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Post by tarkintino on Apr 30, 2018 17:51:44 GMT -5
Underwhelmed. The "deaths" of characters loses all power when you know a Spider-Man & Black Panther will have sequels, and if Steve Rogers is supposed to be replaced by soon-to-be-revived Bucky, you can bet your last dollar that the Falcon will join him in "comeback" land to become his partner.
The Red Skull was not a shock, as his "death" scene in Captain America: The First Avenger all but had the Skull scream "I vill be baachh, Captain!!" considering how he was absorbed / transported into another realm via the Tesseract. I'm almost willing to bet he will be the agent of death for a certain favorite character in Avengers 4.
For a film (and i'm just projecting ahead to A4) that's supposed to wrap up nearly 20 films' worth of storylines / continuity, so far, it does not feel consequential. To be honest, few MCU conflicts ever felt that way. There's just something missing to elevate the films beyond the level of action for the sake of it--which is the opposite of the kind of rich, dramatic storytelling from Marvel's famed Silver/Bronze Age, which the company still bases its identity on, but hardly lives up to.
Yeah... the film was not the promised epic wrapping up 10 years of MCU film stories.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Apr 30, 2018 18:23:25 GMT -5
Underwhelmed. The "deaths" of characters loses all power when you know a Spider-Man & Black Panther will have sequels, and if Steve Rogers is supposed to be replaced by soon-to-be-revived Bucky, you can bet your last dollar that the Falcon will join him in "comeback" land to become his partner. You might be too much "behind the curtain" here. As comics fans, we've been aware of the "revolving door of death" for decades. I'm no exception. The fact that I'm as steeped in the tropes as any other fan is a bit of a liability as it turns out. But if you look at the "deaths" from the point of view of the survivors, I think you'll find they have a great deal more impact, resonance, what have you. They don't have the luxury of knowing it'll all be repaired in the NEXT! THRILLING! CHAPTER! Though, as ever, YMMV. My mother always said those comic books would rot my brain, but she never said anything about my sense of empathy.  |
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Post by Randle-El on Apr 30, 2018 21:21:12 GMT -5
One thought I had regarding the "deaths":
{Spoiler: Click to show}
After half the heroes (as well as the universe) vanishes, we are left with Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Banner/Hulk, Black Widow, and (presumably) Hawkeye -- i.e., the original Avengers roster. There is something fitting about this -- get the old team together for one last job before going out in a blaze of glory.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2018 22:55:13 GMT -5
One "crazy" theory about those deaths... once Thanos snapped his fingers, it shifted perspective and those fading into dust were the actual survivors and those that remained behind had been absorbed into the Soul Gem and the fading away of their friends was their perception of the world as they were absorbed into the Soul Gem.
I am not sure I buy it, but it does put those with expiring contracts in the lost column, not the ones we saw fade away. Personally, my theory is that Doc Strange is the key. He said he would never save Tony or Peter and sacrifice the gem, but after peering at all the potential futures and seeing the only way to beat Thanos, he does exactly that, so my guess is he did something with the Time Gem to set things into motion to stop Thanos before giving him the Time Gem and we will see the payoff to that set up in part 2. That set up was laid pretty thick and got a lot of screen time/focus in the movie, so I think there is more coming from those sequences than just what we saw in this movie. -M |
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Post by Randle-El on May 1, 2018 0:48:26 GMT -5
One "crazy" theory about those deaths... once Thanos snapped his fingers, it shifted perspective and those fading into dust were the actual survivors and those that remained behind had been absorbed into the Soul Gem and the fading away of their friends was their perception of the world as they were absorbed into the Soul Gem.
