Infinity War Review
Sep. 3rd, 2018 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99You know how sometimes it doesn't matter if a thing is good or not, you just admire the fact that it had a vision and set out to fulfill it to the best of its abilities. This is one of those times. Which feels odd since this is a comic book film, made by one of the largest companies in the world, but there's a distinct feel that the people behind the film had story they wanted to tell, their way, so they set out and made it. Which I approve of.
Given that it was a Thanos story they set out to make, and really, don't be mistaken, this is *his* story, they went with all that means, every horrible moment. This, I think, is why Infinity War worked so much better for me than Age of Apocalypse did. AoA went bad things, fight, bad things, fight, suddenly we won. This one's letting us have a pause after the the second "bad things" so we can fully appreciate it when they somehow fix this in part 2.
I mean, I am mostly joking when I say things like "all the Marvel writers are evil". Because they're not, they're just doing their jobs, but then I remember the noise Cap made when Bucky disolved, or Sam's look of horror. Or Rhodey! Or doing that to Baby Spider, and doing that to him in Tony Stark's arms! I think the worst was T'Challa picking Okore up, and then him dissolving, because damn it, you have spent three films making us fall in love with him and then you do that!
Some of that is acting; I know I have been less wowed by Chris Evans than most people but the boy can act, but some of those are deliberate writing choices, done to inflict maximum squeaking from the audience. (Also, tiny Antman 2 spoiler - I will never forgive them for the credits stinger.)
I think that's what I admired most about the film. It played the audience like a fiddle, and, some cursing because bad things are happening to characters I like aside, I have nothing but applause for the way they carried it off.
A lot of my praise is going to Josh Brolin. I mean, I've known he was good for some time but ... this was better. Some of that is the writing, and a lot of it is some truly excellent SFX work on a purple totally CGI design that could have gone horribly wrong, but was somehow convincing as an actual being in front of us, but a fair bit of it is Josh Brolin's acting.
Because we have to be convinced of two things:
1 - That Thanatos will do this, will do horrible, terrible things, because he thinks he is right, and because he thinks it is the least worst option.
2 - That Thanatos does love Gamorra, that it's not a lie, and yet he's still willing to sacrifice her to fulfill his goal.
Josh Brolin, behind much CGI, does both of those things.
He is aided in this by a bang up job by Zoe Saldana, who gets across all 30 conflicting emotions Gamorra has at various points in this film. Gamorra is so awesome that I pretty much forgive Peter Quill for being an idiot.
The other person I am going to throw praise at is Chris Hemsworth. Thor, I think, of all the Avengers is the one who gets personal growth that sticks. And he's done every step of it so well. He's gone from idiot prince, to someone who understands that with great power comes great responsibility, to understanding his limitations and realising that sometimes, you have to do the things you don't enjoy because no one else is there to do them.
And somehow, he's got even prettier while getting ever more beat up. Pirate angel baby indeed. (
The department of shallow would also like to commend them for their use of Paul Bettany though.)
Oh sweetheart, why do the terrible things keep happening to you? I mean, all of them! While I remain convinced that watching Thor get killed (and stop dropping those kind of hints, Hemsworth) would be worse, watching him watch Loki get killed does come a close second. And Heimdall. And now Thor is literally the last Asgardian standing anywhere and wah!
Thor is literally running on fumes through out the rest of the film, and is still amazing and is amazing despite/because of that and capable of great and terrible things and at some point he's going to have to stand still for five minutes and I hope that someone is around to catch him when he does. Although goodness know who can because everyone else is holding on with fingertips too.
And yes, Thor causes me to write run-on sentences.
I thought they did a good job of giving everyone something to do but that might be because my guy got a lot of something to do. Other people who are less Thor fans and more Cap fans have said they felt short changed.
I also like the fact that they've explained how they're getting out this with a few throw away lines.
Because that's what Dr Strange's comment to Stark just before dissolving is. He has chosen to try to play out the one vision he had where this might end well, and that one vision involves all this suffering but it is their best and only chance.
We've also seen the time stone, and what it can do, and we've had the reactivation of Captain Marvel, and I now see why they might have brought back various deceased persons for her film which I had been confused by and ... oh this could be interesting.
And also the most comics book-y time-travel history rewriting crack you could hope for.
I'm also slightly in love with the idea that the Captain Marvel film is going to be how she ended up in the coma, and it ends with doctors doing something risky to reanimate her and then Infinity War part 2 is her saving the day. Even if they're probably not going to have Rogue be the one to coma-ficate her.
