Looking Back at 2010s Films: Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

By Tanner Smith

As much as I would love to talk about “Thor: Ragnarok,” one of my favorite entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I decided to skip over it for two reasons. 1) It’d just be a collection of my favorite scenes that made me laugh and smile (plus an analysis of Bruce Banner aka The Incredible Hulk, who’s put to great use in the flick). 2) “Avengers: Infinity War” sort of varies actions and motivations in “Thor: Ragnarok” rather…pointless–and that’s just within the first 10 minutes! (That’s kind of a bummer.)

But seriously, I love “Thor: Ragnarok.” It’s the “Thor” movie I didn’t know I wanted. There. Review over. Let’s talk about “Avengers: Infinity War.”

I can imagine that in 1980, movie audiences rushed to see “The Empire Strikes Back,” the sequel to one of their favorite movies (“Star Wars”), expecting something just as incredible…and I can also imagine that they were totally scarred by the uncompromising misery brought on by its dark twists and turns.

Well, in 2018, movie audiences felt the exact same thing. We went into “Infinity War,” expecting something big and epic and worthy of something to make us feel great inside…but alas, we left the theater feeling sad and empty and lost. And I’m certain many fanboys (or “fanatics”) retreated to their parents’ basements and sobbed, “WHY, MARVEL, WHY?!”

I may be wrong, but “Avengers: Infinity War” was probably the most hyped mainstream blockbuster since “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” We’ve spent many Marvel movies building up the coming of the otherworldly villain Thanos and these things called the Infinity Stones. Well now, he’s definitely here and he’s trying to get all the Stones so that he can wipe out half the population of the whole galaxy. And not only that–this time, I’m actually interested! I got so tired of the “foreboding” moments that warned us of Thanos; I wanted him to actually do something for once! Well now, he’s been built up so much, I had to wonder what’s so special about him.

As it turns out, Thanos is the best, most complex villain the MCU has to date. As played with incredible motion-capture work by Josh Brolin, he’s always the most interesting person on screen–and that’s saying something, considering we’ve spent several movies with the Avengers themselves! (But don’t worry–the Avengers themselves are still great heroes to follow. A hero’s only as great as their villain, after all.)

As the film begins, Thanos has appeared on Thor and Loki’s ship, destroying everyone on it. (Yeah…”Thor: Ragnarok” was all about saving the people on that ship. See what I mean now?) He beats up the Hulk and sends him down to Earth, where he transforms back into Bruce Banner and warns the Avengers that “Thanos is coming” (for real this time). Thanos is looking for the Infinity Stones so that he can fit them onto the Infinity Gauntlet, which will gain him godlike powers, thus allowing him to fulfill his lifetime goal of wiping out half of all living things. Everyone is called into action: Iron Man, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Hulk, War Machine, Falcon, Black Panther, and yes, the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Stones are spread out throughout the universe, and so, they’re all split into groups to try and gain the upper hand, hoping to track down Thanos and/or each of the Stones before he can grab them.

SO much happens in this two-and-a-half hour long movie, it’s easy to miss something. But that’s not a bad thing–I’m always interested in whatever each group is up to, and whenever it cuts back to one, I’m not wondering why we’re not cutting back to another right away. We’ve spent many movies getting to know the Avengers, and now they’re in the ultimate fight with so much at stake. And they’re up against the ultimate bad guy. This movie’s gonna be awesome!

And a lot of it IS awesome, with intense superhero action and intergalactic battles and battles on land and more! The rest of it is pretty moving, as we see even Thanos has something to lose as well–we don’t condone his actions or his intents at all, but we understand why he wants to do all of this.

So, for about two hours and 10 minutes, we’re enjoying ourselves with this intense, compelling, enjoyable Marvel flick…and then, the ultimate tragedy occurs.

And thus, many children in the audience are scarred for life just as their parents were in 1980.

OK, let me get to one personal gripe: I can’t help but think back to a moment in which Peter Quill aka Starlord clearly had the upper hand and could have managed to stop everything once and for all, but no, his damn ego got in the way AGAIN.

Grrrr…….remember in my “Spider-Man: Homecoming” review, when I talked about how much Tony Stark aka Iron Man learned from his terrible mistakes brought on by his own ego and tried to better himself through his actions for the team (and for Spider-Man, for whom he was a mentor)? Well, the main thing I look forward to in “Guardians of the Galaxy 3” is that Starlord grows the hell up…especially after he returns in “Avengers: Endgame,” he still holds onto his ego!! Seriously, this is getting old. I don’t find it funny or charming anymore–this guy pisses me off just like Iron Man pissed me off long ago. But if Iron Man can change, Starlord can change…maybe.

Whew! Had to get that off my chest. Anyway, “Avengers: Infinity War” was a big movie that paid off. And it gave audiences both what they wanted and what they needed. They wanted a big story with big battles and higher stakes–they got that. They needed something that would make them ponder and think about how they got to the inevitable resolution–they DEFINITELY got that. What could possibly happen with the Avengers in their next movie? We had to wait a whole year to find out!

Would it be worth the wait? Well…I’ll get to “Avengers: Endgame” soon enough.