Avengers: Infinity War

[Looney]

OMG PEOPLE! OMG!

Just saw it. Soooooooo glad I don't watch trailers and avoid all spoilers.

Seriously people OMG! No spoilers, but eventually others will see this and the spoilers will come, but OMG!

Yes it was very good, but OMG!

Yes my saying "OMG" is ridiculous, but OMG!

The movie REALLY surprised me. So glad I "speak movie" because others might not react so well to this film.

(I will say one negative is that I think they rushed some of the CG because it was lacking at times. They'll probably clean it up for the Blu-Ray release.)

OBTW! If you are planning on seeing this movie I would do so as soon as possible because I am sure spoilers are going to be everywhere by the end of the weekend. More so than most movies I am certain.

[Jan]

I just wish somebody would say something other than OMG! about it?? That doesn't tell me diddly about the story or character interaction/growth and that's what makes a movie for me. Don't care much about the CGI at all and if I become aware of it, that's a negative. So...anybody?

[Ubik]

Warren Ellis, a notable British comic book scribe, posted a great spoiler free review in his email newsletter:

So. INFINITY WAR, then. No spoilers.

It is perhaps best understood as an unprecedented brand power move. It is not "a film" as that term is commonly understood. It is a sequence of connections. It's a statement from a bizarre place of popular-culture ownership. It's a statement that they have done ten years of film storytelling, often with very conventional story templates, so that everyone in the world will show up for what is often an extraordinarily unconventional story-like event with one extremely unexpected tonal shift.

It, by design, makes no sense unless you've watched most if not all of the other Marvel films. There cannot be a casual viewer of this emanation. Only a committed one. It is likely to be the largest worldwide opening of all time, as I write this, even though it's not opening in China or Russia this weekend.

The production values are near-perfect. The days of the slightly janky AVENGERS special effects are long gone, and every pixel is painted with jewelled, exquisite skill. As a visual experience, it is peak Marvel. The mocap on Josh Brolin makes Thanos a far more effective "CGI villain" than the waste of Ciaran Hinds on JUSTICE LEAGUE, which had all the performance nuance of a level boss in DOOM II.

Per the trailer, I think it was a brave choice to have the evil spaceship apparently designed by James Dyson.

The writers and the directors worked very, very hard to make something that did not feel beholden to rules. They'll stop the thing dead for sixty seconds to do a gag. There are a lot of gags. I mean, no possible joke goes unjoked. Nothing I say here should be taken to denigrate the work of those people. They have achieved a remarkable thing.

(Special nod to whoever designed the sonics for the next-to-final scene.)

It is not a movie. It is a brand manifestation that wants to have prolonged, eager and reasonably skilled cultural sex with you. It wants your experience with its content

[Looney]

There Jan, how was that?

But seriously, after I saw it all I could say was "OMG" because that best described it. I'm not saying it is the greatest movie of all time, but if you have been watching the entire MCU it is one hell of a next chapter.

Funny story, I was going to try to give a spoiler free example using myself as a reference and then I realized you folks might know Looney a little too well and that fact might give away the spoiler.

Anyway, if you have watched all of the Marvel movies leading up to this event, you will absolutely not be disappointed. I would LOVE to hear JMS' take. I would also LOVE to hear his take on Thor Ragnarok. Did I miss that somewhere?

Side Note: I saw that Black Panther is still in theaters and thanks to this opening it has moved from 8TH place on the Box Office list up to 5th for the weekend. I guess several people still needed to see it before Infinity War or that is what they saw when they went to see Infinity War and it was sold out.

[Looney]

Very surprised there aren't more comments. Am I to believe I am the only one who saw the biggest movie in the world?!?!?!?!?!

[Ubik]

Do I need to have seen Black Panther to see this?

[Looney]

Do I need to have seen Black Panther to see this?

That is an excellent question. My gut says no. The spoiler below will tell you why.

There are many characters from Black Panther and a good chunk of Infinity War takes place in Wakanda, but there aren't a lot of cross over plot points. Black Panther doesn't really end where this movie begins to any great degree other than Bucky Barnes being in Wakanda. You need to see Black Panther if you want to know who some of the characters are and their backgrounds. As far as the two stories having intertwined plot points it isn't that necessary.

