idea of a frightened Hulk is compelling, and quite frankly, something we thought we'd never see. Hulk’s beat down is only one moment packed within a harrowing opening that sees the Asgardian ship from Ragnarok dismantled, as well as the death of Loki and Heimdal. That was unexpected. Thanos’ quest for the infinity stones spans the entire movie, and the question lingers the entire time of whether or not he’ll get them all.  It doesn’t take long to realize that the possibility of that happening is greater than expected, which brings me to the ballsiest and most shocking aspect of the movie: Our heroes lose.

     To think that our heroes would go unscathed in a culminating epic of this magnitude is somewhat naïve on our part. Granted, we love these characters, and we obviously want to see them win. But remember, this is Thanos’ story, and in this particular story, he wins. With all six stones and with a snap of his fingers, he wipes out half of the known universe, including Bucky, Scarlet Witch, Mantis, Star Lord, Drax, Groot, Black Panther, Falcon, Doctor Strange, Maria Hill, Nick Fury (both in the post-credits scene), and Spider-Man. I was in shock as I watched in silence as these beloved characters disintegrated before my eyes. The moment I lost it was when a crumbling Peter Parker, a kid mind you, cries out to his mentor/father figure “I don’t want to go!” Tom Holland, in that moment, absolutely delivers. The idea of “stakes” in a world where the movie-making process has become somewhat transparent can be seen as laughable. There are sequels coming for Black Panther, Spider-Man: Home-coming, and Guardians of the Galaxy that have already been announced, so clearly something will happen with these characters in Avengers 4 that allows them to come back. That being said, these deaths still manage to resonate, and the filmmakers allow us to sit in this emotional puddle, ending the movie with a close-up of a smiling Thanos. Straight up ballsy.

     In all due respects, the fact that this movie even exists is beyond comprehension. There are so many other things that I didn't say that I wanted to discus (The Black Order, the soul realm, Red Skull, young Gamora, Storm Breaker, Peter Dinklage, etc), that doing so would add another twenty paragraphs to this already-too-long ramble of a review. When considering the vast amount of characters, tones, arcs, and narratives that needed to be included, it’s almost impossible to think that something of this magnitude would ever work, but it does. Marvel has made history, and with each passing day it continues to make history. I know I get razzed for liking every movie I see, so when I say that I love this movie, that sentiment might fall on the deaf ears of those who know me. But believe me when I say, as a fan of these films and as a fan of film in general, I am so thankful I got to see film. That experience of sitting in the theater for the first viewing, having spent the better part of April marathoning the entire cinematic universe in preparation, I’ll never forget it. This movie is one of a kind. Is it perfect? No movie is. But this isn’t like any other movie. It’s not overstating it that Marvel has changed the game with this film. I cannot express the need for you to see it if you haven’t, and if you haven’t and you just spent however long reading this ramble-fest of mine, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! Avengers: Infinity War is one of the greatest movie-going experiences of a lifetime, and to think we have a whole year to wait before we find out what happens next is excrutiating.

     Then again, the wait has made my desire for the Captain Marvel movie jump up to the top spot on my list.