Thor’s New Hammer, Iron Man’s Gundam Suit and Other Great Things In ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

Avengers: Infinity War is far from perfect. But then it could have been worse, like The Matrix: Revolutions or Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Good thing it’s more like Back to the Future II. Someone said it should have been a three-part movie. Well, dude’s got a point. Because the storytelling felt rushed. Me, I only wished it was longer.

Story-wise, Infinity War is coherent, consistent, but also packed to the gills. It’s too compact. Like, it could have used a few more quieter moment to allow the movie (and us) to breathe and give everything on screen and off screen some time to sink in. It could also use a bit more build up, a few more “hanging moments” to let the punches hit the guts and make the surprising turns really “wow!”

But, we can’t have it all, I guess. So let’s just break down the things I like the most about the movie and the things I thought were kinda “meh”. And I’m not gonna complain about all of the deaths being temporary. That’s like complaining that Neo came back to life at the end of The Matrix.

Great:

1) No resurrection this time. How to make a dark Avengers movie? Kill Korg (Taika Waititi) before the movie starts. Y’know, that guy who made that goofy Thor and Hulk movie. Now seriously, that opening sequence is definitely one of the most effective, if not the best, in all Marvel movies. Setting the stakes and the tone early on. Thanos and his death metal band, the Black Order, mean business.

2) Goofy in Knowhere. Thanos knows well his favorite daughter hangs out with disco-loving, galaxy-saving group of oddballs and misfits. Why Thanos didn’t use the Power stone in fighting the Guardians? He probably didn’t want to kill his daughter’s friends. So he tried to be creative and used the Reality stone instead. To make bubbles.

3) Iron Man’s new Gundam suit is the shit. Yes, he looked like a Japanese version of Iron Man in some scenes. And he made awesome weapons from his new nano-tech suit. And he’s the only other Avenger who’s actually able to hurt Thanos.

4) Titan is where it’s at. Seeing Team Titan execute Star-Lord’s brilliant plan is the movie’s certified what-the-fuck moment. I never thought they’d actually go for that. It’s no way more ingenious than Quill’s “dance off” in GotG but it’s up there. Even if they didn’t succeed. Even if Star-Lord f*cked it up. Plus, you have Spider-Man. And Doctor Strange. And Iron Man.

5) Get over the Mjolnir; Stormbreaker is a killer. It was no secret Thor would make a new weapon in this movie. I thought that’s all there is for him in Infinity War. I never expected he would come back late in the game. And score big time! His new Ultimates-inpired look is also awesome. And he’s got his eye back. And his comedic timing’s still intact.

Honorable mention: Captain America’s behind the train entrance; the battle in New York.

Not-So-Great:

1) They hit the fast-forward button on Guardians of the Galaxy. Groot is teenager now and I’m not sure how long it has been since the events in Vol. 2. Suddenly, Peter Quill and Gamora are now together. And while we get that Quill and Rocket still don’t get along like before, we don’t get much about how all of them play Mom and Dad to Groot. And so some of the dramatic moments didn’t have much payoff like in the Guardians movies.

2) Wakanda failed to plan. It’s not really that the heroes failed to plan, it’s that this part of the movie was written poorly. Compared to Team Titan, Team Wakanda suffered from a busy battle sequence that’s heavy on impractical hand-to-hand combat with really nothing new to offer. It’s kind of just there—they’re fighting. Also, their strategy doesn’t make sense. Not referring to Wanda giving them a hand in the battlefield, but to Black Panther and the rest of guys all fighting in the front-line when there should have been someone skilled in hand-to-hand combat left to guard Vision.

3) Team Cap had very little to do. Not even a coordinated attack against Thanos.

4) Thanos’ death metal band the Black Order weren’t memorable enough. Except for Ebony Maw, the other three barely register and I was like “who was that again?” each time they pop up on screen. They’re just there. And too bad they’re all dressed in black, which made it even harder.

5) Occasionally bad CGI, like that scene near the end where Mark Ruffalo’s looking out of that obviously CGI Hulkbuster.