I may have said this already, but I rank Black Panther as one of the weaker MCU movies. I REALLY wanted to see it, so my expectations were very high and I left a bit disappointed. I LOVED the story, but I felt there were mistakes made in how it was told; chiefly the character construct dynamics. The core plot is fairly simple, but there are some truly excellent nuances they used surrounding that plot. I felt the movie had two characters that gave me issues. Had these two characters been handled better it would likely be one of my top Marvel movies because I really did enjoy the central story.

There are some character spoilers that follows, but not really enough for the tags. My minor issue was the Shuri character. She obviously has superhuman intelligence, but this fact is never stated nor is any kind of explanation given for why she has these gifts. Basically they just act like she is super-smart without saying it is a superpower. It is ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, she is an awesome character and I really liked her - but they didn't handle her gifts correctly. I mean she does everything and knows everything and it just gets silly after awhile because they don't say she has superpowers. Plus she gets almost no assistance from anyone. And did I mention we are supposed to accept that she is a teenager. They explain where The Black Panther's powers come from, but nothing about her. They either needed to explain her better or not go so over-the-top with her abilities.

My major issue is Erik Killmonger. The character just seemed inconsistent from the start. A detailed description of the stats he achieved on his rise to power is given fairly early in the movie, but they don't really seem to match the character as the movie progresses. I just never believed the person they described was the same guy who showed up on screen, other than his physical fighting attributes. It was a real distraction for me.

So short question, long answer - I don't feel you must see Black Panther before Infinity War, but it wouldn't hurt.

[Ubik]

Saw it yesterday. You have to admire a film that squishes a decade of superhero films into one relatively coherent big event film that actually works and has you engaged.

Also, finally a Hollywood film with a solid big bad, who has clear motives and you can almost root for in a weird twisted way. Thanos was excellent.

And THAT tonal shift... bravo Marvel, bravo.

As a side note there were a lot of parents with kids under 12 in the cinema, without exception all of these kids looked deeply deeply upset as the film concluded, parents take note this isn't a film for your kids!

Superb Marvel films that does some very surprising things with the MCU. Also, this seems like the final triumphant 'fuck you' to DC's abysmal film efforts.

[Looney]

Ubik, why did you put what you put in spoiler tags? I mean why couldn't you just write that out?

[alpha128]

I just wish somebody would say something other than OMG! about it?? That doesn't tell me diddly about the story or character interaction/growth and that's what makes a movie for me. Don't care much about the CGI at all and if I become aware of it, that's a negative. So...anybody?

Jan,

Without spoiling anything, I would describe "Infinity War" as "The Fellowship of the Ring" of Marvel movies. It's huge, it's epic, but it is also clearly the first part of a larger story.

Like LOTR there are a lot of characters and settings, but IMO the filmmakers manage to juggle it all successfully.

[Ubik]

Ubik, why did you put what you put in spoiler tags? I mean why couldn't you just write that out?

My comment kinda gives away the general direction of the film if you extrapolate... so I felt best to play it safe and use spoiler tags. I personally was not prepared for it, but was certainly impressed they followed through.

[Looney]

Yeah, but I always feel it is completely appropriate to tell people, "This movie should not be seen by children under 12."

I am going to see Deadpool 2 tonight and I have a feeling I might get in a fight with all of the A-holes who bring their kids to see it. I'm sorry, but there ought to be a law and it should be used as evidence that these people should not be caring for children. They expose their children to stuff like this because they are selfish A-Holes who want to see the movies themselves. Sorry, but just because you can create a child doesn't mean you shouldn't have to pass some sort of screening that says you should be allowed to raise a child. [Jumps off soap box and screams "Stop taking your kids to movies you want to see that they shouldn't. There is no excuse."]

I added that last bit because those A-Holes always try to say, "They have seen worse." That is disgusting. They have seen worse so it is okay that you continue to expose them to things they shouldn't see?!?!?!?!?!?! [Sorry, started to jump back up on the soap box.]

[Looney]

I am glad to report that after I went on the rant above I did not see any children at Deadpool 2 I felt should not be there. There were kids there, but they were old enough that I did not feel it was inappropriate.