Avengers: Infinity War (Spoiler Review)
By: RogueSymbiote
WARNING! THIS IS A SPOILER HEAVY REVIEW!
Avengers: Infinity War is finally here! The last 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have all been building to this moment and it did not disappoint. So many things could have gone wrong with a cast this massive, but the Russo brothers pull off the impossible yet again. Enough with the set up, lets start talking Infinity War!
The Premise
Thanos is on a mission to bring balance to the universe. He believes that reducing the population by half will bring prosperity. His twisted justifications go so far as to call mass murder an act of mercy. The Black Order serve Thanos in his ambitions. Heroes from Earth and space must band together to prevent the Mad Titan from obtaining all 6 infinity stones. When assembled together, Thanos will be able to erase half of the universe with the snap of his fingers.
Story Arc
Spoilers start here everybody, lets do this! Thanos has already obtained the power stone from Xandar as it was placed in the care of the Nova Corps. The Asgardian ship is obliterated by Thanos and the Black Order. We learn that half of the passengers of the Asgardian vessel escaped which presumably includes Korg and Valkyrie. Hulk and Thanos brawl, but the big green gets beaten down hard. Heimdall sends the Hulk back to Earth and is then promptly killed. Loki is forced to hand over the tesseract and then attempts to kill Thanos. The Mad Titan chokes the life out of Loki in front of Thor and then teleports with the power of the space stone. The ship explodes sending Thor into the expanses of space.The Hulk lands in the Sanctum Sanctorum and Bruce warns Doctor Strange about Thanos. Strange gets Tony Stark and explains the situation. Tony is about to call Steve Rogers when a spaceship descends on the city with two members of the Black Order. Stark, Strange, Banner and Wong engage them. Bruce is unable to Hulk out and we see Tony's Bleeding Edge Armor for the first time. The Black Order is after the time stone that Doctor Strange possess. Spider-Man joins the fight and attempts to save Strange from Ebony Maw. Both Strange and Spider-Man get beamed up to the ship which jettisons into space. Iron Man follows and bestows Peter Parker with the Iron Spider suit.As Ebony Maw tries to extract the time stone from Strange, Spider-Man and Iron Man plan to save him. They are able to shoot Maw out of the ship and save the doctor. The trio then agree to head to the coordinates set in the ship in order to confront Thanos head on. The Guardians of the Galaxy are responding to the distress signal from the Asgardian ship in hopes of a reward and find Thor instead. Thor explains the situation which clearly affects Gamora. Thor, Rocket and an angsty teenage Groot set off to forge a new weapon on Nidavellir. Star Lord, Gamora, Drax and Mantis head to Knowhere in order to prevent Thanos from obtaining the reality stone.
The Star Lord team is too late as Thanos has already found the reality stone. We witness the power of this particular infinity stone and then Thanos takes Gamora with him as she knows the location of the soul stone. Wanda and Vision are full blown couple now on a romantic getaway in Scotland. The couple begins talk of not returning to their superhero lives, but then witness the carnage back in the US. They are then attacked by two other members of the Black Order. The couple is saved by Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon as Bruce made a call to Cap after the battle in the city. This group of heroes meets up with Rhodey and then make their way to Wakanda in hopes of safely removing the mind stone from Vision so they can destroy it.Thanos tortures Nebula until Gamora tells him the location of the soul stone. She finally caves and the two of them set off for Vormir. Arriving on the strange planet, they are greeted the Red Skull. Thanos is told he must give up that what he loves in order to receive the should stone. Gamora mocks him in his failure as she believes he loves nothing. Thanos sheds a tear and tosses Gamora off of the cliff. He is rewarded with the soul stone, but is clearly shaken by the heavy toll. Stark, Strange and Parker land on Titan. They are confronted by Star Lord, Drax and Mantis. The group eventually realizes they are all on the same side and strategizes a way to defeat their common enemy.Back in Wakanda, Caps team arrives and they have Shuri begin her work on Vision to extract the stone. Winter Soldier has a new arm and embraces Cap. Massive pods begin to drop from Thanos' ships and the heroes begin preparations for battle. A massive army of outriders is led by the Black Order. They lower the shields of Wakanda in order to funnel their enemies in and chaos ensues. Bruce is still unable to turn into the Hulk so he uses an upgraded Hulkbuster armor instead. Thor and his party arrive in Nidavellir, but the star has burnt out and the rig looks abandoned. They are confronted by the dwarf Eitri, who explains all of his men were killed by Thanos after he forged the infinity gauntlet for him. Thor and Rocket bring the dead star back to life and Eitri helps them forge a weapon to kill Thanos called Stormbreaker. Just as the battle in Wakanda seems bleak, Thor, Rocket and Groot arrive to turn the tides.
