Without a doubt, Marvel Studios is one of the biggest movie franchises to date. With an entire universe of characters at hand and 18 movies on the roster, Avengers: Infinity War is the biggest crossover that was 10 years in the making. With that said, the film is met with high expectations and exceeded them easily. Read up to find out our take on the movie and how it faced our expectations head-on!
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A Gift For the Fans
Sure, these movies grew a strong fan base over the years. It includes geeks, comic readers, and casual moviegoers. There is no denying that a huge chunk of the target market for the movie is from the fans who stuck with it from the start (Iron Man or The Hulk, it is debatable). Every movie that came out before Infinity War set up the whole event that took place- aka the arrival of Thanos to Earth to fill his Infinity Gauntlet with the six Infinity Stones.
Characters just starting popping out in the story, and sometimes with their own plot. Taken this way, a regular audience will find it distracting and hard to keep track of. But when you have the set pieces placed beforehand, it is about time for things to make sense. Dubbed as the greatest cinematic crossover, Avengers: Infinity War boasted nearly 40 characters! Surprisingly, the directors Joe and Anthony Russo weaved a narrative that made each heroes’ existence in the plot cohesive and necessary.
Sure, some enjoyed more screen time than the others but creating a film as big as this one is still a feat. Every scene is a treat for the fans. Each hero had moments that made the audience cheer out of joy!
Going into the block screening, I knew that my heart was going to be torn into pieces. I have invested my emotions in these characters and as someone who has read the comics Infinity Gauntlet to which it was loosely based on, I knew that there will be deaths. Not to mention that some of them had their stay overdue (*cough* Civil War *cough).
Punches That Land
Knowing that the Russos will take the directorial role from Joss Whedon for the third and fourth Avengers movie had me excited. Their works on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War were unbelievably great that it cemented those movies among Marvel’s bests!
The defying traits that the directors put to good use in Avengers: Infinity War are the grounded narrative and the punches that landed. Take for example the fight between Thanos and Hulk. Despite the massive size of the characters, the choreography felt too real that had me letting out a series of gasps.
After all, we are talking about the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe here and the powerful Mad Titan. They are not only relying on their brute force but on their mental and tactical capabilities as well. The movie did not put much of its weight on the wanton destruction but I wish they did not resort to using waves of creatures for the highest point of the action. We saw Chitauri in Avengers, a bunch of Ultrons in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and now an army of some creature. It was just exhausting.
The film would have been so much deeper had the fight remained among the characters which it did at one point. I guess that’s the reason The Winter Soldier and Civil War made for a compelling watch.
The Stakes are High
Call me a masochist but I could not help but love the fact that Marvel Studios took brave steps which I will not fully disclose as not to spoil anybody. Here’s one word to sum it all up: DEATH.
When you have a long list of characters that people fell in love with, it will be a tough yet extremely brave move to kill them off. Luckily, in Infinity War, the creative team took a leap and sacrificed a life (lives?) However, anybody who reads comic books knows that death is temporary. Countless resurrections have happened to beloved characters in the comics. Whether that would be the case in the Avengers 4 is one that we will have to find out. If anything else, we know that the film is not playing around. No resurrections this time, said Thanos(hopefully not!). The stakes are now higher more than ever.
This decision, however, effectively garnered immense reactions from the audience including myself. Having seen the movie twice already, my reaction to some parts still holds- shock, tears, and cheers.
Avengers: Infinity War is explosive, massive, and brave. It is the perfect culmination of the stories that happened before it. It did not crumble on the sheer weight of its narrative and the massive roster of characters it utilized. Instead, the film took full advantage of each element to deliver a compelling and nail-biting experience. The film equipped same amount of bravery as the superheroes to take on a deeply-nuanced villain such as Thanos. It is exciting to find out how the story will conclude on the fourth Avengers movie.
