There are movies that are fun and easy to talk about. ‘Infinity War’ is not one of those movies.
Since the announcement was made that the MCU was headed towards the Infinity War storyline, Marvel has fought tooth and claw to keep the movies spoiler free.
Because we went in knowing so little, and given the interconnectedness of the story arcs, it’s hard to talk about ‘Infinity War’ without spoilers. But let’s give it a crack anyway, shall we?
‘Infinity War’ is so much better, and so much worse, than we’d hoped for.
The CGI is brilliant, with a storyline to leave you teetering on the edge of your seat. The writers deserve awards for their ability to ease the tension and agony with humour, and at least a month in the time-out corner for the actual emotional pain they’ve managed to inflict.
It was never going to be easy to bring the different franchises together. With so many alpha-male types, it could have easily struggled to find traction, even with the common enemy approach to the story.
And yet, they’ve brought the characters together without diminishing them, and when they are acting somewhat oddly, there’s a pretty clear reason why. Not that it makes it hurt less, of course.
One of the very few bits of information released to fans was the warning that not everyone survives a war. And with almost the entire MCU brought together, that’s a lot of characters to worry about.
While fans have been struggling to work out who’ll die, and getting rather esoteric about the whole thing, the painful truth is that all of the mental prep-work possible probably won’t help much for this one. If you love the MCU, ‘Infinity War’ is gonna hurt, guys.
Fans of the original comics were understandably wary to see the Infinity War storyline hit the MCU, given that Deadpool hasn’t been brought back to the Marvel roost quite yet. After all, in the original, Thanos’s entire quest for universal brutality is to try and get the attention of Death, who is far more focused on the unkillable mercenary than the intergalactic grape of wrath.
Sadly, no, there’s no Deadpool, but the writers haven’t just made Thanos a moustache twirling, evil-for-the-lols kind of villain, either. Instead, he’s sympathetic – incredible given the mayhem he’s creating for our heroes – with the sort of reasoning that (horrifyingly) makes sense in an unfeeling, brutal kind of a way.
And if the MCU needed a G.R.R. Martin type running about trying to off our beloveds, they’ve at least given us a formidable, menacing character to hate.
‘Infinity War’ isn’t the cheerful pick-me-up kind of movie, clearly, and if you’re looking for some light entertainment, might wanna give it a miss.
It’s also probably a good idea to go see it before you take the kids, because, again, it’s a war movie, and they don’t tend to obey the same rules as your usual superhero flicks.
But let’s be honest, we’ve spent ten years with some of these characters. If you’re a fan, of course you’re going to see this, so take tissues, stay till the end of the credits, and remember that this is only part one of the Infinity War storyline.