Back on Titan, Thanos arrives expecting Ebony Maw to possess the time stone for him, but instead meets Doctor Strange. The heroes proceed to throw everything they have at Thanos and are able to restrain him. Stark and Parker try to remove the gauntlet, but Quill begins to ask Gamora's whereabouts. Nebula reveals that Thanos killed her to obtain the soul stone and Quill loses it. The gauntlet is almost removed when Quill begins to hit Thanos' face, which knocks him out of Mantis' trance. He regains control and defeats the entire team. As he is about to kill Stark, Strange bargains for his life with the time stone. Thanos agrees and sets off to recover the final stone in Wakanda.Thanos arrives in Wakanda and is confronted by all of the major heroes. Vision begs Wanda to destroy the mind stone while it is still in his head as Shuri was unable to remove it in time. Wanda destroys the stone which obliterates Vision while holding Thanos at bay single handedly. Thanos uses the time stone to resurrect Vision just to rip the mind stone from his head. Vision loses all color and perishes for a second time. Thanos places the sixth and final infinity stone in his gauntlet. He is then immediately impaled by Thor's Stormbreaker, but the Mad Titan survives and snaps his fingers. Heroes begin to turn to ash as Thanos has finally succeeded in eliminating half of the universes' population. Major deaths include Bucky, Black Panther, Falcon, Wanda, Star Lord, Groot, Drax, Mantis, Doctor Strange and Spider-Man. The film ends with every hero in shock. Thanos is off on his own, smiling toward a sunrise as the credits begin to roll.Of course there's a post credit scene! Maria Hill and Nick Fury are driving just as people begin to turn to ash. Maria begins to perish and Nick grabs a device and activates it just as he begins to fade as well. The device shows a message is sending and then we see the logo and color scheme of Captain Marvel.
The Good
That's right people, that was just the synopsis! Now we get too the actual review. The writings is stupendous. There are so many quotable lines. The emotion in this movie is palpable. Even though Thor puts on a brave face, you can see the sadness and rage building inside. Chris Hemsworth was brilliant. The humor from Ragnarok carried over in the best way possible. Thor's interactions with the Guardians were hysterical. Thor got a major upgrade with Stormbreaker and I loved every minute he was on screen.
After 10 years of watching these characters, their deaths were meaningful and heartbreaking. Watching Vision die twice was brutal. Even though Drax maintains a tough exterior, when he begins to vanish, his call out for Quill was almost childlike. It would take forever to mention every death, but I'll mention one more. Tom Holland sold that death scene brilliantly. Having him turn to ash in Stark's arms was tough to watch. I wish Stark had reacted a bit more to it, but I'm assuming he was just in shock. Tom Holland was brilliant! His humor and wit landed every time. I was stunned after he was proclaimed an Avenger how, with just his facial expression, displayed excitement followed by a realization of what that meant.There are a few complaints about the film circulating that I don't quite agree with. I really enjoyed the relationship between Wanda and Vision. They have been building that up since Age of Ultron and it feels genuine. Some are saying that the film was too all over the place and hard to follow. I couldn't disagree more. I never once felt confused or lost. As soon as I began to wonder about a previous storyline, the film jumped right to what I was curious about. This is a film based on the assumption that you have watched the previous MCU films. Infinity War is a love letter to every audience member who has spent hours upon hours in the theater to see their favorite heroes. The Russo brothers didn't need to explain every character or location because this was a film for the fans. This is not a self contained film, but it was never meant to be.There were an abundance of incredible performances, but oh man did Josh Brolin crush this role as Thanos. The motion capture was unbelievable, but Brolin brought Thanos to life. When you have a villain who wants to take out half of the universe and makes you question whether he's justified in doing so, you know you have something special. Thanos is an incredible villain because he sees himself as a hero. Not only that, he openly acknowledges that no one sees his true ambition for what it is. Thanos is a fully flushed out and well rounded character. His power, sense of honor and willingness to sacrifice everything he cares for are what make Thanos the greatest villain we've seen in the MCU. I know that's going to ruffle some feathers, but I don't care. Come at me nerds.Here's just a quick rundown of a few other of my favorite moments: Loki saying "Odinson" during his self titles when engaging Thanos, Hulk being afraid to come back out and fight Thanos, Ebony Maw is so creepy and amazing, the entire Black Order, the subtle parallelisms and the ridiculously amazing action. The team-ups were all brilliant as well. It was so much fun to see characters we have never seen before interact with one another. I need more Thor and Rocket in my life. I even liked teen Groot which surprised me because I was annoyed by baby Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2.