I am not sure I buy it, but it does put those with expiring contracts in the lost column, not the ones we saw fade away. Personally, my theory is that Doc Strange is the key. He said he would never save Tony or Peter and sacrifice the gem, but after peering at all the potential futures and seeing the only way to beat Thanos, he does exactly that, so my guess is he did something with the Time Gem to set things into motion to stop Thanos before giving him the Time Gem and we will see the payoff to that set up in part 2. That set up was laid pretty thick and got a lot of screen time/focus in the movie, so I think there is more coming from those sequences than just what we saw in this movie. -M {Spoiler: Click to show}
Another theory that has been thrown around (including by my wife, who only watches these movies because she tags along with me and pays zero attention to the online chatter) is that Shuri, in the final seconds before getting attacked in her lab, did something with the Mind Stone, perhaps backing up a copy of the stone itself, or Vision's consciousness. Maybe she was just saving her work, or maybe she was doing something more significant -- it definitely looked like she was up to something before getting attacked. |
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2018 10:12:25 GMT -5
One "crazy" theory about those deaths... once Thanos snapped his fingers, it shifted perspective and those fading into dust were the actual survivors and those that remained behind had been absorbed into the Soul Gem and the fading away of their friends was their perception of the world as they were absorbed into the Soul Gem.
I am not sure I buy it, but it does put those with expiring contracts in the lost column, not the ones we saw fade away. Personally, my theory is that Doc Strange is the key. He said he would never save Tony or Peter and sacrifice the gem, but after peering at all the potential futures and seeing the only way to beat Thanos, he does exactly that, so my guess is he did something with the Time Gem to set things into motion to stop Thanos before giving him the Time Gem and we will see the payoff to that set up in part 2. That set up was laid pretty thick and got a lot of screen time/focus in the movie, so I think there is more coming from those sequences than just what we saw in this movie. -M {Spoiler: Click to show}
Another theory that has been thrown around (including by my wife, who only watches these movies because she tags along with me and pays zero attention to the online chatter) is that Shuri, in the final seconds before getting attacked in her lab, did something with the Mind Stone, perhaps backing up a copy of the stone itself, or Vision's consciousness. Maybe she was just saving her work, or maybe she was doing something more significant -- it definitely looked like she was up to something before getting attacked. I see what you mean here ... makes some sense to me!  |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 1, 2018 17:33:22 GMT -5
Benedict Cumberbatch is quite the mimic. |
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Post by String on May 5, 2018 14:26:57 GMT -5
Most impressive, especially Brolin. He made Thanos into a monstrous menace who could also be eloquent and passionate about his stated goals.
So much happened here, it's hard to cover it all. The underlying theme for this movie was sacrifice, who is willing to pay what cost. It touched upon a myriad number of characters, each faced with difficult choices. For all the quips and humor, this was a dark film.
Thor and his journey was great (his new weapon YESSSSSS!!!!!)
I thought Cap and his crew were hindered by the 2 year gap. Unless I missed something, we have little clue as to what they have been doing in the interim (unlike with Tony whom we saw in Homecoming so we have some idea what's been going on with him). Evans as Cap has been amazing throughout these films but he fell kinda flat here to me. I would have liked to have seen some more acknowledgement of his friendship with a renewed Bucky or even a small conversation between Bruce and Natasha, their romance being one of the MCU elements that I like the best.
Speaking of Bruce, I didn't like the portrayal of Hulk here. I can understand his initial reticence but he is a creature of pure rage, what he can't pummel only makes him madder. Unless his time on Sakaar had a more profound effect on him than I first thought.
The Black Order were great, especially Ebony Maw. C'mon though Marvel, name them within the film. IT'S-NOT-THAT-HARD.
As for the 'deaths', only one really made an impact on me. As for the 'rest', yeah, the jaded comic reader who's all too familiar with the Revolving Door of Death, my immediate thought was How do they undo this? Still, it was sad to see.
And the ending! LOVED the ending, how it matches somewhat Starlin's ending for IG. I was sitting there smiling while the wife was screaming bloody murder over What do you mean, that's it?!
