I’m gonna go overboard by reviewing the biggest Cinematic Event of the Decade, and also explaining some serious thoughts I had while watching 2:40:00 of Comic Book Crossover Ambition.
Let’s Review This Majestic Movie!
Peter Rabbit!!!…Wait…
No I’m not reviewing Peter Rabbit! At least not without having seen it. I’m sure it is a delightful childhood romp. But I’ve got a bigger fish to fry…
Hold on to your butts! This is gonna be a wild one!
I’m gonna state right now, do not read on if you haven’t seen this behemoth of a motion picture and do not want to know the details of what goes on in this film. There will be
SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Avengers: Infinity War is a 2018 Superhero ensemble picture about one large purple man’s obsessive rock collecting expedition and a series of people who want to keep him from getting them all. That’s actually it in a very vague and basic sense. If we’re gonna go more detailed the entirety of the Infinity War journey is centered around one character.
James Hutton! Boom! Geology Jokes!
I’m gonna start off this by making a radical statement but it is something that really helped solidify the events of this movie for me: Thanos (Josh Brolin) is Infinity War’s protagonist. I know, that may be something a bit tough to swallow but hear me out. It’s his journey we are following the entire film. He drives this story, the emotional beats, the action, and ultimately, it’s his story that gets a conclusion by the time the credits roll. The heroes of this movie are forces to play on his terms and he controls the momentum of the piece from brutal start to brutal finish. Thanos IS our main character.
Oh Snap!
So let’s talk about this monster of a movie shall we. By starting at the beginning an analyzing what each of the beats do. We begin aboard the Asgardian refugee ship. Thanos and his children, called the Black Order, have decimated the Asgardians, killing half of them, and wounding and battering the other half, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) included. This opening scene is so fantastically crafted to me. Because it sets up a number of things really well. So let’s break down the major things you need to realize. A) Thanos already has the purple power stone from Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a significant move by writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, as well as Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, to place the obtaining of that stone offscreen. We don’t need to see it, we see where the Asgardians are and then see the power stone, and already we get a sense of how dangerous Thanos is.
Danger Will Robinson!
But should you have missed these details they place that evidence right in front of you with point B) The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) gets his ass kicked! Hulk, having been traveling with the Asguardians since Thor: Ragnarok. The Big Green comes out swinging and Thanos singlehandedly puts him down, with minimal effort I might add. I think this movie is brilliant. Take the character we has seen in the past to be THE biggest and strongest member of the Avengers, and show that the coming threat can deal with him no problem. It establishes that Thanos is dangerous, which we the audience need to feel, because all we’ve seen is that he has some ominous tones and a lot of cameos claiming he’s gonna be messing people up down the line. They establish as soon as possible in the movie where he gets some action, that he is not to be trifled with.
Sorry to say, the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant has a rough movie ahead.
Thanos then instantly establishes that he is raising the stakes of the past 10 years of Marvel movies. Death has been something of a flexible detail in previous films, only a handful of characters have died in these movies and of them, even less have stayed dead. But Thanos clearly states that this time, deaths will be permanent. He then has one of his children stab Heimdall (Idris Elba), just after he sends Hulk to earth and then, in a move to infuriate the fangirls everywhere strangles Loki (Tom Hiddleston). He then leaves, blowing up the remains of the ship and leaving Thor to die. This in my opinion was the best move to establish the stakes of this movie. Heimdall was a bold enough on his own. But to take the only other Multimovie villain, and a character who has become as popular, if not more-so, than the hero he is associated with, and kill him right off the bat, it says that this movie is not going to be the usual romp of pluck and superherodom, and that bad things are to come for any who get in Thanos’ way.
*Cue Aggressive Jazz* He had it comin’!
Oh and did I mention that all that takes place in the first 10 minutes of the movie?! We still have 2 1/2 hours to go and we’ve already established how dangerous this dude is and how serious he is in accomplishing his goals. And from there we have to rapidly breakdown the motives of each of the other characters and how they make genius teamups work in a way that I can’t even begin to break down. But I’m gonna try and establish the roles of the major players and how they come into contact with each other. Like I said earlier strap in, this is gonna get crazy. I’m starting with the de facto godfather of the Marvel Universe, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.).
Who has been Iron Man for 10 years now!
Tony has the highest number of significant relationships in this movie and they all work out in a way that is phenomenal at the end. First, his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is of note because it has changed a bit since we last saw Tony. Their now engaged and Tony is wanting to have a kid. Pepper is hesitant and basically says she won’t be fully ready until he decides to hangup the Iron Man once and for all. Next he has a sizable ego battle with Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). This makes sense in a number of ways. Stark is the most technologically advanced character in the known universe, Strange is a master of mystic arts and arcana, the things that defy science. They are both experts in their fields, (And the fact they were both Sherlock Holmes is a fun out of movie tidbit). The pair are constantly trying to outdo each other and it comes to a head on Thanos’ homeworld of Titan, but we will get to that in a bit.
