19 – Avengers: Infinity War
I can’t say enough how perfect a movie this was. I don’t want to just gush over this movie, but I love pretty much everything about it. From the cast to the cinematography, from the costumes to the score, from the visual effects to the script, they just got so much right. And you could tell that the actors loved what they were doing, the roles they were playing. And something happened in this film that pretty much never happens in a superhero film. The good guys lost. They lost! And the epic scale of that defeat was monumental, changing the very fabric of the franchise. Beloved characters were either killed or erased from existence. The climax had lasting consequences that would permanently color the MCU and its characters. It was pure cinematic magic, and I loved every minute of it.
So we have spent 18 films introducing superheroes, and while there have been fantastic team-ups in films like The Avengers and Captain America: Civil War, here they brought them all together to face the threat of one of the greatest super-villains of all time. Thanos, played by Josh Brolin was amazing. Yes he was the bad guy, but I don’t know if I’d call him evil. Insane, yes, but not evil. One of the mistake that many films make, superhero films, in particular, is that their villains are weak. They are simply bad guys with powers that match those of the good guys. But Thanos was his own character with his own history and motivations and plans. He wasn’t a copy of any hero, and he had actual reasons for what he was doing. And those reasons, while guided by an amoral mind, were almost understandable, if not condonable. In his own unfathomable way, he was actually trying to alleviate suffering by reducing the population of the universe by half, to allow the survivors to more easily use the limited resources of the cosmos.
And how absolutely bad-assed were the Children of Thanos? His four lieutenants that were sent to retrieve the infinity stones on Earth? There was Maw, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, and Cull Obsidian. Maw was so cool and was incredibly powerful. He pretty much single handedly took down Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Wong, and was only defeated by his own arrogance and hubris. His calm and focused exterior was only matched by his incredible telekinetic abilities. And Proxima Midnight was just a master of hand to hand combat.
The story was masterfully told. There were three main plots that were followed, each with their own unlikely teams of heroes We had Iron Man who get teamed up with Dr. Strange, Spicer-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, second Rocket and Groot go on a mission with Thor to create a new weapon to replace his destroyed hammer. And finally, we got Captain America, Black Widow, Vision, Wanda Maximoff, Falcon, and Bruce Banner, and they join up with Black Panther, the Winter Soldier, and all the armies of Wakanda.
The action sequences were incredible. I especially loved the battle on Titan where Thanos would have been defeated, if not for Starlord’s discovery that Thanos had murdered Gamora. We really got to see Doctor Strange using his mastery of the mystic arts in awesome ways. Co cool! And the climactic battle on the fields of Wakanda were thrilling to watch. Thor’s arrival on Earth was epic! I awlays love it whenever Thor’s eyes glow and he goes God mode!
But the real emotional heart of the film is the end. The defeat. The snap. So Thanos has collected all six infinity stones. With Thor’s new ax buried in his chest, he snaps his fingers and eliminates half of all live in the universe. Bucky is the first we see turn to dust and vanish. Each hero who disappears is hard to watch, but Spider-Man’s demise nearly brings me to tears every time I watch it. He is just a boy, and he is afraid, and Iron Man, can do nothing to prevent it. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Just heartbreaking.
Top 10 Favorite Parts
- Iron Man and Dr. Strange fight Maw. “Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the Wizard.”
- The Guardians of the Galaxy confront Thanos on Knowhere and he messes with reality. Quill actually pulls the trigger to kill the woman he loves.
- Stark meets the Guardians. “Where is Gamora?” “Who is Gamora?” “Why is Gamora?!?”
- The battle on Titan. Dr. Strange is amazing and uses the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak! Also, Thanos throws a moon at Iron Man.
- Thor restarts the forge on Nidavellir to create Stormbreaker, and Groot uses his own arm as a handle.
- Shuri talks with Banner about removing the Mind stone from Vision’s head.
- The battle in Wakanda and Thor’s epic arrival. “You guys are so screwed now!”
- Wanda has to kill Vision, and it doesn’t even work because Thanos reverses it with the Time Stone.
- The snap, and all the heroes turning to dust. Just rip my heart out!
- After all the devastation, Thanos has a vision where the child Gamora used to be asks him what his victory cost him. “Everything.” Then, finally he sits alone in his peaceful, empty paradise.