Wild Card Wednesday: Avengers: Infinity War

Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo

Year: 2018

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Summary: The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

5/5 Pineapples

Review:

Because I respect the #Thanosdemandsyoursilence movement, this review will not contain a thorough synopsis like my other reviews - or any spoilers. Just so we do have a general understanding of Avengers: Infinity War though, I'll provide a bit of a summary before discussing a few of the things I was told prior to seeing Infinity War that turned out to be false, a few things that have been annoying me pertaining to the film, and things about the film that I feel are worth noting that do not ruin the experience for those who haven't yet seen it.

But really, what are you waiting for? Buy your ticket.

In summary Avengers: Infinity War is about Thanos. Thanos is Gamora and Nebula's father who we've seen glimpses of in the end-credits of every Avengers or hero film leading up to this one. He's a bad guy. This should have been apparent by the amount of references Gamora makes to him in the Gaurdians of the Galaxy films, but in case you missed it - he's not a great dad.

Thanos is collecting all of the infinity stones - like the Tesseract that Loki was after in The Avengers, the Aether which was a large plot point of Thor: The Dark World, and The Time Stone that was given to Dr. Strange in, well, Doctor Strange.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you probably shouldn't be going to see this film because you've got some catching up to do.

Anyway, things are getting very tense, because if Thanos acquires all six infinity stones, he's not only unstoppable, but he's able to kill half of humanity with the snap of his fingers.

Now that we have a general understand of what to expect, here's a few things that I heard prior to seeing the film that are inaccurate:

- "It was disappointing."

• While I understand why someone might choose this particular adjective to describe the film, it's the wrong word to use to describe the film as a whole. If someone is asking you how Avengers: Infinity War was or if it's worth seeing, you do not answer with, "It was disappointing" - because that's not accurate. One may say it's an opinion, but it's an inaccurate opinion. That sentence makes it seem as if it's not worth watching, but it is.

• Let me be clear: This film is a $300-400 million dollar production. It took $450,000 a day (A DAY!) to create this. In simpler terms, it's incredibly well-made. With many respected actors like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlette Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, and - believe it or not - MORE (but I don't have all day), there's no way this film could be docked as "disappointing". The plot is absolutely action-packed - start to finish, all of our favorite heroes get a pretty equal amount of screen time, and the emotionally relatable character developments and issues our heroes face (see: daddy issues, love, loss, war...etc.) make this film an easy 5/5 pineapples.

• Don't let anyone make you doubt whether this film is worth seeing.

This brings me to my second point.

- "I figured out the entire plot of Avengers: Infinity War through memes, without even seeing it."

• No, you didn't. Go see the film.

- "Spider-man is hardly in it."

• An actual critic on the actual radio said this to my unwilling ears, and I was so disappointed before seeing the film. Spider-man is hands down my favorite super hero, so this was devastating for me to hear. If you're anything like me and are a devout fan of Spidey, this may make you feel less inclined to see the film as well. But, as I stated previously, every hero gets pretty equal amounts of screen time. Spider-man is in the film just as much as the other Avengers. Fret not. Our boy Tom Holland gives a stellar performance - to say the least.

- "It didn't make any sense."

• The only way Avengers: Infinity War wouldn't make sense to you as a viewer is if you missed the past 20+ series and films leading up to this point. That's like going to see a sequel of anything without having seen the first movie.

• Don't critique a movie that is a sequel of which you have no background on. *Sips tea*

Things I feel are noteworthy:

I was incredibly fascinated and taken back by the character of Thanos.

Now, I didn't read the comic books, so my interpretation of his character was going strictly off of the many end credit scenes alluding to him, as well as Gamora and Nebula's grotesque stories of him in Guardians of the Galaxy (Part 1 and 2).

In my mind, I was picturing a large, terrifying, purple creature, absolutely blind with rage and the incessant demand for power. While he is large, and purple, and - in his own, collected way - terrifying, he was actually, to my surprise, exceptionally self-possessed.

I think this made him an interesting character because my original perception of the character is a bit predictable and over-done for villains in typical entertainment media formats. I also feel that - while unpredictable rage is scary and a challenge to handle - level-headed, clear-conscience, planned out democide is even more terrifying.

One may ask, "why would anyone want to wipe out half of the world's population?" Thanos believes there aren't enough resources for everyone to live in harmony. He believes the cure to ending famine and poverty is indiscriminately extinguishing half of population. Thanos genuinely believes he's doing a great, helpful thing to the universe.

And, that makes it all the more terrifying.

~

If you've seen the film, feel free to message me. I'd love to talk more about it in further detail.

If you haven't, have you bought your ticket yet or what?

And, as always, thanks for reading!