Hoo boy, this is a beast to unpack…
Tony also has a significant relationship with Peter Parker a.k.a Spider-man (Tom Holland). Spidey is sort of a surrogate child for Tony and the need to protect the youngster is clearly a continuing theme from Spider-man: Homecoming. Spidey, being the eager to prove himself youngster that he always is, leaps into the fray and defies Tony’s wishes and causes them to be constantly working together but clearly we see Tony willing to do whatever he can to prove he is a good father.
Side note: The placing of the Stan Lee cameo at the beginning of the movie was really smart as it allows us to have our fan service and then spend the next 2 hours actually watching the movie and focusing on the characters and story.
Tony’s final big relationship moment is with Star Lord (Chris Pratt) who in my opinion is Tony back when we met him in Iron Man. Back then Tony was brash, angry, unpredictable, and out to prove he was more than the sum of his parts. Star Lord is doing this now too, and Tony is the thing he bases a lot of that on. All of these relationships make the stakes of the movie have real significance in the future. Now let’s focus on the next major player in this whole scenario.
God of Thunder!
Thor is ultimately saved by the Guardians of the Galaxy. And his interactions with them are quite diverse. Star Lord is intimidated by Thor and jealous of how everyone is infatuated with him, mainly Drax (Dave Bautista). He connects with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) about lost family and monumental diversion of life as he knows it. And spends a great majority of the movie traveling to Nidavellir, a formerly unseen forge of weapons including the Infinity Gauntlet and Mjolnir, alongside Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and angsty teenage Groot (Vin Diesel). The three form a special bond, and Thor even turns angsty Groot to a much more heroic member of the team when he uses his OWN ARM to make the handle for Thor’s new axe Stormbreaker, forged by the last remaining giant space dwarf Eitri (Peter Dinklage).
Did I fail to mention that Tyrion Lannister is all up in this bitch!?
Thor returns to Earth reunites with Captain America and the Earth Squad and we move forward to the end of the movie. But the most important relationship for Thor in this film is to his family: Loki, Odin, Frigga, and co. If you looked at where Thor was at the end of the first Avengers movie he was on top of the world. He goes from there to lose, in order: His mom, his brother, his girlfriend, his favorite hammer, his dad, his sister, his right eye, his homeworld, his best friend, and then his brother AGAIN! On top of being forced to pick up the responsibility of ruling the Asgardian people only to have them wiped the F out almost immediately. He goes from an ideal place in the universe to being a god with literally nothing left to lose but his own life. It’s a very human moment from one of the least human characters in the entire franchise. And it would be the quintessential tragic arch of this movie, if not for one thing.
Already in tears remembering what went down.
Gamora comes the closest to taking the main character from her dear old stepdad. And she has a series of plot affecting relationships that really push the envelope and I feel will play into Avengers 4. Firstly is her relationship with Star Lord. They prove they are attached and love each other and that makes her death and his learning about it, one of the hardest parts of the movie to watch. The second relationship is with her sister Nebula, who has to come to accept that no matter how perfect she tried to be Gamora with always be the favorite, and that is sure to play out come to part 4.
Also, Karen Gillan is fierce!
But the most important relationship in this whole movie is the one between Gamora and Thanos. It’s heartbreaking, and it makes Thanos’ emotional journey incredibly profound. Anyone who says this movie is all spectacle obviously wasn’t paying attention to how harsh it was that Thanos had to sacrifice the only person he ever loved to get his goals accomplished and how much it actually broke him to do so. Gamora demands Star Lord kill her because she’s worried she can’t control herself and face him, but it turns out that he was the one struggling to face her and do what had to be done to earn the hardest Infinity Stone to obtain.
It’s the one that allows a person to snap their fingers while wearing a large metal gauntlet.
So I know that it seems like a lot but there is a reason for why I am explaining these relationships. The last two relationships I want to touch on briefly are the ones between Vision (Paul Bettany) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Yes I know what I said! Vision becomes a personified MacGuffin due to the Mind Stone being implanted in his head. In the end Scarlet Witch, who is in love with Vision, has to kill him by destroying the Mind Stone, which ultimately is a futile task (Thanks, Time Stone!) so Scarlet Witch has to watch Vision die TWICE!
OOF…
The relationship between Banner and the Hulk is a little less emotionally crippling but it’s important that after Thanos kicks the Hulk’s Angry Green Ass (As seen in Thor: Ragnarok) the big guy refuses to leave his Banner cave, no matter how hard Bruce tries to get him to show up. It’s almost as if something scared the Hulk so badly that he doesn’t want to come back. And that’s actually kind of frightening in it’s own right.
But they saves some serious money on all that CGI so they could use it on those alien armies.
