You've been warned. There is (hopefully) no stone left unturned in this discussion of Marvel's 10-year culminating epic. You are further being warned that this is the most reference-filled, geek out I have ever written. If there are things you don't understand, whether because you haven't seen the movie (why ARE YOU READING THIS... actually keep reading if you want) or because you don't get that reference, then I'm sorry. This is full stream of consciousness nerdom written onto page. So typos be damned. Please enjoy, comment and join the discussion. Thanks
STORYLINE 3: SCOTLAND TO WAKANDA (Wanda, Vision, Nat, Steve, Sam, Rhodey, Bruce, Bucky, Okoye, Shuri, T’Challa)
Once Wanda sees the Q-ship on TV, all hell breaks loose from Europe to North America to Africa. Infinity War’s longest break between action sequences may be only about 10-20 minutes in the entirety of the 2:40. It damn sure ain’t within this storyline. Wherever Vision is, action is sure to follow. Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight hunt him down with fervor not usually seen in an antagonist’s lackeys. But the Black Order did not come to play in this movie. Vision and Scarlet Witch, arguably two of the most powerful of the Avengers, didn’t even have time to look like they were being played with. If it wasn’t for the badass, chill-inducing, silhouetted intro to Cap, Vision could have very well been death number two. Apparently, Cap, Black Widow and Falcon had been doing a lot of work over the two years since the events of Civil War, because the three humans (yes one is the greatest human of all time) somehow did a much better job with the Order than the enhanced and the android made from an android. The smaller action sequences, especially in this storyline, were top-notch and some of the best choreographed since Winter Soldier. Proxima just added to the badass female characters that could whoop most in hand-to-hand combat. Too bad she ran into three other of those badasses in Wakanda.
But before that, we get to see a lot of reunions at Avengers headquarters. Though not an actual action sequence, the verbal sparring matches that William Hurt brings every time he plays General Ross are always entertaining. Don Cheadle is a perfect sparring partner, and their spat kept the down time greatly paced and intriguing. The awkward reunion generates the levity that Marvel is able to easily intertwine with the serious aspects, and luckily Marvel understood that it should only have that one moment. Hulk is too damn scared to be thinking about anything else this movie. Thinking of it now though, Scarlet Witch is one of the characters that does not have as much to do in this film as others. However, it wasn’t as surprising as another character whose role took a backseat: Cap. He was really only used to lead action pieces throughout the movie. I am kind of glad that they didn’t snuff him in this one yet because the impact would not really be there (he gone in 4 though. So outta here).
One of the best examples of Cap leading a charge is when he and T’Challa sprint ahead the entire pack when they let Thanos’ army through section 17 of the forcefield. Seeing them race each other filled my heart with joy seeing T’Challa turn on the juice when Cap caught up to make sure that he was first to get a hit (I had to double check this second viewing cuz I missed it in my glee the first time). But that joy did not compare to Shuri sonning the HELL out of Bruce when discussing the Mind Stone in Vision’s head. I’m sure Bruce tried his best. Seeing Okoye, M’Baku, and all of the family again was like coming home. And when T’Challa told them that “they are in Wakanda now”, the cheers from the audience almost made me miss the dust and blood. The action was on an epic proportion, but paid off most in individuals / duos / trios’ moments to shine. Thor came in and was even more impressive than when he had his own personal “Immigrant Song” theme. As mentioned earlier, the team up of Okoye, Natasha, and Wanda against Proxima was the most intense. Okoye stole this act of the movie with her combination of fierceness, wit, and grief. But the shot of all of Wakanda (not including what I am deciding to ignore for now cuz its too much) is the interaction between Bucky and Rocket. Dude really picked him to up and spun him in a better version of Rocket & Groots iconic shot in Volume 1. And what the hell started Rocket’s obsession with artificial body parts? Does he have a trophy room or something? Lucky for Thor huh?
STORYLINE 4: THE MILANO TO THE Q-SHIP (Quill, Mantis, Drax, Gamora)
After the God, the Rabbit, and the Tree leave for Nidavellir, the rest of the Guardians head back to Knowhere to try the movie’s second attempt at thwarting the Titan. That didn’t go too well either. What really enhanced the fact that Thanos is that dude is that twice we are not privy to how he retrieved a Stone. Thor tells the audience after the fact that half of Xander is in ruin for holding the Power Stone (sidebar: Sega where the hell is game #3? -sorry, uber geek reference here), and then we get a display from the Aether that is ten times more menacing than an entire Dark Elf’s third act. Not seeing how Thanos dispatched of the Nova Corps and the Collector reinforces just how behind all of our heroes are this entire film. The audience knew that it was too quick for Gamora to have laid out her father like that, but there was a teeny tiny piece of you that was like “naw fam, that didn’t just happen…right”. Of course, not. But that did set up the best relationship and character arcs of the film. We see that as much as Gamora hates Thanos, there was something to being raised by someone for over 20 years. I was thoroughly surprised at the amount of emotion that left her body when she thought she had killed her father. Even more is that you don’t know how much of that emotion is tears of joy/relief and how much is sorrow.