I can't say I enjoyed Infinity War because of the thing! that happened, but I do wish to give it a whole lot of applause for doing its thing and doing it hard.
Given that it was a Thanos story they set out to make, and really, don't be mistaken, this is *his* story, they went with all that means, every horrible moment. This, I think, is why Infinity War worked so much better for me than Age of Apocalypse did. AoA went bad things, fight, bad things, fight, suddenly we won. This one's letting us have a pause after the the second "bad things" so we can fully appreciate it when they somehow fix this in part 2.
I mean, I am mostly joking when I say things like "all the Marvel writers are evil". Because they're not, they're just doing their jobs, but then I remember the noise Cap made when Bucky disolved, or Sam's look of horror. Or Rhodey! Or doing that to Baby Spider, and doing that to him in Tony Stark's arms! I think the worst was T'Challa picking Okore up, and then him dissolving, because damn it, you have spent three films making us fall in love with him and then you do that!
Some of that is acting; I know I have been less wowed by Chris Evans than most people but the boy can act, but some of those are deliberate writing choices, done to inflict maximum squeaking from the audience. (Also, tiny Antman 2 spoiler - I will never forgive them for the credits stinger.)
I think that's what I admired most about the film. It played the audience like a fiddle, and, some cursing because bad things are happening to characters I like aside, I have nothing but applause for the way they carried it off.
A lot of my praise is going to Josh Brolin. I mean, I've known he was good for some time but ... this was better. Some of that is the writing, and a lot of it is some truly excellent SFX work on a purple totally CGI design that could have gone horribly wrong, but was somehow convincing as an actual being in front of us, but a fair bit of it is Josh Brolin's acting.
Because we have to be convinced of two things:
1 - That Thanatos will do this, will do horrible, terrible things, because he thinks he is right, and because he thinks it is the least worst option.
2 - That Thanatos does love Gamorra, that it's not a lie, and yet he's still willing to sacrifice her to fulfill his goal.
Josh Brolin, behind much CGI, does both of those things.
He is aided in this by a bang up job by Zoe Saldana, who gets across all 30 conflicting emotions Gamorra has at various points in this film. Gamorra is so awesome that I pretty much forgive Peter Quill for being an idiot.
The other person I am going to throw praise at is Chris Hemsworth. Thor, I think, of all the Avengers is the one who gets personal growth that sticks. And he's done every step of it so well. He's gone from idiot prince, to someone who understands that with great power comes great responsibility, to understanding his limitations and realising that sometimes, you have to do the things you don't enjoy because no one else is there to do them.
And somehow, he's got even prettier while getting ever more beat up. Pirate angel baby indeed. (
The department of shallow would also like to commend them for their use of Paul Bettany though.)
Oh sweetheart, why do the terrible things keep happening to you? I mean, all of them! While I remain convinced that watching Thor get killed (and stop dropping those kind of hints, Hemsworth) would be worse, watching him watch Loki get killed does come a close second. And Heimdall. And now Thor is literally the last Asgardian standing anywhere and wah!
Thor is literally running on fumes through out the rest of the film, and is still amazing and is amazing despite/because of that and capable of great and terrible things and at some point he's going to have to stand still for five minutes and I hope that someone is around to catch him when he does. Although goodness know who can because everyone else is holding on with fingertips too.
And yes, Thor causes me to write run-on sentences.
I thought they did a good job of giving everyone something to do but that might be because my guy got a lot of something to do. Other people who are less Thor fans and more Cap fans have said they felt short changed.
I also like the fact that they've explained how they're getting out this with a few throw away lines.
Because that's what Dr Strange's comment to Stark just before dissolving is. He has chosen to try to play out the one vision he had where this might end well, and that one vision involves all this suffering but it is their best and only chance.
We've also seen the time stone, and what it can do, and we've had the reactivation of Captain Marvel, and I now see why they might have brought back various deceased persons for her film which I had been confused by and ... oh this could be interesting.
And also the most comics book-y time-travel history rewriting crack you could hope for.
I'm also slightly in love with the idea that the Captain Marvel film is going to be how she ended up in the coma, and it ends with doctors doing something risky to reanimate her and then Infinity War part 2 is her saving the day. Even if they're probably not going to have Rogue be the one to coma-ficate her.
I can't say I enjoyed Infinity War because of the thing! that happened, but I do wish to give it a whole lot of applause for doing its thing and doing it hard.