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Post by rberman on May 5, 2018 20:38:33 GMT -5
{Spoiler: Click to show}
Saw it finally, and managed to avoid pretty much all spoilers going in! Our small town theater was packed, which is very impressive for a 4pm audience of a film that's already been out over a week. I was delighted with the film itself, but also with the foresight that Feige and company showed in setting this up over such a long period of time. All the characters are well known to us already, and seeing them all together in novel combinations (Thor + Rocket, Dr Strange + Spider=Man, Shuri + Scarlet Witch, etc.) was great fun. Everybody was given something to do that actually advanced the plot, unlike The Force Awakens sending its non-Jedi characters on a movie-long wild goose chase. The concept of Hulk refusing to manifest was a nice twist on the usual Banner story. Biggest surprise of all was Thanos, whom I always considered somewhere between boring and unbearable silly in the comic book. His self-appointed mission to save the universe from overpopulation was carried out very credibly. Thematically, it challenged the liberal outlook that the most important thing is the "saving the world" big picture, at the expense of personal liberty. |
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 1:05:02 GMT -5
Welp, I was spared by Thanos.  -M |
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Post by sunofdarkchild on May 6, 2018 16:16:06 GMT -5
Finally saw it. That ending was brutal, especially Spider-Man's begging. Really surprised considering how formulaic and boring the MCU has gotten these last few years, so kudos to Disney. Between this and Last Jedi they've actually managed to do new things with their biggest franchises.
I thought Star Lord should have survived so he would deal with the consequences of what he did as well of the loss of almost his whole team and Gamora. It seems like a big missed opportunity to have some real character growth for him, and it's weird that Rocket is the only Guardian left. But I guess they thought having another character other than Tony go through the grief/guilt thing was redundant. That's my only nitpicky gripe on first viewing. I might have more complaints down the line, but not now.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 7, 2018 11:15:56 GMT -5
No spoilers. We've all seen Captain America's costume in the trailer. He's eschewed his shield and divested himself of the overt patriotic symbology. You can see the impression of a star on his chest, but it and the stripes that normally adorn his torso are "blacked out." It feels like a very clever and subtle nod to his time as Nomad, the "Man without a Country" from CA 176-180 IIRC. Not a fan of the beard, though. If I'm being honest. Finally saw it Sunday. I had been waiting until after Nathan's graduation and I could watch it with both boys. When Cap came on screen my youngest son leaned over to me and whispered, "Look. It's Nomad." |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 7, 2018 11:48:41 GMT -5
Overall...it was okay. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I wasn't overawed. I wasn't particularly disappointed. I'm not sure that it's superhero film overload because I've really enjoyed most of Marvel's output and at least liked the rest. And I didn't dislike this. I just didn't think it was in any way special. I likely doesn't help that Thanos means absolutely nothing to me. And his motivation is, in my opinion, weak. It seems almost of necessity that when you have this many characters nobody is going to shine. And that's pretty much how it felt. I guess if anyone got a bit of extra spotlight it was Downey/Stark which is maybe fitting since he started the whole magilla.
I'll absolutely agree with CodyStarbuck that the battle scenes really had little to no meaning to me. There was no real feeling of weight or danger to them. They were just frenetic happenings.
I'm frankly way more interested in the next Ant-Man movie.
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Post by The Captain on May 7, 2018 13:00:24 GMT -5
I'm frankly way more interested in the next Ant-Man movie. I am as well. Just re-watched the first movie the day after I saw Infinity War, and I realized I enjoyed seeing it for the fourth or fifth time more than I did seeing Infinity War for the first time. |
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Post by spoon on May 10, 2018 21:07:10 GMT -5
I'm frankly way more interested in the next Ant-Man movie. I am as well. Just re-watched the first movie the day after I saw Infinity War, and I realized I enjoyed seeing it for the fourth or fifth time more than I did seeing Infinity War for the first time. Ant-Man is one of my favorite MCU movies. I have it on Blu-ray and I've probably watched it more times than any other MCU movie. I'm psyched about Ant-Man and the Wasp. I think Hope is more fully realized that just about any other female character in the Marvel movies. I could imagine her as the focus of a legitimately good movie herself. She not just a Pepper Potts type supporting character/foil. |
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