Monday, April 30, 2018

Marvel Studios' Avengers: Infinity War




            Avengers: Infinity War is the nineteenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the third installment of The Avengers trilogy, but not the last. After so much time has passed, waiting for his children to bring the Infinity Stones to him, Thanos the Mad Titan decides to take things into his own hands and go after the stones himself. The only ones standing in his way of some of those stones are the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, and a fight for the fate of the universe is now in play.

            When the first Avengers movie directed by Joss Whedon came out, I wasn’t really too impressed. I mean, I enjoyed it, but I felt like I was getting more of the same action and story, with some funny banter thrown in. Same thing with Age of Ultron, which did it again, except bigger and more foreshadow heavy...but Ultron was a rushed villain. I know people tend to praise these movies, or at least the first one, like they’re the best superhero movies made, but when you’re looking at it from the perspective of someone who didn’t grow up on reading comics, it felt lacking. Heck, some of the films in the MCU’s phase 2, especially the first Guardians of the Galaxy, felt more exciting than The Avengers.

Now with Infinity War, the Russo Brothers really put their skills to their absolute limit to deliver their TRUE Avengers movie. I felt like I got exactly what I was looking for; that sense of dread, that desperation for back-up wherever you can find it, the weight and gravity that rests on each one of characters fighting. In other words, this is first time I felt like I was watching a superhero epic. And while you do need knowledge of previous films to truly get this movie, the way the execute exposition is still handled in a manner that doesn’t feel distracting. The action scenes, only get more intense as the battle rages on, and I was surprised at how much this film made me go “Oh my God!” several times out loud. That’s how a movie is supposed to get you.

This movie has a massive cast attached to it, and just about everyone of them gets a chance to shine. While most of these interactions are played up for laughs, I get why they did this, considering they're not the main focus of the film, which is Thanos. Ever since he was forshadowed in The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, especially with Gamora as his daughter, you get to know a lot more about the father-daughter relationship that Gamora and Thanos have with each other, and the scene of him describing his home before, are both beautiful and fascinating. While he is a man wanting genocide, he emphasises it’s better than the option of extinction. I didn’t think Marvel was going to give a better villain than Killmonger, but Thanos is a big tie-breaker, and after being announced as this character since 2014, Josh Brolin is clearly relishing in every second and giving it the best it needs. You could even argue, this is the Thanos solo movie, and the villains are the Avengers getting in his way; in other words, this is a villain’s movie (suck it, DC).

I also have to give this movie credit for its ending, because it did what I thought no superhero movie, or any movie that isn’t horror or thriller. Yes, I know they’re going to recton it somehow in Captain Marvel and Avengers 4, but think about this: what if they didn’t announce anything after this, and Infinity War was the real final movie? Think of how impactful that must be, to have all of that build up, and what they deliver...not many people can get away with, but Marvel managed to pull it off.

In conclusion, Avengers: Infinity War ended up being everything I had been asking for since 2012, and it truly delivered. I was deeply surprised, and I applaud this movie for having done what it did. It’s an epic that will define a generation of comic book movie goers, better than any other that tried to top it. Is it my favorite? Probably not. In the Top 5? Oh hell yeah. And much like what I said in my review for the first Avengers movie, “I’d say go see it, but you probably already have.”

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