...Is That It?

Rating: 4/10 (14 November 2018)

No matter what people think about me or my opinions, I wanted to like this film more than anyone. I love superheroes, I love Marvel and as much as I criticize the MCU for being safe and formulaic, there are several Marvel Cinematic Universe films that I've loved (The Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the first 2 Captain America movies, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther to name the big ones). And I love that this movie enthralled and captivated many of my friends, a good number of them calling this one of their favorite movies of all time. However, the truth of the matter is that Avengers: Infinity War disappointed me. It deeply let me down. It's not an absolute failure and I certainly wouldn't call it irredeemable, but I can't say I find it to be a good film either.
In terms of positives, the first one to come to mind would obviously be the jolly, purple giant himself, Thanos. He's undoubtedly one of the most interesting and developed villains in the MCU to date and he's acted phenomenally by Josh Brolin. I commend the creative team for keeping Thanos utterly despicable and villainous while still making him a compelling enough lead for us to be invested in his dark mirror of the Hero's Journey. It's fascinating to see an arc like this, full of sacrifice, struggle and personal loss concluding in an ultimate triumph, be translated to a villain without losing any of the qualities that keep him monstrous. He is a fully rounded, fully realized, human character; just not one who's a good person.
As someone who hated Tom Holland's Spider-Man in both Civil War and Homecoming, I actually liked his performance and characterization here. The high stakes consequences of the story allow Holland to go to emotional places he simply wasn't allowed to before and his relationship with Tony Stark carries much more emotional weight, relatability and humanity to it than either of his previous two films. Maybe there's hope for this Spider-Man after all.
Most (Keyword; most) of the content regarding the Guardians of the Galaxy is done wonderfully. Dave Bautista's Drax and Pom Klementieff's Mantis act wonderfully off of all the Avengers they get to interact with and it's nice to see that MCU teamup movies have moved and matured beyond thinking that every teamup movie needs all the team members to hate each other and fight over nonsense for 2 acts. Chris Pratt's performance as Starlord is truly heartbreaking and I commend the team behind Infinity War to have the guts to painfully strip away everything this character ever loved. For all my problems with the film, Starlord's emotional breakdown at Thanos after learning of Gamora's death is actually a major highlight of the movie for me. It's a deeply human and relatable moment that Pratt acts with such intensity and power.
I also found myself really invested in the love story of Vision and Wanda. Elizabeth Olsen and Kevin Bettany have beautiful chemistry and their calm, soft moments before the storm bring a real gentleness and quiet beauty to the film. Scarlet Witch being forced to kill the only man she ever loved to save half the universe was by far the most emotionally powered moment of the movie and it's such a shame these two got so little screentime.
That's the biggest problem of the film for me. Characters getting little screentime. Infinity War is deeply overstuffed, it has characters by the dozens and no idea what to do with a good half of them. Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Black Panther, the Hulk; all of these characters (As well as the side characters they're associated with) could be completely removed from the film and nothing would change. And yet, I'm supposed to feel the epic weight of their massive battle with the army of Thanos despite their importance to the story being minimal at best and non-existent at worst?
The ending felt cheap to me rather than dramatic and emotional. The only deaths to really affect me were Vision and Spider-Man. The rest (Minus Gamora, whose death is too awkwardly edited and weirdly toned down from a violence standpoint to affect me until Starlord's reaction, and Loki, who has been seemingly killed and brought back to life so many times that I hardly buy he's finally dead) die with little to no reaction from their friends and comrades when that's exactly what we needed. We don't get to see Rogers react to losing both of his closest friends or the rest of the Guardians all dying together. It's all such blatant sequel baiting, especially with many of the characters (Including Loki) already having future MCU films or TV shows announced. Gee, I guess they're all just going to center on piles of sand, huh? This kind of sequel baiting conclusion is hardly "new" or "bold" or "inventive." In fact, it's pretty much what the MCU already did with Captain America: Civil War.
Speaking of, as much as people want to give Guardians Vol. 2 crap for not balancing the comedy and drama well, where were your criticisms here? Towards a movie that starts making pop culture reference jokes almost immediately after Gamora's death, hardly even giving us a moment of mourning or reflection? A movie that hardly ever gives us a moment for pause for Thor to mourn Loki? I'm sure there was ambition in here somewhere, but in the end, everything got overpowered by the Marvel formula and tone for me.
No, Infinity War isn't terrible, but I simply think it bit off more than it could chew. However, everything is set up for Part II to blow me away. I'm still holding out hope for this stage of the MCU to end in a high note for me.