Movie: Avengers: Infinity War

Back when the movie first came out (how weird is it that we're living in a Post-Infinity War world?), I held back all my opinions and theories and thoughts to keep from spoiling anyone. People asked me about it irl, a lot messaged me with, frankly, a touching level of panic, and some even said they went straight to my blog after watching to see what I thought about it (which is, wow, thank you). Still, I didn't write about it, and have only recently had the time to actually outline and organize what I want to say. My mind was still mostly like this:

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So here we are. I'm sure at this point you've all seen the movies and theories, deep-dived (deep-dove?) into the Wikis of the comics or even maybe read the comics themselves, and retweeted/shared/reblogged the memes, fanart, and fanfic...

... leaving this review totally unnecessary and infinitely (hah) useless. But let's be real, that can be said for the timing of a lot of my reviews, so when has that ever really stopped me? If anything, this timing has allowed me to condense what would have been a fifteen-page all-caps mega-rant on how Tony Stark Was Right All Along So Suck It and Wow Am I Psyched to See Steve and Tony Reunite in Avengers 4: Assembled. I mean, I'm not saying this entry won't have those things, but it won't have only those things.

I'm going to approach this a little differently from my other reviews. Instead of doing the usual General Review > What Worked > What Didn't Work, I'm going to be doing General Review > Opinions > Looking Forward.

General (Spoilery!) Review

As a whole, this was a great movie. As predicted by 9 out of 10 friends, it made me Feel All The Things, but it also had a good, simple story with clear stakes that was easy to follow without being predictable and it breathed new life into characters I already love and was emotionally invested in! You can feel with this movie what made Harry Potter such a compelling series: you want to consume the media all over again, but you also can't wait for what comes next. ♥

Weirdly, what this movie and Love Actually have in common is the fact that they stitched together stories pretty seamlessly. It was easy to follow the arcs and the plot was simple enough that you could follow how the pieces fit together without it being so predictable that you had nothing to look forward to. In particular, character interactions were fun to see. Characters were woven into and out of each other's arcs with great ease - the kind of great ease that made it natural for Thor to have studied Groot's language, for Steve and co. to be in Wakanda, for Tony, Strange, and Quill to banter like the quippy white dudes that they are. I enjoyed seeing everyone interact with each other, and it was a smart move to capitalize on that as that is a huge, huge part of what makes the MCU so addicting and fun.

Aside from interactions, individual character moments were great too. While each character was not treated equally in terms of significance to the plot, each character was given at least one Moment, which made everything extra emotional. I don't think I have ever experienced a movie so viscerally since watching Deathly Hallows Part 2 in a block screening with fellow UP students. People were cheering when Steve heroically stepped out of the shadows at that abandoned(?? but then why was a train there) train station, sobbing when Peter turned to dust (*shakes fist at spider senses™*), gasping when Tony got stabbed by Thanos (that can't have been just me), screaming at Thor's entrance in the battle at Wakanda (see previous parenthesis), and always, all six times I watched, laughing at Drax's "Why is Gamora?"

Going back to the bigger picture though, this did feel like a more high-stakes plot than others that came before it. I'm really glad we're finally back to heroes-fighting-villains and no longer focused on having said heroes hate each other and deal with an "internal conflict." Enough of that. I wanna see characters teaming up and finally freaking liking each other. Please, enough with the internal fighting, Marvel. There are other ways to achieve character and plot development.

To quote our villain, I feel this movie was "perfectly balanced" in the sense that it was a great movie in and of itself, but it was also an incredible piece of the overall puzzle that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The ending was equal parts resolution ("Ah, so Thanos did it...") and cliffhanger ("...WHAT HAPPENS NOW, KEVIN FEIGE?") -- it leaves you wanting more.

(Sidenote: WOW, I really screwed up my preparation for the character deaths, huh?)

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Opinions on things

Now, numerous opinions and think pieces have been written about this movie. I want to respond to some of them by writing my own takes on issues that have been raised. I won't talk about meta-narratives - that is, issues about how superhero movies are formulaic and one-not, etc etc. I think at this point we know that I -- and if you're reading this far, probably you too -- are fully invested in this universe and will continue to watch it in the foreseeable future. No, I want to talk about issues about what happened in the movie itself.

Tony Stark may not be the center of the universe, but he sure is the center of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And yes, he was right all along so suck it up, haaaaters. 

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I don't actually know any Tony-haters in real life (or maybe I do, but they're smart enough to steer clear of me), but this felt like a wary sort of vindication. It has now become clear that the whole of the MCU -- or at the very least, the parts of the MCU that had all the characters overlap/cross-over -- was Tony Stark's story arc all along.

