SPOILER FILLED Avengers: Infinity War Rambling

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
D: Anthony and Joe Russo
W: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely. Based on The Avengers by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
S: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt. 

This review will feature so many spoilers! I can't properly talk about this movie without spoiling it.

Also, this isn't so much a review as it is me rambling. Sorry about that.

If you don't want to be spoiled, here's my review in a nutshell: Good movie, can't wait for the next Avengers movie, 4/5. Go see it.

Spoilers begin now. This is your final warning.

Soooooooooooo.... that movie was emotionally distressing. It's good but to quote Homestar Runner, "I can't handle it!"

But before I talk about the assault on my emotional state, let's address a criticism that the movie has - "It just drops the characters in without explaining." In that, they just introduce a scene or characters without a proper introduction or giving the setup.

Um... okay?

Did these people also criticize Return of the Jedi for the same reason?
"They don't explain what a Jedi is or why Han Solo was frozen in carbonite."

I mean, yes, every film should be able to hold up on its own but when a movie is AN OBVIOUS SEQUEL to something. Does this look like a jumping on point?

This is basically the big event comic of this cinematic universe. This is the amalgamation of the of the past ten years and the creative team did a pretty damn good job at handling all these characters and storylines.

Everything has led to this moment. Every story has contributed to understanding these characters and what's at stake for them and why they do what they do.

Now, many of these characters have their own compelling story but the one who basically steals the show - THANOS!

It's such a relief that the character is interesting because, well, as big of an MCU fan I am, I'm willing to admit their villains haven't been very interesting. There have been good ones but a lot of them have been just... well, evil. Though they have been getting better recently.

As for Thanos... he basically thinks he's the hero.

No, seriously. When we first saw Thanos (Josh Brolin) I'm sure a majority of us thought that he was just be "I'm a God! You're all ants to me!" kind of villain. But in this movie he believes that his mission is noble and just. He believes that he is a martyr.

There are points in the movie where he acts cocky in his fights but that's the same attitude that a hero might have. There's even a scene where he comforts Scarlett Witch after she had to kill Vision - that's explained below.

His plan? End the hunger and suffering in the world by wiping out half of the universe's population which he believes will re-balance things. And he succeeds. But more on that in a bit.

Now, before the movie, he already possessed the Power Stone and gains the others in films. He first gets the Space Stone from the Tesseract on the ship carrying the remaining Asgardians from Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and in the process kills Heimdall (Idris Elba) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) - by the way, this happens at the very beginning of the film. Just in case you were wondering if they were playing around.

Sidenote: where the hell is Valkyrie and Korg? There better be a good answer!

Next, he gets the Reality Stone, held by the Collector (Benicio Del Toro) and then he gains the Soul Stone by... sacrificing his adopted daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Yeah, that's when you realize that not only is he completely serious about getting the Stones but he is also will sacrifice things he legitimately loves. You really get a sense that killing Gamora to get the Soul Stone was tough and soul-crushing for him (which is probably the point).

Then the Time Stone which was being held by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). But instead of him taking it from them, Strange gives it up. More on that later.

Finally, the Mind Stone which is held by Vision (Paul Bettany). Vision and a bunch of the other Avengers took him to Wakanda to try and get it extract it so they could destroy the stone before Thanos could arrive but it didn't work. So, Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) who was also Vision's love interest was the only one who had the power to destroy it and in the process killed him.

Unfortunately, Thanos reversed it and killed Vision to take the Stone. And so, he's able to accomplish his mission... half the universe is decimated. Including several of our heroes: Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Doctor Strange, Scarlett Witch, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and all the Guardians except Rocket. Each one of these deaths mean something.

This was pretty much me after the movie.

Bucky and Falcon's deaths were definitely emotional blows to Captain America (Chris Evans). Bucky was Cap's childhood friend and he finally got him back after his brain control and Falcon was one of Cap's first real friends outside of the Avengers and was an emotional support for him. It's also obvious that the latter hit War Machine (Don Cheadle) too given how he calls out for him during the deaths.

Black Panther's death means a big blow to the nation of Wakanda and all his family and friends. Especially given after all the drama in Panther's own movie.

Scarlet Witch was obvious one of the few whose power could stop Thanos. Also, during her death, she almost seemed to embrace. Maybe she felt guilt and thought she let people down - even though it's not her fault.

The Guardians are obviously going to be a blow to Rocket whose arc in the previous Guardians movie was learning to open and accept that he's apart of a group now that cares about him.

And then there's Spider-Man... oh dear... that was a toughy. The main reason: he's a kid. Okay, yeah he's a teenager which isn't the same but in that group, he is the kid. His response is crying and saying "I don't want to die." That is the most natural response.

But there's another reason why Spidey's death has a big impact. It's yet another slice of guilt for Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). Iron Man's main motivation throughout the movies has been guilt. Guilt over the weapons he made being used by terrorists, his actions have led to the death of multiple civilians and now... he may feel responsible for basically dragging this kid into the Avengers lifestyle which leads to his death.

As for Strange, well, before he dies he says "it had to be done". And before his group of Avengers/Guardians fights Thanos, he looks into all possible outcomes and they only have one winning outcome. Him giving up the Time Stone was half the population dying was the only way that would result in a win.

So yeah, this movie does not play around. I found myself turning into Al Capone from The Untouchables (1987).

But outside of the emotional gut punches the movie delivered, It had some great and creative action, well-done pacing, and we got to see some great character interactions I'm sure many of us have been dying to see. 

Now we just have to wait another year to see how it all ends... I don't know how I'm going to make it. 

But chances are if you're reading this, you've already seen it. If you haven't... well, you should still go and see it. 

I'll probably update this later with where this ranks in the MCU. And yeah, I know this isn't my most comprehensive review ever. Next time I'll be a bit more comprehensive and collected. 

Thanks for reading. Shares your own thoughts and share the article. 

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