Today we have a guest writer – my hubby! He’s a major Marvel fan and owns every movie to date. Though he doesn’t hesitate to critique when necessary. When I asked him if he’d be interested in writing a review of the new Avengers movie for the blog, just to expand our content a bit, he jumped at the chance. There are some spoilers in the below review, so if you haven’t watched the movie yet and don’t want to know some major details then save this to read later.
Where do I begin? This is the culmination of 10, carefully crafted years and 18 movies of pure Marvel genius. 10 years ago, they put everything on the line, with a little-known B-list Marvel character, portrayed by a washed up, rehabbed actor – Robert Downey Jr. Iron Man was the last chance that Marvel Studios had, in building the cinematic Universe that they dreamt of crafting. All of their money, jobs and livelihoods were dependent on this movie. I think it’s safe to say they hit it out of the park. Little did we know, when the movie ended and the credits had rolled, we would get our first glance at what this world, this Universe could be. “”I am Iron Man”. You think you’re the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, you’ve become part of a bigger universe, you just don’t know it yet.” These words spoken by Nick Fury would echo on for the next 10 years of a carefully planned cinematic universe that would take us on a journey from World War 2 to Asgard, and across the Galaxy with our favorite Guardians, all to lead us to this very moment. The Infinity War.
It is Wednesday May 2nd, at 7pm. Sitting in my seat, heart beating fast, awaiting the culmination of the last 10 years of Marvel movies. The somber Marvel theme comes on the speakers, with the traditional Marvel scroll, appearing on screen. I knew from that moment this movie was going to be different – that this movie was going to go all out and not hold back. The opening voice over, of the Asgardian refugee distress signal, was such a different tone from past Marvel movies – perfect to kick off this Epic story. In the opening minutes of the movie, we immediately see our villain, Thanos, murder Loki and Heimdall, as well as put a beat down on the Hulk. The action did not stop after this first scene, and the movie never slowed down, delivering scene after scene of action, humor and story.
This movie was so well-balanced, managing over 20 characters, a “new” villain and his back story, as well as tying up a lot of loose ends from the previous 18 movies. Fast forward to a little over 2½ hours later and I was left sitting in my seat, with my mind racing, completely blown away. The Russo brothers did it. The tone and the flow of this movie just plain worked, and it really shouldn’t have. It was such a large endeavor to bring all of these characters and their stories into one movie, having so much weight and pressure from the fans and critics to make this work. The Russo brothers handled this Cinematic Universe with such respect, that they were able to make it all work together in this epic film. They crafted such a well-balanced movie, marrying so many different characters, movies, plots and sparks of humor with perfect timing.
We received a villain worthy of beating down our heroes, and coming out victorious. Thanos succeeded, just let that sink in. More than half of our heroes are lost, which leaves the OG Avenger’s cast plus a handful of characters to figure this all out. The dynamic cast that we’ve grown to love and admire, delivered such emotion and such remarkable performances. This is truly a movie worthy of a 10 year build up.
There is so much to discuss about this movie, and so many great moments, that it is hard to capture everything in a reasonable amount of time, so let’s talk about some my favorite scenes from the movie. During the Wakanda battle, when through the crowd of the charging army comes Captain America (or Nomad) and Black Panther – I thought that little extra touch of these two supers sprinting in front of everyone to fight the Outriders was awesome! And let’s talk about the fight scene on Titan. This battle was amazing, but the scenes were absolutely stolen by Doctor Strange. It is so nice to see this new character so powerful in this movie. His visuals in this entire movie were so spectacular – turning a large blast from Thanos into a flurry of butterflies, summoning the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, and splitting himself into multiple versions in an attempt to stop the Mad Titan. This magical side of Marvel needs to be more deeply explored, as this was hands down one of my favorite aspects of the film.
The last scene I want to talk about should be obvious. In the midst of the battle and our heroes getting over run by the Outriders of Thanos, you think hope is about to be lost, and then comes a bright flash of light, the Bifrost! And a super charged King Thor shows up, with his new weapon, Storm Breaker. The lightning and the power from Thor in the scene had the entire crowd in the theater cheering. That was hands down the best entrance in the entire movie. I love that they cut to Bruce in the Hulkbuster giving the line, “You are all screwed now!”. That line captured my emotions perfectly in that moment. This movie truly did all of our hero’s justice and gave us the amazing visual scenes that you would expect to see in a comic book movie.
I cannot give enough praise to Avengers: Infinity War and the job done by the cast, directors, and the crew behind the scenes. I would give this movie two thumbs up, rate it a 9.5 out of 10, and highly recommend it to anyone – comic book fan or not. I think it’s safe to say that this film just became my absolute favorite Marvel movie to date. I cannot wait for next May to see what the Russo brother’s and Marvel Studios have in store for us with the untitled Avengers 4 movie, but I am more than confident that it will not disappoint.
– Cody Petty
If you’ve seen the movie we’d love to hear what you thought in the comments below!
