I just saw Avengers: Infinity War a second time. The first time was in Hong Kong on an IMAX. Today was on a regular screen. Big difference. Certain shots you don't get to see the full head of a character onscreen because the screen didn't go high enough.
Screen aside, this definitely was a great movie that satisfied adequately. The humour in the first half worked, especially with Stark and Banner, and Thor and the Guardians.
Personally I would have liked to see the full Guardians team team-up with the Avengers and see how that dynamic first falls apart before working together because Quill is so used to giving orders even though no one follows - which was also played out during the battle at Knowhere.
I was pleasantly surprised to see so much emotional subjects being presented. First was the noir-spy-thriller feel with Scarlet Witch and Vision hiding out in Scotland. This had a follow through towards the end with great emotional performances and weight from both Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen.
One that I did not see coming was Tom Holland's performance as well as he was about to die. Even though the scene dragged on a little too long for Spider-Man to turn into a basket of dry leaves, that was some serious acting right there between him and Robert Downey, Jr.
Then there was the Gamora and Star-Lord story arc but it was less of a tear jerker because it then turned into a bit of a comedy. The scene when he finally realized Gamora was gone, did not carry the same emotional weight because Star-Lord became annoying by ignoring what was at stake.
This fault fell on the Russo Brothers because both Star-Lord and Nebula knew full well - more so Nebula - how dangerous that Gauntlet was and yet they just stood there in their grief. Overwhelmed by grief? Perhaps. But I would have preferred a better way to write out that whole sequence. Otherwise, up until that point, the action sequences had been very solid.
But the biggest complaint I have would be when Thanos has completed his collection of Infinity Stones, and only then did Thor came down with his Stormbreaker - the only weapon that could kill Thanos. Thor knew full well of this fact because he created Stormbreaker, and yet he chose to let every other Avenger and Wakandan to fail first against Thanos before dropping in from the sky. He held the secret weapon, wouldn't he be the first to stop Thanos instead of the last? This was also my chief complaint in Captain America: Civil War, with Vision being rarely used in the airport scene.
This was a plot convenience that I am blaming on the Russos. Could they have directed it another way? Possibly, but that may take a few more scenes which would have been worth it in order to tell a fuller story.
Apart from these two complaints, there really wasn't anything else that took me out of the movie. There were a few characters missing, and I don't mean the obvious Hawkeye and Ant-Man; but a few that should have at least gotten a mention:
W'Kabi - I thought he was left out but I think Okoye and T'Challa had a mention in passing about the border tribe that could have held a clue to his fate. And where were the rhinos?
Nakia - no mention of her but could have been an easy explanation that she was running that outreach program in the US or some other country.
Sif - still no sign of her and whether or not she is still alive after Ragnarok.
The Collector - he did make an appearance but there was no sign of his body.
Valkyrie - she should have been in the opening scene but could have been that Thanos only killed half of the Asgardians and she was the one that led the other half away from the ship, including Korg and Meek.
Kraglin - no mention at all as I thought he was already part of the Guardians after Vol. 2 where he inherited Yondu's arrow.
I also wonder who is left on Xandar since Thanos only wipes out half the population. This may come into play in Vol. 3, or not.
But all the action set pieces were great. From the opening battle outside the Sanctum, to Scotland, to Titan and then lastly in Wakanda. All of these need a few more watches to capture all the awesomeness of the movie.
Stay tuned as I run down my favourite scenes from the movie next.
No comments:
Post a Comment