Last night my sons and I went to see the first showing of the long awaited film in our area. We got to the theater an hour early to purchase tickets and were the second group of people in line. The excitement was palpable in the crowd throughout our wait. When the staff allowed us to enter the theater, people were literally running to enter first and grab their favorite seats. But did the film live up to the huge hype? Here is my initial thoughts with a little background first.
As those of you who frequent the blog know, my son Connor is a huge superhero fan. Sure, he might love DC comics, but he has grownup watching and loving the MCU movies. To say, Connor has been waiting for Infinity War his whole life is an understatement, and so he has spent the last month on a huge MCU binge watch. He (and I a good part of the time) have watched the MCU films in order, at least twice with every easter egg sought out and discussed. Every YouTube video about the movie has been watched. Literally, a large portion of his life and ours have been spent preparing for this one, so when we watched the opening scenes take shape before our eyes, we were primed and ready for movie magic with this film.
Sadly, this movie wasn’t magic. Far from it.
Infinity Wars is a solid, entertaining big budget movie. It had all the Marvel superheroes taking part. Thanos was a well constructed, deep villain for the MCU. The film was beautifully rendered overall. The action came fast and furious. The jokes were everywhere. Surprises were very painful and sad at times. And there were even a few twists. But magic . . . no there really wasn’t much of that to be found.
Why do I say that? Simply put: too much going on with too many characters.
Here the directors were juggling dozens of characters. There are several different groups with different plot lines. Sure, Thanos’ quest to get the infinity gems is front and center, but it doesn’t seem like it is the focus, more like it is an explanation for why all these diverse superheroes are running around the cosmos fighting this purple guy with the messed up chin. All of this combining to make the plot lines here a huge tangled mess of meh.
I’m sure some of you are wanting me to back up that last thought with some examples. Well, I’m not, because this isn’t a spoiler review. All I feel comfortable saying is that several of the superhero group here seem contrived, ridiculous and only created so Character A with Group B can get to Planet 12 to meet Character ZZ from Group L for Fight 5. Maybe that conveys how I felt about a lot of this movie.
Now remember I said earlier there were good parts of the movie. I didn’t hate it by any means. Most people looking for a colorful film filled with cool characters, a few laughs, some generic MCU action, and lots of cgi explosions will not find this a waste of their time. Unfortunately, I was hoping for a bit more this time out. Call it superhero fatigue if you’d like, but the Disney formula for Marvel is growing a bit stale at this point.
Even saying that I must admit it is difficult to really judge this film because it is only half a story. Infinity War II could wrap up the story line and bring all this jumbled nonsense into clarity. Then again it might not. And if it doesn’t that would be a shame, since up until 2018 I couldn’t name a Marvel movie which I didn’t enjoy. Now, I’ve sat through yet another formulaic Disney film which felt like it was created by people around a boardroom table.
Am I ready to throw the towel in on the MCU? No. But I seriously hope the next few Marvel movies wow me because I’m beginning to think superhero movies have lost their freshness no matter what Rotten Tomatoes says.
And, before anyone asks, my rating for this one would be 6 stars out of ten. Right below Age of Ultron. (If you are interested to see where that places this film on my list of MCU movies take a look here.)
As for my son Connor, he says he isn’t sure whether he likes this movie it or not. He wants to watch it again before he rates it. The last movie he said that about was Justice League, and after the second viewing he describes it as the worst superhero film he has ever seen.
bookwraiths.com 
Honestly, I felt the formulaic, stale sensation with Marvel since Ant-Man. Superhero movies in general have been wearing on me to the point where they really need a good hook for me to care. This is why I’m not going to bother seeing Infinity War. Well, that and I made my big event predictions, ran them by a friend who saw it, and was then accused of reading spoilers.
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There really wasn’t much surprising about the movie, I agree. Same Disney formulaic story. Forced humor where it didn’t feel right. Hell, even the cgi wasn’t very good at points. Just between you and me, the film really reminded me in a bad way about all the problems with The Phantom Menace. : /
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This is the strangest thing for me and another reason I’m not that much into Marvel now. I’ve seen all of these flaws mentioned in other reviews that still give them 3.5-4 stars. Yet, if an X-Men or D.C. movie did this, they’d be rightfully crucified. It’s hard to get invested in a franchise that seems to have been phoning it in for so long, especially when you can only see 4-5 movies in the theater every year. This one really doesn’t make my list from what I’m seeing.
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Much as I’m eager to say the movie, I’m afraid you addressed my biggest fear – that the huge cast of characters might prove… distracting, for want of a better word.
Thanks for sharing!
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Hopefully you will enjoy it more than I did. 🙂
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Yep, the end of the age of the Superhero movie is within sight. I for one am more than ready.
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I’m starting to agree with that sentiment. Sad as I am to acknowledge it. 😦
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I blame Disney. They “over did” it as a whole and now the butchers bill is about to come due…
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They should end it with a bang: Howard the Duck remake. 😛
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You wait. It’ll probably happen 😦
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Watch them do it and people call it the greatest Marvel movie ever. You know, because it’s always the greatest Marvel movie ever. 😛
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Reblogged this on Archer's Aim and commented:
I had a feeling this was coming for these movies. How long can you destroy everything in sight with constant battles? See the movie review from Bookwraiths.
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I was worried about that. It’s hard to have a character arc with dozens of main characters. I’d still like to see it though.
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I pretty much stopped with superhero movies after Ultron. There was just too much going on. Let’s not even talk about DC movies….hot garbage.
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I’ll be seeing it tomorrow night – culmination of over a decade in the MCU and can’t wait. Will let you know how I feel about the film afterwards. Cheers, booksofbrian
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Saw the movie last night and – call me a fanboy – but I truly, honestly loved it. I had a slightly different take on the experience and will try to post tonight. Hope you’ll give it a look and let me know what you think. Cheers.
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My first review is probably a bit too harsh. My son drug me back yesterday to watch the movie again, and while it still isn’t in my top MCU movies I enjoyed it better the second time. What helped me was going into the theater knowing the film was Thanos’ story.
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Just posted my review. Cheers
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Spot on about this being Thanos’ movie. One thing to think about – there’s an Avengers comic story Arc – and be patient with me as I’m doing this from memory – where the good guys do ultimately rip the Gauntlet from Thanos’ hand. Problem is – Nebula is the one who gets it off Thanos and slips it on – one of the truly unrestrained psychopaths in the MCU. In that Arc, the remaining Avengers actually team up with Thanos to put Nebula down. Thanos is unquestionably evil but the movie gives him a very bent sort of nobility. I’m very much looking forward to Avengers 4 😉
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I was willing to accept your critical review with a grimace (not Grimace) until you ranked it under Age of Ultron. This aggression will not stand, man. I declare a vendetta that will only end when your blog as is dust under my bootheels.
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is as*
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After the second viewing I’d probably put it above Ultron. Vendetta averted. 🙂
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I can live with that. I just really hate Age of Ultron. I rewatched Civil War in anticipation of this one, and it has some great set pieces, but the fact that its mostly driven by Tony Stark’s narcissism kind of ruins it for me. So I put Infinity War above it too (Civil War is really an Avengers movie).
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all in all the film is full of action and managed to attract huge fan followers awaiting for it’s release. Best superhero movie so far.
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Glad you loved it. Honestly I wish I had enjoyed it as much as you.
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Reblogged this on .
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