We began with Tony's arc going from Merchant of Death to Iron Man (Iron Man 1), his discovery of a new element and struggle with his mortality (Iron Man 2), his resulting struggles with dealing with literally a bigger universe (Avengers), PTSD (Iron Man 3), dealing with everyone else's mortality and desire to protect the earth (Age of Ultron), dealing with Ultron's fallout and his fuck-ups via the Accords (Civil War), and now, finally, his inevitable clash with Thanos and seeing his worst nightmare come to life in Infinity War.

When Thanos said that it wasn't just Tony who was burdened with knowledge, he unwittingly reveals that, yeah, Tony was right all along. Or if you think that's too generous, then we can go with, "Tony had a pretty good point all along." He was right to have wanted to keep the Avengers together (and able to function out of the shadows) no matter what, his desire to build Ultron to "protect" the earth -- no matter how different the means is from Steve's idea of protection -- becomes a lot more understandable, and the beginning of Age of Ultron where Wanda manipulates him becomes even grimmer in lieu of everyone's deaths.

But, as is always the case, we all know Tony's not going to stop here. He's going to do everything it takes to bring everyone back. Despite literally everyone turning their backs on him (father figure Obadiah Stane in IM1, Pepper in IM3/Civil War, Steve and most of the Avengers in Civil War, etc.), he continues to be a force for good. As it is, I'd reckon there's maybe a 1 in 14,000,605 chance of him surviving Avengers 4: United We Stand.

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We need to talk about Wanda Maximoff. Look, I love a strong female character as much as the next lady. I actually like a lot of Wanda's backstory in the MCU. She started off as ~evil because of wanting to take vengeance on the people who experimented on her and Pietro and ended up on the side against Ultron. However, homegirl has not dealt with the consequences of many of her actions. I see a lot of people lauding the fact that she’s strong and has arguably the strongest powers of all the Avengers, but the fact should not be remiss that she did mind-rape and manipulate most of the Avengers in Age of Ultron, did manipulate Tony into making Ultron, was actually at least partly responsible for the resulting, let's say, clusterfudgesicle. And she gets none of the flack.

This is exactly the type of thing that makes me want the Accords more. We can’t just have Steve comforting Wanda every time something bad happens. A Captain America pep talk does not a solution make.

I actually really loved the romantic subplots. Maybe it was because most of them were established relationships (as opposed to hitting us over the head ala Steve/Sharon), but I enjoyed and sympathized for the romantic subplots in this movie. Continuing with Wanda, in terms of Infinity War, I actually really enjoyed her arc with Vision. I thought it was nice that they made the most powerful person the most emotional one too. I didn’t see it as a sign of weakness or of “balancing” out her power, but of strength to be true to herself and her relationship with Viz Vision. She was literally with him to the very end.

I also liked the growth Quill’s character was forced to undergo because of Gamora’s death, and I liked that Gamora showed agency in directing Quill to do as such should the need arise. Come to think of it, I guess I enjoyed that most of the female halves of the relationships got to exhibit some form of agency instead of being dragged along like they usually are (*cough*Rachel McAdams in Doctor Strange*cough*).

I don't blame Peter Quill for how he reacted. People are coming down hard on Quill for screwing up the Thanos plan, but I didn’t think his inability to hold his emotions was his fault. Quill’s most defining characteristic is literally his immaturity, his childishness — it would have been weird if didn’t react the way he did. He reacted that way because he found out the love of his life was murdered by the guy who was right here in front of him. I mean!

In this house, we appreciate Thor Odinson. What a wonderful and totally unexpected shift in my favorites roster. This movie absolute made Thor shine. He was adorable, he was his clueless self, they kept his character development from Ragnarok, all while being one of the most damaged and sensitive characters in the movie. That whole scene where he cries while talking to Rocket about everything he's been through and then smiles optimistically in the end? That pretty much summarizes everything we love about Thor as a character. What a great turn of events compared to the mess of that cave scene in Age of Ultron, huh? Taika Waititi's impact!

Pepperony is no longer my favorite pizza topping. Hear me out now. This isn’t my shipper goggles talking. The more we encounter Pepper and Tony’s relationship in the MCU, the more I’m forced to take a step back and re-evaluate how I see Pepper as the light in Tony’s life and how I want them to be together so Tony can be happy. It’s gotten bad enough that I honestly wonder if the writers can't tell a toxic relationship from cute banter.

