Re: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - (April 27, 2018)
I don't want to rain on the parade here, but count me among those who came away less than impressed. Here's my take, er, rant...
Just too. much. Reminded me of among other things, those last two Matrix movies-just bursting at the seams with over-the-top stunts and scenes that literally have no sense to them. Someone earlier mentioned the "Transformers" messy-action vibe...I got that too, only more so. What was with Stark, Rhodie and Spidey's suits? Sprouting out appendages and armaments from nowhere (where did it all fit in those suits ?!?) just because, well, it looked cool, didn't it? No- it looked ridiculous and slapped one out of the action.
No one really has time to register. Well-known (and fan-favorite) characters are reduced to glorified cameos or in BannerHulk's case, the butt of a long, lame joke. The only character who has any arc to really follow is Thanos- but having him surrounded by whacked-out derivative demon-cliche'd sidekicks who looked more like video game rejects than organic extensions of their environments just kept knocking me out of the movie. Also, his back story had a distracting similarity to an old Star Trek episode "Conscience of the King"-not a bad thing-more of an interesting imspration for the writers than anything.
Some of the effects were stunningly bad, like every scene featuring Banner in the Ironmonger suit. Just awful. There was no gravity in any of the scenes , dramatically or literally. Many looked flat and unfinshed-again, just another major distraction. Just a relentless stream of confusing set pieces culminating in an ending that anyone walking out of the movie has the common sense to realize
will be completely undone in the next movie, probably with a wave of that jewel-encrusted glove
Where's the tension in that? Where's the emotional investment come in? It doesn't.
I'm also stunned that this is from the team that brought us CA:WS. Each successive work from them has become a whiteboard checklist affair, making sure a specific set of beats are hit along with everyone mimicking themselves from earlier, better movies.
There has been a lot of chatter in here about how awful DC movies are...and yes, Marvel has for the most part, had a better handle on making these movies work...but tonight as I watched IW, I couldn't help thinking about the Snyder movies and how sad it was that the WB brass didn't have the balls to just let him finish the slate of films he was working on. Justice League was hampered by Wheadon's studio-mandated push to make it like the Avengers, blunting it's edge and making it just a by-the-numbers affair that even the cast's charisma couldn't overcome. And that's exactly what I felt watching IW. Maybe the story was big enough for three movies, each with a focus on a smaller set of characters instead of everything at once. I like the Snyder DC films (I don't consider JL one) and I like many of the Marvel entries.
This one just got too big and ended up unfocused and sloppy as a result. It will be interesting to see if it ends up with legs or disappears quick. The full-house audience I saw it with this evening offered a few claps at the end, but mostly stunned silence.
We'll see how it plays out, but...a thumbs down from me.
Okay- ready for my roasting