The Bad (Or should I say, not as good)
Now for the nitpicking. There was something off about the cgi/perspective work on Peter Dinklage's character, Eitri. I loved the character and the voice he chose to use, but when Eitri and Thor were in the same frame I was a little taken out of the movie. Based on the deaths we've seen, it is obvious that the next Avengers film will be about bringing those characters back. I only say this because some may not feel a real connection to the deaths we saw on screen. I still felt every single one of those deaths though so that wasn't a big deal to me. Loki dying from just a choke out was a little bit of a letdown, but maybe that was the point. He is this bigger than life character, and yet we was snuffed out so easily.Why was Doctor Strange so concerned about Tony being able to turn the ship they were on back to Earth? Strange could've just opened a portal back. While we're on the Sorcerer Supreme, why didn't he use the time stone at all against Thanos? I thought it would've been cool if he reversed the melding process of the dauntless so Thanos couldn't harness the powers of all the stones at once. That would've defeated the point of the film though. Not every character is utilized as much as they could have, but did you see the size of that cast?! Like I said, this is the nitpicking section. If these are my biggest complaints you know it was a pretty amazing movie.
Future of the MCU
Let's get to theorizing people! So we have 2 MCU films before Avengers 4 next May, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel. I have a feeling both of these movies are going to be much more important than previously expected. I say that more about Ant-Man and the Wasp since we already knew Captain Marvel was going to play a large roll in setting up the next Avengers film. Could the quantum realm play a role in defeating Thanos? Is captain Marvel going to receive that distress signal and bring some friends with her?
I think that Hawkeye's family are going to vanish with half of the universe and he'll return as Ronin. If you don't know about this character I would suggest you look it up because it actually makes Clint Barton an interesting character. Let's talk about the deaths. I believe that everyone who died prior to the snap is gone for good. Loki, Heimdall, Gamora and Vision are super dead. Avengers 4 will reverse all of the deaths post snap, but these 4 characters will need much more if they are to return. Gamora may be stuck in the soul stone realm which may be the premise behind the next Guardians movie as that would be an easy way to bring in Adam Warlock. Maybe Shuri copied Vision's code and will be able to create him another body.Cap and Tony need to reconcile in Avengers 4. When Tony was skewered by Thanos, the thing that made me the saddest about his potential death was not making things right in their relationship. I highly doubt they make it through the next Avengers film, so the audience needs to see that in order to feel a sense of closure. Speaking of Avengers 4, here's what I believe will happen. The infinity gauntlet looked fried after the snap. I don't believe Thanos will be able to control all of the stones at once which will leave him vulnerable. Since the entire original Avengers team is still alive, I believe they will each wield an infinity stone while in a circle like the first Avengers film, and they will self sacrifice in order to bring everyone back who was killed by the snap. That will be unbelievably brutal to watch, but even thinking about it gives me chills. That would be incredible to witness. Just as an added note, I believe Doctor Strange gave up the time stone to save Tony because he needs to survive in order to win in the end. I think that the one future that Strange saw of them winning was in part due to Tony.With all the horrible things that have happened to Scarlet Witch, including killing her love, watching him be resurrected only to die again and dying herself, could we see a modified version of House of M? She's going to be brought back in Avengers 4 so I don't want to hear any, "but she's dead" comments. Robert Downey Jr killed it once again as Iron Man. That bleeding edge armor was so amazing. What if Thor takes Tony to meet Eitri so that he can forge him the uru armor?! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's essentially enchanted bleeding edge armor forged in Asgardian metals. Look it up, it's amazing. Avengers: Infinity War was a spectacle unlike anything ever attempted before. I love this film and can't wait to see it again.