So let me talk about some seriously standout performances from this beast, because you had upwards of 70 characters who could have taken it but I can think of 3 that really steal the movie for me. And I’ve already mentioned them in some capacity. Chris Hemsworth really shows his full range playing side spittingly comedic and deeply tragic scenes within minutes of each other. He’s made great strides in the last few years to make Thor an interesting and dynamic character, where he once was a rather boring and forgettable member of the Avengers. Likewise Zoe Saldana makes Gamora the standout female character in a movie chock full of powerful and interesting women, especially Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. But neither of them comes close to the monumental performance that Josh Brolin gives to Thanos. You would expect him to come and just be a force of nature but by the end of the movie you actually feel for him. You watch what he has done and the emotional journey that Thanos goes on and then you find that there are moments where you not only agree with him, but feel emotionally for the big purple people killer. Josh Brolin delivers a very powerful performance that honestly steals the movie from all the heroes we’ve come to know and love over the years.
Someone just give this guy a hug, he’s had a really tough day.
Now, there I’ve unpacked the characters who really deserve to be talked about and I have a good reason for this, but I have to break down the moments to help us get to the major moment at the end and hopefully make you understand why I think it was such a successful finale. We’ve already talked about the killing of Loki, but immediately following that we see Tony telling Pepper that he’s more or less done being Iron Man and her not believing him. And that’s about the only breath we get for the rest of the movie. Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary) come to take Dr. Strange away with the time stone and Iron Man and Spider-man go after him.
Also Maw is deliciously creepy throughout the movie. I wish we had more time with him.
Meanwhile the Guardians find Thor and split up, Groot and Rocket going to forge Stormbreaker with Thor and the remaining 4 going to Knowhere to get the reality stone before Thanos does. Surprise! Grape Man beats them there and then kidnaps Gamora, he reveals that Nebula had cybernetic recording devices to reveal that Gamora knew where the Soul Stone was and, in my favorite cameo/fan service piece in this whole movie, the Soul Stone is on a planet called Vormir guarded by none other than the ghostly remains of the Red Flippin’ Skull!
You done messed up A.A.Ron!
Red Skull (Ross Marquand), was deemed unworthy to wield the Infinity Stones, and is punished for it. He is now forced to guide those who seek the Soul Stone to it’s hiding place and tell them of how to obtain it, by sacrificing their greatest loves. Thanos then kills Gamora and gains the stone. It’s one of the best scenes in the movie. He returns to the planet Titan to find himself facing the Guardians who aren’t with Thor, as well as an escaped Nebula, Iron Man, Spider-man and Dr. Strange. They nearly get the guantlet from him before Star Lord learns of Gamora’s death and released the hold Mantis (Pom Klementieff) had on Thanos. He escapes and defeats them, almost killing Iron Man, but Tony is spared when Strange decides to give Thanos the Time Stone in return for Iron Man’s life. Everyone is confused, except Strange who saw over 14 million alternate scenarios and says this is the only way they win the final confrontation against Thanos.
Note, Ebony Maw is not a great acupuncturist. Though this is unrelated to the current state of affairs.
Meanwhile on Earth, Vision and Scarlet Witch are vacationing in Scotland when they are attacked by Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw) and Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon). Vision is nearly killed when Captain America’s beard show up to save the day.
And all the ladies swoon. Well most of the ladies. Ok, the third who understand the truth of Chris Evans being the superior Hollywood Chris.
They, along with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and Dr. Banner travel to Wakanda to use the security the kingdom thanks to Steve’s relationship with Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and more importantly to utilize the incredibly mental talent of the best Disney Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) to extract the Mind Stone from Vision so Scarlet Witch can destroy it. Needless to say, it all goes to shit when they are attacked by and alien army and have an all out battle featuring the return of Steve’s only true love Bucky (Sebastian Stan) now going by the codename White Wolf.
Who somehow made that gun the most low tech part of the entire battle.
They manage to defeat all of Thanos children with a timely return of Thor and the gruesome twosome, Bruce Banner in the Hulkbuster armor, and all the badass warrior women who deserve more credit for their contributions to this movie. And then Thanos shows up and everything goes to shit. He acquires all six Infinity Stones, snaps his fingers, and that is when the 5 people in the theatre who didn’t read the Infinity Stone saga comics started to FREAK THE F OUT! As Mark Ruffalo said in an interview about a year earlier “Everybody dies”. Ok…not everybody…just half of the characters. And that’s part of why I felt it necessary to summarize this whole thing, because the finale is so bold that you have to take it apart piece by piece.
Also, as I’m sure most people noticed, this scene is not in the movie.
