The general reactions to Avengers: Infinity War have basically been along the lines of “OMG amazing!!” “So many feels!!” and “So much to process, how will we wait for the next one??” At least that’s what my facebook has looked like. So I’ve been hesitant to share my own thoughts on the film given that my opinion is a bit more lukewarm. Prepare to disagree with me, because I’m sure 99% of people will. And I didn’t think it was a bad movie by any means, I just wasn’t blown away.
Some of my reaction may also have to do with the mental state I was in going into the movie. I’d had an emotionally exhausting weekend, full of tears over various personal things (but don’t worry about me, everything is good now! I just get emotional sometimes). So when I saw the movie at the end of the weekend, I was perhaps a bit preoccupied.
Spoilers will follow. There’s just no way to talk about it without them, so you’ve been warned.
My brother called it a “popcorn punch fest.” I think this is a great description for Marvel movies in general. Yeah, there was a lot of punching and fight scenes. Of course it’s not just about that – there’s a whole interesting and crazy plot line involving Thanos and the infinity stones. It felt like he was able to get the infinity stones a little too easily though. How long had he been trying for it, and then it was what, like a couple of days before he had all of them? I guess cause having them made him more powerful. But still, it was fast – like Harry finding a majority of the horcruxes in the last 300 pages of the last book.
It’s a movie made for Marvel fans. And I am a fan, but I’m not nearly as hardcore as some people. I haven’t seen every single Marvel movie, though I’ve seen a majority of them. My memory of films is not great so I don’t recall a lot of the details in the movies I have seen. As a result, none of the characters really get any character development except Thanos. And I don’t necessarily remember all of their details because I don’t remember their films that well – which may explain why I wasn’t as emotionally moved as some people.
So honestly, I expected something bigger than the 3 deaths that we got, given how emotional people were. I feared for my Captain America. But instead we lose Loki, Vision, and Gamora – while all good characters, all more minor characters in the grand scheme of things. All characters I liked, too, but their deaths did not affect me in the same way as another bigger character would have. I think part of the issue is that their deaths were built around relationships that only occurred in this movie. Vision’s death is supposed to be sad because he’s killed (well the first time) at the hands of his lover. What a heartbreaking concept! But we barely got to see their relationship. And Gamora’s death should hinge on the relationship with her father. It’s still hard to buy that Thanos would actually care about her.
And the ending… well, we know all the dust people are coming back, right? I can’t get sad about that. Sorry you all have to be dust for awhile, but see you in the next movie. More emotionally moving is the reactions of the still living characters, but we didn’t see a ton of that. The one moment that actually made me tear up was Peter Parker saying goodbye to Tony Stark. More of that and you would really be pulling at my heartstrings.
The other thing that makes it tricky for me is that any time a story uses time travel as a device, I have a lot of questions and see the potential for a lot of issues. We know the time stone can reverse death, because Thanos used it to bring Vision back to life (and then kill him again). So I start to question, “what does this mean? What can be undone with the time stone?” I might need to go back and re-watch Dr. Strange so I have a better understanding of it.
With so many Marvel characters in one film, there are of course a couple of different plot lines going on. This lent to the fact that I almost felt like I was watching 3 different movies at once, that only barely came together. Kind of a weird feeling.
One of my favorite things about past Marvel movies has been the humor, and this did not disappoint. Lots of funny moments. The meeting of Thor and Starlord was pretty fantastic. I like Spiderman’s moments a lot too (and shame on me, I never saw his film!). And teenage Groot, so angsty! I’m also glad we got back to Wakanda, because it’s a pretty awesome place.
Ultimately I think a lot of my issues with this movie are solved by thinking of it as a Part 1. It would be like watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, and then trying to critique it as a film without its other half. You can appreciate some things, but you ultimately can’t get the scope of the story until you know how it ends. So I’ll leave by saying that I found Infinity War to be an enjoyable film, but I think I will be much more interested and impacted by it once the next Avengers movie comes out. And I know there will be lots of speculation for the future!
Did you see Avengers Infinity War? What did you think of it?
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