Avengers: Infinity War

[Babycakes]

Trailer.

Starring: Umm...everybody.

It's the culmination of 18 movies(!) over 10 years. Can they mix all the movies, characters, and plot-lines into a coherent crowd pleaser?

O. M. G.

I knew it would be virtually impossible to avoid spoilers, so I amazingly found a single ticket that wasn't already sold for a showing today. The theater was packed with fans. There were a couple of people in cosplay (Spiderman, Black Panther) and lots of Marvel gear. Lots of laughs. Lots of cheers. A handful of gasps. Legit, audible gasps of shock. Clapping. And for me, plenty of tears. I didn't expect to cry multiple times, but I did. At the end, I just had tears streaming out of both eyes. I didn't even bother trying to wipe them away. I was too stunned. There was a lot of vocal upset at the ending. I will be seeing it again. It was a great movie. Not my favorite in the universe, but definitely top 5.

Non spoilery highlights:

1. There is one stinger. You have to sit through all the credits. It does have a little extra information in it.
2. Thor is officially my favorite. They're all pretty great, but he's just so damn perfect.
3. Lots of action scenes. Some a little hard to make out, but not enough to make you dizzy or lose interest.
4. I don't think you have to have seen all the Marvel movies to understand the plot. They make it pretty clear what's up.
5. It's 2:40 minutes. It flew by to me. I didn't buy a drink so that probably spared my bladder.

Spoilers:

SPOILER: Click to show

1. Captain America is getting a lot of trailer love, but he's hardly in it.
2. Black Widow is in it even less. She barely had lines.
3. There are a ton of deaths. Probably none are permanent, but they hurt all the same to see.
4. The Black Order was hardly in it either, and fairly easily dispatched.
5. Thanos is a good villain. Good, not great. Killmonger still remains the best.
6. I guess they didn't realize how popular Black Panther was going to be. They hedged their bets, and lost. The audience reacted mostly to BP, and Wakanda. His "death" got the biggest reaction.
7. Everybody was wrong. Neither Cap, nor Ironman died.
8. The movie was very funny. All the Thor and Guardians humor was pretty awesome.
9. Didn't know Peter Dinklage was in the movie, and he's playing a "Dwarf". Great way to tweak that.
10. I had no idea who Red Skull was until I read about it online. I knew the face, but didn't make the connection.
11. Bruce's floating head in the Hulk Buster suit was embarrassing. That VFX needed a few more passes. Unforgivable.
12. Spiderman's "death" was the second biggest reaction. My chest still hurts over that one.
13. Love Thor's new hammer.
14. I know it's movie logic, but I can't believe that Quill screwed them over when they almost had Thanos. His man pain ruined everything. ARGH!!
15. Gwyneth Paltrow looked old in her scene. #petty
16. More Wong in the next film, please.
17. Dr. Strange has to have an amazing plan. I can't believe he just handed over the stone like that.
18. Love that Thor took "Tree" as an elective in school, and can speak Groot. And all the times he called Rocket a rabbit.
19. Shuri, M'Baku, Bucky, and Falcon were glorified cameos. Boooooooo!!
20. Didn't care about Vision and Wanda's relationship, but I was moved by his death. Both of them.

The wait until the next release seems like eons.

[Deleted]

Oh. My. God. I was not expecting it to shake out the way it did, and the wait until the next one is going to be really freaking hard.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Spiderman broke my heart, I almost started crying in the theater. That really brought home that Peter Parker is just a kid. I know they're going to find some way to reverse all this but even so: damn. RDJ did some of his best acting in years that scene.

And I figured Loki was going to die but I didn't think it would be in the first scene. It's so sweet that he went out trying to do the right thing for once.

I'm assuming Dr. Strange had some long-term plan in mind and he knew somehow that all the deaths would not be permanent. I'm pretty sure that Loki, Heimdall, and the rest of the Asgaardians are the only ones that are for real dead. Most of the rest will probably come back.

I knew someone from the first Captain America movie was coming back, I did not think it was going to be Red Skull. And then I heard Hugo Weaving's voice. That was kind of random.

Freaking Starlord ruined everything. Bah.

Even though he didn't die in this one, I think Steve is going to die in the next one. I'm guessing he'll make some big ultimate sacrifice that will be part of beating Thanos.

And on the lighter side,

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Hulk refusing to come out and Banner having to do what little ass-kicking he could manage by himself was awesome.

Almost everything with Rocket (a.k.a. Rabbit,) Groot, and Thor. "I took Tree as an elective in school."

Peter Dinklage! That was a nice surprise.

They do need to work on some of the CGI stuff, a few of the characters looked like they were in a video game. I'm going to have to see it again at least once, because I kept losing track of who was with who and where they were.

ETA: I was wrong about something...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Apparently that was NOT Hugo Weaving, that was Ross Marquand (Aaron from The Walking Dead) doing a really good Hugo Weaving impression.

Very clever.

[petitesuite]

I thought it was perfectly fine, but I am not the target audience (I saw it more because it's a pop culture Thing and I want to be reasonably knowledgeable, but I am not a huge Marvel person). I don't think it's too spoiler-y to say that I resent being told I should feel emotional about a character's death when it's COMPLETELY obvious from information released by Marvel itself that the character is going to come back. Either make the number of movies everyone signed up for a secret, or keep them all alive. Trying to have it both ways doesn't work. Although if all the upcoming movies are just prolonged flashbacks, I will happily eat my words.