That’s why she knew she had to get Peter to promise to kill her. She knew that there was something in there that could make Thanos retrieve the information he needed. The ultimate means in which he does was helped along by Nebula, but she didn’t know that he had her sister before she made Star-Lord make that promise. He almost followed through on that promise too. The movie did well saying the unspoken between Gamora and Peter without having to overly show how their relationship evolved after 5 years. The back and forth between Quill and Thanos about whether he was a boyfriend or a long-term booty call was the perfect Guardians way to further confirm their relationship’s growth. Hey, Peter even got the father’s approval before they left. This entire scene epitomized how great the movie is when they keep the humor and dread “perfectly balanced, as all things should be”.
This leads into a merging of this storyline and the next one we will go into. After getting demolished by the Reality Stone, Drax, Mantis and Star-Lord crash the party on the Q-ship with Strange, Peter, and Tony. This is the scene where you realize that after 10 years of everything being so interconnected, a lot of our heroes have never even heard of each other. It’s a refreshing reminder that Marvel has been able to introduce the cosmic, magical and earthly storylines with major success. The pay-off of this interaction is some of the funniest in the movie. “WHY IS GAMORA?!” (I gladly accepted Drax comedy) “Who is your Master?” “Am I supposed to say Jesus?” “Missouri is on Earth”. The rapid-fire banter between the four most wise-ass characters in the MCU is a hilariously glorious sight to behold.
STORYLINE 5: BLEEKER STREET TO TITAN (Bruce, Wong, Strange, Tony, Quill, Parker, Mantis, Drax)
Strange does not work for Tony. Spidey is not Tony’s Ward. Wong does not dwell in the material. Bruce knows it doesn’t matter who you are or are not talking to. Stark has had Thanos in his head for six years. Drax and Mantis whoop names. Quill considers Flash Gordon a compliment. This storyline is the best combination of everything we have ever loved for 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Bruce crashes into the Sanctum, he wastes no time in letting the Masters know the threat that is coming. Something big had to bring everyone back together from such a fracture in Civil War, and the fear that radiated off of him and Hulk exhibited how big. Once he gets Strange to bring in Tony, we finally get the meeting of two of the most narcissistic egomaniacs in the room, ship, and planet together. It does not disappoint. Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch can easily flip back and forth from the dramatic to the comedic, and it is doubly enhanced when they feed off of each other’s egos. Both try to take the lead, but neither can take it fully. Introduce Quill into that picture on Titan and the smile that grows on your face from the hilarity and seriousness is magnified even more. THEN, they throw in Peter and you know that this team had to have been the biggest no brainer for Markus, McFeely, and the Russos to write. We see the ease of that quadruple’s chemistry originally on the Q-Ship, but even more so on Titan. These interplays throughout the film create the roller-coaster of feeling that is the foundation of what is so good about the movie.
There is almost no point through Infinity War where you aren’t smiling, nor is there a point where your heart isn’t pounding. The smiles are carried through the film in this storyline’s dialogue, and the palpitations are carried through in its action. Right after they have a discussion on the best Ben & Jerry’s flavor in the Sanctum, Tony and the Masters are given the best fights they have ever experienced on film to date. We had yet to see a battle of true Masters of the Mystic arts until Strange and Wong went up against Ebony Maw. Nor had we seen anyone with the strength and weaponry to match with Tony until Cull Obsidian (at least not a match that was equal in action AND had a captivating motivation, sorry Whiplash but your revenge plot was to cliché for you to be considered better). The imagination, visuals, and jaw-dropping wonder were astonishing as we saw the battle of magic amongst the Maw, Wong, Strange, and the Cloak of Levitation (which by the way also held its own in the battle of wits). The sheer force of Iron Man and Obsidian’s battle left your teeth clenched and hands clapping, especially when Spidey joined the fight and you are reminded of just how damn strong Peter also is. These sequences further validate that the Black Order is just as much of a threat as Thanos, especially since these two could only be defeated by escaping them (Spidey with another pop-culture reference win!).
We then see an even bigger display of Magic v. Magic and Might v. Might when they all have to fight Thanos on Titan. He threw a moon man! A MOON! The perfect action pairings continue with the Power Stone against Stark’s Nano-Tech, the Reality Stone against the Mirror Dimension, Star-Lords craftiness against Thanos’ intelligence, and the pure strength of the Titan against arguably the strongest and smartest Avenger and his intuitive Iron Spider suit. The heroes almost did it too. Days before I watched the movie, I watched a “fantasy draft” of Avengers you would choose to take down Thanos. The only ones that seemed to convince everyone involved had to include on Master of the Mystic Arts and Mantis. This is why the Infinity War/Winter Soldier/Civil War crew are so damn good at making these movies. They know what the comic-book geeks know. They are the comic-book geeks. If Mantis is strong enough to put a living planet down for a period of time, the only possibility was to have her put down Thanos too. But hence, whether you call it stupidity or passion, Star-Lord screwed that all to bits. It did make me wonder how Quill would have fared if he was still immortal. Also, what the hell did Strange mean when he said they are in the end game now? We have to wait a whole year before knowing whether or not the 1 in 14,000,605 scenarios is actually still in play? DAMMIT
-End of Part 2 –