April 29, 2018

Movie Review # 50 Avengers: Infinity War


Avengers:  Infinity War (2018) Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans , Zoe Saladana Directed By Anthony & Joe Russo

10 Marvel years, 18 Marvel films, (and billions of dollars made), all presumably connected in the same expansive universe leading toward this one epic battle (or at least Part 1 so far of this battle), Directors Anthony & Joe Russo (The Winter Solider, Civil War, & Community and Arrested Development fame) bring the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) to the Big Screen in a starring role no less, so that he can unite the Infinity Stones and attempt to bring about great death and destruction to half the population of the universe, including potentially some of our favorite heroes.  Hey the Russo brothers had a gargantuan task, not only make a film that is entertaining, but also Marvel dared them to be different while still making sure every (or most) of your favorite heroes received great moments (while continuing to set up presumably more and more expanding)…their solution: Make the big bad the star. Really that is the most shocking thing (we are spoiler free here) about Infinity War, the star is really Thanos, for the first time in this Marvel Universe (that has had numerous useless villains) the villain is the star (look Keaton and MB Jordan were both good villains and Loki was um fine, but this is breaking new ground). I don’t know if they succeeded perfectly (I am a big fan of Winter Solider and outside of the end of Civil War that is also a great film), Infinity War clocks in at 2 hours and 29 minutes, but I think maybe it needed to be a bit longer (or have a better editor).  I would’ve traded some goofy exposition (by Bruce Banner) for a better opening and I would’ve certainly traded several minutes of that Wakanda battle sequence (where they were fighting the Outriders, some random dog/dinosaur things…dogosaurs?) for some more intimate battles, but given the sacrifice all these Marvel films make (CGI for story always), the Russo brothers have to be commended overall. The one thing this move has that other Marvel films lack is finally some consequence, failure leading to consequence (and at times it actually can be a bit emotional), I said it the second I walked out of theater, and I’ve heard it 1000 times since (we are all right btw), this is Marvel’s (and this generations) Empire Strikes Back, it is dark and the ending is not hopeful.  I think because Thanos gets so much backstory (which was a choice I liked), it does create some problems for characters that fall by the wayside in order to give other characters more closely connected to Thanos a chance to advance his story (Gamora really has a nice arc here), Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) to me was one of the characters that I was hoping for more, but I’m sure that those that got short changed here (Um Hawkeye and Ant-Man) will be back strong in Infinity War 2 (or whatever they call it). I thought Tom-Vaughan Lawler as Ebony Maw was the standout newcomer, he overshadowed solid performances by Carrie Coon (Proxima Midnight) and Peter Dinklang (Eitri). I think most people will enjoy this film, Marvel mostly delivers on its promise to unite their heroes from all corners of the Marvel cinematic Universe for an epic climax to Phase 3, some bad CGI and some lazy storytelling can’t stop this film from entertaining, ultimately it will suck you in and since it leaves you wanting more you will be back (Just like Thanos) SEE IT!  

(The Shawshank Scale 1-10) A bevy of stars, some fun dialogue juxtaposed with some emotional losses, fun pairings of stars that had not interacted yet,  a very commendable bad guy, and giant set piece’s (that often make no sense, Thanos at one point throws a moon at Iron man, what?) all equal a worthy 6.5 on the Shawshank Scale for me. There is so much going on in Infinity War, it gets a bump in rewatchability because you have to see it at least 2 3 times just to figure out what the hell happened. 

BONUS: TOP 5 MARVEL FILMS FOR ME:
1. Capt. America The Winter Soldier
2. Avengers
3. Civil War
4. Iron Man
5. Guardians of the Galaxy

AND THE THREE WORST:
1. Age of Ultron
2. Thor The Dark World
3. Iron Man 3

 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion...get involved!!! Come on you know want to....what the hell do I know.