…or what comic did THEY read?
I know. I know. I did it again. I am trying my best to keep up with my own challenge. At least I am not a week behind or so. That would be… Well, I wouldn’t even try then.
I know I am late to the party, but I watched Infinity War. This is my little take.
What did I watch?
This was my initial reaction as someone who read the comics, but then, I should know by now the movies are NEVER going to be like the comics, and Stan approved it (RIP). So, I put all my memories of the comics aside and watched it from that point of view.
Characters
For the most part, I had no issues with the ensemble. I still love who they picked for Spidey. Rufalo was still pretty good, but I will go into the issue I had with him in a minute. Witch and Vision were good together. Captain was solid as was Widow and Roady. Tony… well, he was Tony. I still love Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange. (Don’t @ me, bro.). Thor was still good, and so was Loki and Heimdall did not disappoint.
Who they chose as Thanos was on point, but I will get to the major issue and difference with his arc shortly.
The Guardians were still good, and I love how they portrayed a teen Groot and how he helped out Thor.
Issues with characters
This was NOT the time for Banner to have issues with the Hulk. He didn’t have them in the comic and he was a major piece of the puzzle in the fight against Thanos. For Banner and Hulk to have their crisis now was not a good idea. It was funny, but not needed. It felt like they shoe-horned it in there for comedic effect when, in fact, it’s a major arc in the story of Banner and the Hulk.
Thanos… Where do I start? Yes, he is the Mad Titan, but everything he did was not because of the finite resources of the universe. Thanos was ALWAYS doing what he was doing for the love and favor of Death, yes that Death. Remember at the end of the last Avengers when he was told to attack Earth was to “court Death”, and he SMILED? Yeah, that wasn’t because he was hellbent on eradicating half of the population of the universe for the “betterment of the universe”. It was because he had a chance to get Death’s attention. That’s it. That is his motivation in Infinity Gauntlet, the comic series.
In the start of the comic, he already has the fully gemmed gauntlet and has created a floating alter in the sky in tribute to Death. Death and Mephisto are there, and Thanos is having a problem getting her to speak to him. When he’s reminded of why she allowed him to wield the power of the stones, he snapped, and that’s when all hell broke loose.
Creative License
I understand things can’t be exactly like the comics, no matter how much I would like to see that. So on that note, instead of droning on about how they went off the reservation and threw the comics in the garbage, I will note the subtle differences I was okay with in this section, sort of.
Hulk substitute Herald
Or rather Banner. The Silver Surfer couldn’t be the actual herald due to him belonging to Sony; so, they used Banner. Cool, I didn’t mind that at all. As a matter of fact, it was a nice substitution. He arrived on the rainbow bridge and crashed into Strange’s staircase. He conveyed the message and they were off to the races. I get Thanos is a titan and Banner was shaken that Hulk could not beat Thanos, but at NO point in this movie did he finally find his balls and stop panicking. He was the comedy relief, and quite frankly, I hated that. You took a highly intelligent individual and made him a bumbling clown. You’re telling me he wouldn’t be able to figure out how to pilot Tony’s armor? Give me a break.
Guardians and no X-Men
This was another understood substitution. X-Men are not under the Marvel/Disney banner, and thus, they could not be in the movie. I was nervous about this as they played a MAJOR part as well in the comic, but I watched on. The way they met Thor was rather abrupt, interesting, but abrupt. Their splitting up to get a head start on where Thanos was going to be was typical, but it worked. All in all, I would say the substitution was alright. Rocket showed growth from the GotG2 when he took time to talk to Thor about what they were going to do and trying to make Thor think about it. Thor was well done in this instance as well, (SPOILER) as he had literally just lost the whole of his people, including his friend Heimdall and his brother Loki.
The Ironman, the Spider, and the Sorcerer Supreme
I liked the interaction between Tony and Strange. Tony was put off by the fact Strange would do anything to protect the stone in his charge, even if it meant leaving Tony to die, but there are two things I took into consideration here:
1. They had just met. Strange didn’t know him.
2. Strange was thinking about the needs of the many and not the one. (Yes, I know I what I did there. I’m a nerd. Shoot me.)
Spidey was perfect in this act of the movie. As a teen, even though he’s smart, he acts without thinking and then regrets it later. When he and Tony find themselves off world, he he says something simplistic, yet sooooo Spidey. The three worked together well, and their meeting on Titan with the Guardians went as expected, disjointed, chaotic, a real “Who the hell are you?” moment, and I loved it.
Wakanda
You guessed it. This was another change, but one I could live with as they needed a way to keep the last gem from Thanos and not kill Vision. (SPOILER: It didn’t work.) I loved how all the tribes worked together and the fact they used an actual African language (Xhosa).
Thanos’s Motivation
I talked about what his motivation was in the comic. I will now give my two cents on what I thought about the cinematic change to it. It gave him a little more depth than, “Notice me, Senpai.” Although most of us probably still did not agree about his motives in the movie, it did make more sense to change it from the comics. It made him more altruistic and relatable, although he still sounded off his rocker. This was a good way to allude to over population in the world today without beating you over the head with it.
The Visual Effects
These were stunning. From the subtle way they used it for Wanda’s powers to the pulling down of the moon, there were very many well done effects moments in this movie. They worked with the scenes without being the center of the scenes, something other directors need to learn (*cough* Transformers *cough*).
The Snap
This was the moment I waited all movie to see. I knew it was coming from having read the comic books, and would have been highly disappointed if it had NOT happened. In the comic, they just ceased to live, blinking out in an instant. Here, although I was waiting for it, the fading out of existence was cause for a mascara alert, if I wore it. They did it for an emotional moment. If you had watched all the movies to this point, you have favorite characters and those you liked, but not as much as others, but the point is you were invested in the characters on the screen. To have them simply blink out of being would have been jarring, but not as impactful as the slow disintegration of them before your eyes, and don’t get me started on the scene with Spidey and Tony (Marvel, your Dr. Who is showing.).
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this movie and wouldn’t mind seeing it again. I am sure I would probably find things I missed if I did, but I liked the writing, loved the effects, and the story was solid.
Until next time,
Maddy
House of Geek 