SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War follow.
Wow.
A lot of the Avengers: Infinity War reviews had mentioned how epic, breath-taking, and exhausting the movie is, with most saying they needed time (and maybe multiple additional viewings) to digest what happened before deciding how much (or if) they liked the movie. I had thought much of that was hyperbole, but after having seen the movie, I can definitely understand where people were coming from. There’s a lot of stuff going on in this movie. Frankly, there’s too much going on and it’s a testament to the skills of the Russo brothers that the movie isn’t a chaotic mess. There’s a lot loose threads from 10 years of movies that Infinity War tries to wrap up, and I think the fact that it is able to address as many of them as it does is nothing short of amazing.
There’s so much going on that events that might normally qualify as climatic battles in other movies (the attack on Xander and theft of the Power stone from the Nova Corps, the attack on the Asgardian refugees) largely happen off-screen or are referenced with a single line of dialog. The first few minutes of the movie have more remarkable events (Loki and Heimdall’s deaths, the Hulk getting beaten unconscious) than most previous single movies.
Even just keeping up with things like Tony’s new nanotechnology suit and the rapid-fire quips between movie Sherlock and TV Sherlock started to get overwhelming.
At first I thought Captain America was shortchanged in terms of time and development, but then I realized that pretty much everybody got shortchanged equally (except, I suppose, Hawkeye and Ant-Man). It’s a little disappointing to feel like so much was potentially left unaddressed, but at the same time I realize that what was accomplished in a single movie that dealt with so many characters is a minor miracle. Most impressive is that in a movie with so many heroes, the villain didn’t get overshadowed.
As is probably obvious right now, I’ve got a lot of jumbled thoughts about the movie. I enjoyed it, but like everybody else, I really feel like I need to see it a few more times to fully process everything. It’s exhausting even just writing about everything that happened. I couldn’t even begin to think about where I might rank the movie without a second viewing. It could be anywhere between 3rd and 12th. I do have a few questions and one complaint to address below, though.
One more random thought before getting to them: I was shocked by how many scenes from the trailers didn’t end up being in the movie (or were heavily modified). A sign of lots of cut footage for a director’s cut? Or just some clever marketing on Disney’s part to craft some scenes specifically for trailers?
Unresolved Questions
Why didn’t Thanos use the reality stone more?
There’s a fun scene where the Guardians stumble upon Thanos attempting to acquire the Reality stone, only to discover it was a trap set by Thanos. We also get some good visual gags as heroes are turned into works of abstract art and blasters start shooting bubbles. It’s a great way of showing off the power of the reality stone, but Thanos strangely seems to forget about this power later on when battling the Avengers.
Why didn’t they kill Thanos while Mantis had him sleep?
Speaking of lost opportunities, there was a moment when Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and the Guardians momentarily have Thanos subdued. Despite knowing full-well the magnitude of the stakes and the power of the person they are facing, nobody thinks to make the obvious move of trying to kill Thanos. Instead, they waste their time trying to remove the Infinity Gauntlet from his hand (apparently not as easy as it sounds). Why?
What’s up with the time stone?
There are enough hints dropped during the movie that I fully expect this to be resolved in Avengers 4, but what is up with Doctor Strange and the time stone? He makes it clear to Tony and Peter early on that he won’t hesitate to sacrifice their lives to safeguard the stone, and he’s shown no hesitation using the power of the stone to save the day in his solo movie. So it’s pretty notable that in Infinity War he uses the stone only once, to see into the possible futures of their battle. It’s so notable that even Thanos comments on it. Not only does Strange seem reluctant to use the time stone during the battle, but he volunteers to give it up to Thanos in exchange for Tony’s life. Clearly he saw something in those 14 million possible futures that indicates that Tony is integral to some future struggle and his life was worth exchanging the time stone for.
Did Fury really have access to Captain Marvel all this time?
The post credit scene sees Fury, after realizing that the Avengers have failed against Thanos, reaching for what appears to be a modified old-fashioned pager. Before he disappears, he manages to get a message off which hints at some sort of communication with Captain Marvel. We know the upcoming Captain Marvel movie takes place in the 90s, so has Fury had some secret way of communicating with Captain Marvel for decades? If so, it’s going to be really hard explaining why he hasn’t thought to call on her until now.
Whose deaths are permanent?
It was an incredibly bold move to have Thanos kill off a number of popular recurring characters on route to ultimately winning at the end of the movie and essentially wiping out half of the MCU’s heroes. To be blunt, there’s basically no way that all of these deaths are permanent considering the already announced movies coming out. Will any stick?
Biggest Complaint
My biggest complaint with the movie is a complaint that the entire MCU has struggled with: dealing with death. There have been very legitimate complaints that the stakes in MCU movies feel reduced when the heroes hardly ever die, and even when they do (Bucky, Coulson, Fury, Loki?) they seem to come back to life immediately afterwards. Thanos even jokes about “No Resurrections” after Loki’s death early in the movie.
Infinity War‘s ending doesn’t seem to help at all. As I mentioned previously, it seems pretty obvious that many of these deaths aren’t permanent. In fact, I worry that exactly who dies at the end makes it a little too clear what is likely to happen in the next movie.
Going into Infinity War, speculation was rampant about who was going to die. Due to age, expiring contracts, public comments by actors, and/or the fact that they’ve already had 3 solo movies, Captain America, Thor, and Tony Stark have often been at the top of the list. Infinity War threw everybody for a loop, though, and none of those characters ended up dying. In fact, it’s notable that of the heroes that survive the movie, nearly all of them are original members of the MCU avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, and maybe even Hawkeye. Even more surprising are the heroes who died. Nearly all of the the next generation of MCU heroes who have future movies planned (Black Panther, Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy) or are expected to take up the mantle of fallen heroes (Bucky, Falcon) were killed.
Considering the original plan was to call Infinity War “part 1”, and that the movie clearly ends on a cliff-hanger to set-up a sequel, it seems pretty obvious what is going to happen. Some number of the original MCU avengers, likely some of the ones who were speculated to die in Infinity War, will end up sacrificing themselves in the upcoming sequel in order to bring back their friends/lovers/wards. I hope it’s not the case, and that the next movie can both surprise me and not diminish the deaths that happened. We’ll see.
It’s going to be a long wait for Avengers 4.
