'Avengers: Infinity War' review/analysis

For a long time, I was convinced that there would never be a superhero movie that could top 'The Dark Knight'. Whether you're talking about the performances, the story, the characters, the effects, the direction or whatever else, there could never be one to top Christopher Nolan's masterpiece.

But Infinity War may have proven me wrong.

Infinity War is something that Marvel Studios has been planning for 10 long years. Producer Kevin Feige, the architect of the juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, paved the way for Infinity War in 2008, with the release of Iron Man.

18 movies later, here we are. Multiple heroes in the same movie is something to be expected. Doctor Strange fighting alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy and Spider-Man is considered normal. It's just unreal. It's something fanboys like me dreamed about as kids, but never really thought possible.

But the war is finally upon us. Infinity War was released on April 27, and has steamrolled to a box office total of $2.04 billion and counting. It's also, in my opinion, the best Marvel production yet.

The performances in this movie are just terrific. This edition of Chris Evans's Captain America is the most impressive so far. Downey's take on Tony Stark is also noteworthy because he's not on speaking terms with his best friend due to what happened in Civil War. Chadwick Boseman returns as T'Challa, and does a fine job of it.

One of the surprising things about Infinity War was Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch. It was a pretty dramatic performance, and she captures the struggle of trying to hide Vision from Thanos so well.

As for Thanos, Josh Brolin as the the Mad Titan is the star of the show, and it's not even close. All we'd seen of Thanos before this was in brief post-credit scenes in the first two Avengers movies, as well as in Guardians of the Galaxy for about 5 minutes. In Infinity War, Brolin lets loose in what has to be one of the best outings of his career. He really makes Thanos seem sympathetic, and at one point, you honestly feel sorry for the guy. Brolin's performance is really something to admire.

The effects of this film still amaze me. As I'm sitting in my seat, I'm just in awe of the scale of this movie. Every shot is just unbelievable to look at. The battle scenes on Wakanda, the throw-down on Titan, and and the shots from the inside of Ebony Maw's ship are the ones that stuck out to me. Not to mention the opening scene on the Asgardian ship, where we're first introduced to Thanos's raw power.

I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like this before. This movie is an instant classic, and I think the only thing that could replicate it is its sequel next year.

I've got to give this movie an A+, there's no getting around it.

I'm now going to dive into the analysis part of this post, so there's some major spoilers ahead. If you haven't seen Infinity War yet, stop reading now.

Analysis

Thanos's power is first realized in the opening scene, where Thor's ship has just been decimated by the Mad Titan himself, with the help of the Children of Thanos. Thor is able to distract Thanos for a bit, allowing Hulk to enter and get some hay-makers in. It turns out, however, that Thanos is just toying with Banner and proceeds to put him down for the count.

Loki's death is probably legitimate, as much as we might hope that it's not. I mean, he got the air choked out of him by Thanos. He's gone.

I was happy to see that Thor and the Guardians meshed pretty well together. The scenes with Rocket, Groot and Thor are some of the best in the whole movie, especially when they travel to see Eitri (Peter Dinklage) for a new weapon. In the scene where Thor has to absorb the power of the star, we are reminded of how powerful he is. Who else in the Marvel universe would've been able to do that and survive?

The shock of the movie for me (other than the ending) was the reveal of Red Skull as the keeper of the Soul Stone. When I saw the cloaked figure emerging from the shadows, I was going through the possibilities in my head as to who it could be. When he took the hood off, I was completely thrown off. After re-watching Captain America: The First Avenger, Red Skull's 'death' is actually him getting sucked into the Tesseract, where he must have been transported Vormir as punishment for his thirst for power. For a refresher, click here. This was a great way to bring a great character back. Red Skull is one of my favorite villains in the MCU, and it was a pleasant surprise to see him return.

Sticking to Vormir, Gamora's death actually makes us feel sorry for Thanos in his quest for the Infinity Stones. He genuinely believes that what he's trying to do is in the best interest of the universe. He believes in it so much, that he's willing to throw his own daughter off of a cliff to get the job done.

One scene that gave me goosebumps was when Thor, Rocket and Groot land on Wakanda. The only thing that could've made it better is if they'd played 'Immigrant Song' by Led Zeppelin like they did in Ragnarok.

Star-Lord's now infamous move against Thanos is something a lot of fans have a problem with. Yes, it was a dumb move to punch Thanos in the face when the gauntlet was nearly off his hand. Still, I understand where Quill is coming from here. He's just learned that his girlfriend (and probably soon-to-be wife) has been killed. Besides, we knew this trap set by the crew on Titan probably wasn't going to succeed since there's a second movie in the works.

A problem I have with the Wakanda battle is Vision just sitting in the lab. At some point, you've got to get up and get out there. I know he's trying to be noble and have the stone removed from his head, but he's one of the few heroes who can actually do some damage to Thanos and his army. Come on, man.

When Vision is eventually forced to leave the lab, he meets up with Scarlet Witch. When Thanos arrives, he quickly seeks out Vision, but Wanda agrees to destroy the stone, killing Vision. When Thanos is admiring her sacrifice, I knew what he was planning before it happened. He used the Time Stone to reverse her bravery, then pries the stone out of Vision's head, killing him for good. Brutal.

But the story of Infinity War is the final scene. After Thor impales Thanos in the chest, the Titan tells him that he should have aimed for the head, which turns out to be too true. He snaps his fingers and half of the universe disintegrates, including my favorite character, Doctor Strange.

Doctor Strange. We have to trust this guy. After all, he went through millions of scenarios of the fight against Thanos and in the only one where they win, Thanos gets all of the stones. In Strange I trust.

Even though there's a solid chance that they all come back in the sequel, the victims of Thanos's snap will stick with us for the next year. Spider-Man's death was particularly emotional, especially since he fades away in his mentor's hands.

As for the post-credits scene, everyone just got ten times more excited for the Captain Marvel movie. It's things like that that make me truly believe the people at Marvel Studios are geniuses. It'll be interesting to see what kind of role she's going to play in the sequel, and whether or not she's already familiar with Thanos before the events in Infinity War. There's a good chance she is, given that Ronan makes an appearance in her movie.

Infinity War was just off the charts good. Unfortunately, we have to wait a year to see what becomes of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. My guess: another masterpiece is in the works.

Image credits: MovieWeb, Fan Fest, Singapore Online Top Info

YouTube channel: Scopian01