First the people who got killed in terms of impact. It’s worth noting, Loki, Heimdall, Gamora, and Vision are all dead prior to The Snap. But once that snap happens we lose Bucky, Falcon, Drax, Mantis, Star Lord, Spider-man, Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Groot, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, and Black Panther. Now, It’s worth noting a few things. Captain America’s two best friends are suddenly gone. That’s not too inconsequential but I think it will further isolate Cap as it continues the theme of him losing those who are close to him, in some form or another. Scarlet Witch, having just seen Vision die twice seems to embrace death as she no longer has to live with the loss of the only men she’s ever loved. I find it interesting that the only Guardian left alive at the end is Rocket, who is the most callous and self preserving. I think it will be a moment for Rocket to step up and prove his worth beyond being a brain. Spider-man is the closest thing Tony has to a son and you can see that relationship. I think it hits Tony the hardest and makes him question if he can keep his own future child safe. Strange’s death is important because he saw the future, he knew what to do and now that roadmap is gone. He fades saying that this course of action was the only way to save the universe. And before getting removed, Nick Fury (In the post credits scene) sends a message to a new mysterious hero.
Spoilers, it’s this one.
But the boldest death of all is that they killed Black Panther! He just made Marvel all of the money they will ever need and then they take that symbol of power, diversity, and wipe him out. It’s a bold statement to say that no one was save from the power of Thanos. I audibly reacted to that moment more than any other in the movie. And I loved the strength of Marvel to stick to their guns and not reshoot that moment after the success of Black Panther.
Long Live the King…?
But there is also a lot of bold statements in who they didn’t kill off at the end of the film. Like I said Rocket is the least heroic member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. And they kept him alive, which I think is to force the little a-hole to step up and prove his heroism for the first time in these movies. Also, while they killed off T’challa, they left alive Okoye (Danai Gurira) commander of the Wakandan Royal Guard, and M’Baku (Winston Duke) T’challa’s rival and leader of the gorilla like Jabari tribe. I think the purpose of this is to see the Wakandan people struggle to rebuild after their society seems to be crumbling again. They lost King T’Chaka in Captain America: Civil War and now to lose his son so soon after will force a new state of rule to be introduce to Wakanda causing the people to struggle with new laws and ways of live.
Also interesting to see if they keep their borders open.
War Machine survived and I with no way of knowing if Tony is alive, due to him being on Titan, I expect Rhodey to try and pick up the mantle of Iron Man in Earth. They also chose to keep Nebula alive which I think will be a huge part of the sequel. Especially given how little she got to do in this film. She’s got more anger and hate towards Thanos than any other character on that screen, so naturally she’s gonna try to bring him down more than anyone else in this movie. I also feel she could fill the hole that Loki’s death has no doubt placed in this Marvel universe and prove to be the big redeemed villain arch for the next movies as Loki’s was for the previous ones.
Like a Bald Blue Kylo Ren. As I said, fierce!
Now, with them not appearing in this film, and having movies between this and the sequel, we know that Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Captain Marvel are gonna show up in the next one in some capacity, which I would wager is pretty significant one. But the biggest take away from that final moment is that none of the original Avengers were killed in the mass extinction of half the population.
You know, these guys.
Widow, Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Hulk all are seen alive, and Hawkeye didn’t show up at all, which, like the other unseen heroes, probably means he’ll show up when the Avengers need him most. I think it’s a cool strategy to remove the overcrowding of characters and bring the Avengers back to basics for the last hoorah! And I think it could lead to one more moment like the famous circle of heroes featured in the first Avengers movie. Maybe it’s wishful thinking from a devoted fan but you know the theatre will cheer for days if that moment happens again as they bring down Thanos and remind people why they are truly Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Cue the heroic as hell music!!!
This is all of course wild speculation, but I think that’s what makes these movies so interesting and fun, and why this one in particular was such a gem to unpack. The movie is not only long, it’s dense and that actually made the story incredibly satisfying when all was said and done. This movie is, in a single word, unbelievable. If you had told 17 year old me, that I was beginning a 10 year journey leading to this point, I wouldn’t have believed you. But the end result, after a decade of being a devoted Marvel fanboy paid off in ways I couldn’t believe it would. This movie may be one of the strongest entries in the Marvel Cinematic canon, and I don’t just say that. It was so precise, so smart, so heartfelt, and so spectacular, that you felt full by the end. Like a Thanksgiving dinner. You had way more to eat than you could ever want but at the end you were just glad you got to spend a day celebrating something fantastic with people you’ve grown closest to over the years.
Ok…maybe your family is a little more goth than most…
At the end of the day, I loved Infinity War. My favorite movies of years past have been the ones that make me want to go back and watch the whole thing again. The Marvel Cinematic Universe solidifies itself as a force to be reckoned with and truly showed how bold they are going forward. All the success this movie made it deserves and I can’t wait to see how many of my theories about the sequel come to fruition. Now I’ll leave you, mostly so I can’t go back and watch this bad boy again…maybe a few times…
Thanks for taking the time to get Ploominated!
Guardians of the Galaxy 
Ploominate 