HuMan's thoughts on : Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is my second favorite Marvel movie right after Captain America: Civil War, or how I like to refer to it as Avengers 2.5. Up until now, a disturbing trend Marvel has been following with respect to their Avengers movies has been the fact that rather than fighting the villain, a large segment of the movies are the heroes fighting amongst themselves, and the plot taking a random heroic turn and in the end everyone gets a happily ever after.

Thank God for us, Avengers: Infinity War isn’t like that. Though the roster for this movie is absolutely humongous, the scenes are handled so well you just can’t seem to get bored by it. In contrary to Avengers: Age of Ultron which made me so sleepy I didn’t even notice most details of that movie. So let’s get into this spoiler free review.

Directed by the Russo Brothers, this movie’s lead roles are taken by Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Stephen Strange), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Chris Pratt (Starlord) and Chris Hemsworth(Thor). Btw really loved Iron man’s new suit, Thor’s new weapon and the way the time stone is used, these three in particular in that order.

A beautiful aspect of this film may just be the amazingly well done fight sequences; they all have brief hints and easter eggs which no comic book fan can miss. As you can tell within the first few minutes into the movie, it starts out stronger than ever with unexpected layouts which contribute to a significant portion of the plot. Also, if you haven’t already heard about the unexpected and shocking ending, you will not be disappointed. The story unfolds in a simple 3 act process which prevents newbies from getting confused as to what’s going on and that’s a strong suit but by now everyone is on the hype train and I don’t expect any moviegoer to not know the basics. Either way the Pursuit Of The Infinity Stones led by Thanos is done sequentially and is at the most satisfying.

At time in the film industry, the quality of a movie is described by the villain, like in the Bond movies. Similarly Thanos poses as a strong enough character that I can support. His relationship with his daughter Gamora is glorified enough to be appreciated and acceptable. Built up since 2014’s Guardians of The Galaxy, this movie shows exactly why Gamora dislikes her father so much, betrays him and still lives to tell the tale. Thanos is seen as a real softy in every scene that they perform together and at the same time a powerful brute (kinda like your high school bully). This balance fits nicely to the eyes and the heart.

Editing: The process by which boring and unnecessary scenes are removed to give more joy to the viewer. The editing is heavy and noticeable in this movie and lies in the strict grey area between good and bad, like the time Thanos decimated a planet and we got to see none of that but at the same time who did want to see that? Even after going through heavy editing this movie still has its own flaws which keep it from hitting the number one spot on my list but the dialogues are kept to a minimum and try to maintain the interest of the viewer while still conveying the message.

With that we move on to the cons.

On the topic of editing, keep in mind there are lots of new elements that this movie tried to introduce like a new infinity stone, Vision & Scarlet Witch’s relationship, a setup for Captain Marvel and the most important of all, Black Widow’s new white hairstyle. I understand the fact that coming with the number of characters they had to handle, they would also have to handle screen time and also mash up all this information to truly allow you to enjoy the end game, though a lot of the weak points lied in exactly that.

The first act is absolutely boring if you watch it a second time. I enjoyed it at first but then when you know what is gonna happen, what’s the fun? The first act contains long introductions and excuses for all the characters to meet up and in other cases arrival of new artifacts and weaponry. This gets boring and tiresome easily and is tough for the viewer to sit through. Is it worth it to finally enjoy the end game? Yes, Hell Yes. Is it worth sitting through a second time with a remote in your hand? No.

Another thing that bothers me is the very low screen time Captain America, Black Panther, Black Widow and Falcon are given. Like Bruce Banner in human form has more role and importance than the Captain. Apparently no one knew how big a deal Black Panther would become and thus his sister Shuri (yep, she is here too) is more likeable and interesting.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, loved most of the props, hated Captain’s new “shield” and absolutely adored the idea of overpopulation and balance being the villain’s main motive. However, unfortunately I strongly felt there was minimum balance in the movie itself, there were 2 heavy fight scenes, very little dialogue and the only time the characters opened their mouth it would be to say something witty or completely change the course of the movie. That proves to be good and bad sometimes, your pick.

I loved the newly implemented formula, it was nice to see the heroes not trying to kill each other over petty differences and actually assess the real problem a.k.a the villain (obviously). Everyone in the movie fears Thanos enough to give the viewer goosebumps on the purple grape’s arrival.

I give it a solid 4/5 with great respect and regards to my favorite MCU directors. I say that it probably has ‘a shaky future’ because if the events of the next Avengers movie isn’t entirely satisfying, the events of this movie might also become irrelevant and regardless, and I really hope that’s not the case.

P.S. I really wanted Hawkeye in the movie and hence the picture is on purpose, I am not an idiot.