I will say it wasn't NEARLY as messy as I thought it would be, but I think it's very telling that the one-liners I see people getting excited about all occurred when they were in smaller groups. And the ending was great.

roisin54, I completely agree with you re: Cap.

[Ladybug]

We just got out and wow, the reaction in the theater was like nothing I've experienced in a big Hollywood action movie. Stony silence. On the way out, another theater goer commented "Its like we're leaving a funeral."

I will need some time to process it all, but it's quite obvious some characters will be brought back because their individual films made so much $$$.

[Deleted]

I am speechless. That was incredible.

And I am the only one in my contingent of five to think so. Everyone else was upset by the ending but that was just so damn different, I loved it. I honestly had no idea where it was going and was surprised by the ending. How often can you say that in a superhero movie?

And hats off to Josh Brolin. I agree with Babycakes that Killmonger is the best Marvel villain but Thanos was a close second. They really fleshed him out in a way that is rare for a villain.

[Spinderella]

It was intense and a lot to digest. I don't think I was able to fully process everything in one viewing (it was a looooong movie) and I'll need to see it again or at least wait until it's available on iTunes. But I think I have a "hunch" on how things will flow in the next film. This is just based on me being a fan and seeing all the films leading up until now.

To me, there were a couple things that sort of gave plausible outs and resolutions for Avengers Infinity 2 (it doesn't have a title yet). If you've seen Doctor Strange, think of its ending and add that with a few bits of knowledge that those at the end of the movie know about, and it could give the Avengers some leverage. Less vague? SPOILER:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I think that since the ones that didn't evaporate (Thor, Stark, Cap, Capt. Marvel) were given a heads up on a few things.

Thor now knows that he should have "aimed for Thanos's head" instead of his chest to dispatch him properly.
Stark knows from Strange that "this was the only way" because out of 14 million possibilities, there was only one way to win. This is why I think Strange didn't want Tony to die because he was the key to saving them all. Thus, he forfeited the Time stone, forced Thanos to spare Tony's and gave up his own life to allow this plan to go forward.

Somehow they are going to get their hands on that Time stone. There is NO question about it. If Thanos can do it, so can they. The Infinity Gauntlet looks pretty worse for wear after his snapped his fingers and it leads me to believe that it's either not usable any longer, or the Infinity stones could have done their job and are now back to being lost in the universe. He didn't have it in the final shot of him and he most likely didn't care given that it would take a very, very, very long time for the universe to repopulate to ever have to go down that path again and who knows? He most likely will be dead himself.

I don't think they'll have to or be able to go back too far in time, IMO. Granted, it would solve a lot of problems to stop him from getting all the stones, but unfortunately, they have no idea when/where he picked up the first one and I think that they need to focus on what they know 100%. There is at least 1 Avenger or Guardian that made it alive to contribute their knowledge of Thanos and where he was for the five stones he acquired.

When I watch the MCU movies, the CGI effects are usually very realistic or at least not so cheesy. But man, when Banner was in one of the Iron Man suits? OMG. He looked so pasted in when the helmet was off. It looked HORRIBLE. Absolutely horrendous. My whole row was cracking up in one shot because it was so terrible.

[Babycakes]

I've been watching some theory videos on the ending, and one that stood out to me is --

SPOILER: Click to show

The people that turned to dust, aren't "dead". They're living in an alternative reality in the Soul Stone. The remaining Avengers just have to figure out a way to merge the two universes. I'm not familiar with Captain Marvel, the one Fury was paging at the end, but apparently, she's going to be part of the effort to reverse what Thanos did. Her movie comes out next March. Also, people think that only the deaths pre-snap are permanent. That means no more Gamora (Zoe is doing 3 more Avatar movies) or Loki. All the others are reversible.

I'm seeing it again with a friend next Monday. This time I can just sit back enjoy the spectacle. I've had 3 days to mourn.

[Deleted]

I was the only one in my theatre not bawling uncontrollably because I read comics. Clearly there were folks who only saw Black Panther who were shocked as hell at the ending. I took to recommending to folks on Twitter to not see Infinity War if their only Marvel experience is T'Challa & 'em. Starboy and I are going to catch the matinee showing tomorrow.

Awesome movie!

[Atreides]

Just saw it and loved it, but will need more time to process the events.

[Deleted]

Now that I've seen it a second time and have read up on a few things, I agree with Spinderella and Babycakes...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I don't know how they'll get the time stone, but they will. And I've heard the theory about the ones that dissolved actually being taken by the soul stone elsewhere, and it makes sense to me. Otherwise, in the next movie all we'll have are the original Avengers, Rocket, and Nebula. The rest of them have to be doing something because I don't think they can go another whole movie with them all being "dead" and they're not going to fix that problem 'til close to the end of the movie's runtime.

I hope Gamora isn't for real dead, but it would make sense. Quill has to have something to angst about when he's alive again and they did bring another woman onto the team. Lord knows we can't have two female Guardians at once [insert eye roll here].

I'm a little bummed that we didn't get to see Tony & Steve reunite. I hope that happens in the next one before Steve and/or Tony bites the big one.

I've read that Ant Man and The Wasp is set in between the events of Civil War and Infinity War, and Captain Marvel is set in the 1990s. They damn well better have some clues in the stingers for those movies.

And apparently there is a title for the next Avengers movie but it's a spoiler for something that happens in this one, so it'll be a while before they release it.