Pepper has never been a huge fan of Iron Man, understandably so because (1) she is a civilian and (2) the existence of Iron Man has a direct (negative!) effect on Tony’s safety. But let's not conflate concern with manipulation, i.e., trying to control Tony’s choices by making him choose between her and his suits (Iron Man 3), not seeing how important his identity as Iron Man was to Tony because he was a goddamn futurist who sees the big picture (Age of Ultron), ultimately still showing him up and causing distress (Civil War), to suddenly showing up again without context (Spider-Man: Homecoming; *I know this isn’t technically Pepper’s fault haha), to out-and-out belittling Tony’s nanotech and still not approving of Iron Man (Infinity War)… and actually planning to get married despite all of that. I MEAN. I’m not expert, but this does not a healthy relationship make.

My point is: Tony needs someone who appreciates how important Iron Man is to him and his identity and self-concept. (And who better than the person who called him Earth’s mightiest defender :D)

Loki needs to stay dead. First of all, how did Loki even stay alive all this time and have that fanbase size still? It’s just not logical. I will be the first to admit that my hate for Loki is borne of hate for the character about as much as hate for his unnecessarily vocal fanbase. I don’t care if you think he’s a harmless British cinnamon roll: he killed civilians for fun, is literally an entitled brat, and he called Natasha that. So if in the ideological Civil War of Team Cap or Team Iron Man, your answer is a resounding (NONSENSICAL) Team Loki?? I don’t… well, I don’t care. Your voice is not heard.

Now I’ve seen Loki in the behind the scenes images and concept art for Avengers 4: Avengers 4-Ever, but I don’t know if that necessarily means he’s back from the dead. I was so elated when he died 5 minutes into Infinity War; I don’t want to have to keep hoping he stays dead. I’m holding out, cautiously, for a time travel plot or a multiverse plot depending on what plot devices are revealed in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel. He ended on a high note, trying to kill Thanos, so let's leave at that and let it go.

I get why they tried to make Thanos relatable. I think it was a Tumblr user who first said that villains need to be relatable in order for them to work. This is not always true — some of the most classic villains don’t even need their motivations understood in order for them to be considered iconic. However, in more recent times, I have noticed a trend of curiosity and giving more thought into the background stories of villains. This might make them more understandable and relatable — traits not to be conflated with sympathetic and excusable. True enough, the final resolution often shows – and as in storytelling, sends the message to the viewer – that no amount of tragic backstory can ever excuse bad decisions and actions. They will always have their consequences (there’s that pesky c-word again!).

In spending a sizeable fraction of the movie exploring Thanos’s backstory and motivation, Infinity War succeeding in making viewers understand where he’s coming from. I don’t know, however, how to assign value-judgment to this exploration. Was it good that they made us relate to a guy who’s out for randomly sampled genocide? I don’t know. I get why they did it, but I don’t know if it made the movie better. Part of me feels like it would have been the same or almost the same had they not included the Gamora backstory, but then so many things stem from that backstory so they would have needed it anyway to tie the GotG plots together.

Looking forward

In any case, there’s a lot of things to look forward to in Avengers 4: More Than Just a Hero. A lot of questions I hope will be answered, a lot of loose threads tied up, and a lot of souls hopefully returned (fingers crossed against Loki though HAHA). But honestly, Avengers 4: Hero We Go Again will probably the last movie with this set of cast members. If the original Avengers come back, they will probably be supporting roles or cameos. That’s the just way the world turns.

In light of that, here are some of the things I’m really looking forward to:

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• Steve and Tony’s reunion of course. As far as Steve knows, Tony’s done for, and as far as Tony’s concerned, Steve is … probably not such a great person. I want to see how they’re going to interact! I should not be this thirsty for interaction!!
• The Avengers not fighting anymore. PLEASE STOP FIGHTING. Why is that 75% of the Avengers movies is just the Avengers fighting each other! We get it, they’ve come a long way, they’re overcoming their differences, things didn’t all just click into place automatically, and so on and so forth. Now can we just… please focus on them teaming up and fighting together?
• Bringing back the Soul Stone people! And the ensuing reunions! And possible heartaches! Please let there be a three-way hug between Steve and Bucky and Tony! Please let there be Tony and Bucky interactions!
• THE ORIGINAL THEME MUSIC PLAYING AS THE ORIGINAL AVENGERS (shockingly unscathed in the “random” snapocalypse) STAND AND POSE HEROICALLY. My tears are ready. I have hyped myself up.
• THE NEW(?!) AVENGERS POSING TO THE THEME SONG!! COME ON!!

Rumor has it… (POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD)

• Time travel will be involved!
• … Or the multiverse?!
• Steve is going to wield Mjolnir!
• Loki’s going to be there… *deep breathing exercises*
• Someone aside from Thanos going to wield the Infinity Gauntlet

That's it! This is so long! It's 6 pages, single-spaced on MS Word! Let's end this here. Ant-Man and The Wasp comes out next next week!