Avengers: Infinity War

There's is a lot of plot convenience in this movie that persons who are easily peeved by plot-driven stories would find infuriating. I am someone who doesn't like plot-driven stories too. But I forgive Infinity War entirely for one reason: it is one half of a two-part movie. It is designed to be entirely "set-up" because of how Herculean the task of culminating the entire MCU is. So, things have to happen to service the story until we get to the point where the characters can start making agentic choices and acting, instead of simply reacting. Joe and Anthony Russo were smart to split this movie into two volumes, and then make the second volume have its own self-contained story, while being connected to this first as a plot resolution solution. I say this specifically because, outside of Thor, and the Vision-Wanda pairing (in sparse moments), we do not get any deep character moments that reveals a struggle to overcome when the movie slows down. Too many characters to juggle. And so the giant task of this movie to cover for that not only was getting all these characters that have been established in the MCU to meet each other in a way that makes sense (not just to ensure they meet, but in a way that makes sense), it was also ensuring the story's narrative is so tight and pacing is so on point that by the time we do get to the silent moment of the movie, nobody realizes that 2 hours has passed, and then that silent moment delivers like a bang. Boy did they nail it! You know that feeling when you watch a movie and you can just feel it in your bones that a scene is just fluff, or a scene has dragged on too much. You never feel it in this movie for one second! Then, the plot is hole-less. It's an amazing feat to achieve. On this rewatch, I kept trying to intentionally poke holes and see if the movie will crack, but it withstood everything I threw at it. I asked all the questions: "So, nobody in the world is talking about what just happened in New York?" "How is Peter breathing in space?" "How is Bruce going to join this fight seeing as The Hulk has been traumatized by the quickest beat down he's ever received, fresh off being a Sakaaran champion for the Grandmaster for years?" "How did Thanos know the Tesseract was in The Statesman for him to cause all that damage before Loki revealed it?" "How do they involve the Guardians in this movie, seeing that they don't have any Infinity Stone with them?" "How did the Guardians know to go to Titan?" "How will they nerf Vision enough to make this movie not end in 5 minutes?" "How will they explain Clint's absence?" "Why did Thor head to Earth immediately after Nidavellir?" "Why did it take so much time for Thor to join the fight and give the heroes a better winning chance?" "How did Thor move so quickly from Nidavellir to Earth?" All these questions were answered with flying colours! Another beautiful thing about this movie is the way they ensured the characters from different franchises, their dynamic, and even the music that plays when they are on screen remains authentic to their individual DNAs. I did say the movie has few silent moments to show character struggles before the big one at the end. A beautiful way this movie compensated for that was slowing the movie down when characters are meeting each other for the first time. The heart in those moments, and the comedy as well, in between all the fighting, and running, and chasing, worked perfectly. This movie's bold choice in making the villain win so resoundingly not only cements the seriousness of the villain in the mind of the viewers, but goes ahead to ensure you anticipate absolute frustration, depression, and heart-wrenching struggle in the following movie. No cliffhanger can ever create that level of anticipation and desire to find a way to get out of a difficult place in the hearts of audiences. Then, the villain, Thanos. Oh boy, do you understand him! The only one with the will to do the hard thing because he had seen the result of him listening to protests against his suggestion, which suppressed his will, and ended his own planet. The way you wouldn't want to let someone you care about suffer the way you have, that is exactly how Thanos chooses to not let the universe suffer the way his planet did. How do you convince someone like that that his solution is a problem? You don't. This is beyond zeal. It's beyond emotional desire. It's religious for him. The only way is to end him...if you can. One amazing thing the sequel movie does is show that Thanos' convictions, strong as they are, were still a farce. The 2014 Thanos that bombs the Avengers' Compound switched tactics from halving to ending all, and having the universe restart. That is the crack in his conviction. He had lied to himself that it was noble and altruistic, his vision. Nope. At the end, it was about him having his way the way he was prevented from doing so in his planet. At the end, he was still basic. In Infinity War though, you never see the possibility of this crack, not once! His weighty, quotable speeches, and Josh Brolin's electrifying performance doesn't even let you suspect it once! The way Groot is written always makes him so special to these movies. Won't do so much but always knows when to choose his moments and become one of the most pivotal pieces to the story. Imagine playing video games as a teenager all movie and then ending up sacrificing your body for a stranger in distress. Impact! That Thor in Wakanda moment will live on to be one of the best and most cinematic things ever to occur in the MCU. This movie brings up one question: "How do you stop a madman whose ultimate goal makes sense and can be rallied behind, but whose means of executing that goal threatens your very existence and that of others around you?" This is a question we ask everyday of the people in positions of power whose decisions affect the daily lives of the everyday man. When their madness begins, what is your recourse? Will you become an Avenger? Do you have it in you? When it seems like they've definitively overpowered you and won? What is your next course of action? Do you despair? *Marvel Cinematic Multiverse Movies, Ranked* Loss is a powerful motivator. It also inspires a specific type of blindness.