Avengers:Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is alike receiving a tight, hard and strong punch from Thanos that sends us comic book nerds right back into our childhood days reminiscing, smelling, touching, sensing, recalling and conclusively realizing all the printed materials we've ever read have evolved into flesh and skin! Not even our wildest dreams hinted this would be a possibility, and here we are, culminating at the peak of 10 years this journey has walked us onto. One thing for sure - this is not going to go the way you think. The mere psychological damage one will definitely experience is of unheard and unspeakable colossal magnitude! No amount of mental preparations will help you to confront this brave, risky, bold, ballsy, tragic and heartbreaking feature never before attempted thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Major concerns going into an ensemble, larger-than-life size scale of a motion picture like this would naturally be, "Is it going to be crowded?", "Will the characters be thrown in like ingredients into a mixture without proper character moments?" or even "The plot is going to be so rushed and hasty, right?". Guess what? Similar worries were raised for the first Avengers in 2012, but just like the accomplishment at that time, Avengers: Infinity War managed to introduce each and every of our beloved characters with calm, composure and steadiness! Good and balanced dosage of time was spent on every single one of them, along with their interpersonal relationships. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) planning for the future, Doctor Strange's (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong's (Benedict Wong) banter, romance surrounding Vision (Paul Bettany) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), a nervous Tony Stark haven't the dimmest clue what moves to make next, Guardians' family repartee plus emotional currency sharing between Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) were reminders that regular human touches didn't go neglected in the pre-production stage. Captain America's (Chris Evans) goosebumps-inducing, surprising and delightful shadow entry at the nick of time for rescue, musical cue suggesting we're about to visit Wakanda next preceding any words uttered, Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) Spidey-sense activation prior to wearing mask on school attire with a little distraction aid from Ned (Jacob Batalon) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) summoned to our planet after being brutally pummeled down by Thanos (Josh Brolin) were fantastic launchpads as well!

Thanos is on his way to collect all six Infinity Stones and wipe out half of the existing Universe in order to rebalance it because of limited resources. Having nearly everyone involved in the picture except for Ant-Man and Hawkeye, the writers had to segregate burdens, screen-time, tasks and step goals on equal proportions for the superheroes to carry out. As a result, we were given 4 plots merging into achieving the one common aim of stopping Thanos. And the way screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely pulled this off was graceful! They paired up personas according to interactions that would sparkle the most dynamics, and oh boy did it pay off! Clashes of ego, words and humor between Stephen Strange and Tony Stark with Peter Parker stuck in the middle were cinematic golden nuggets! Sequences presenting Peter Quill's jealousy over Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) godlike physique including the voice copy was hilarious! Thor's chemistry with Rocket (Bradley Cooper) was fiery, especially whenever the latter's referred to as sweet rabbit! When Rocket strove to console Thor who has pitifully lost everything he has ever had, it was charming and heartwarming. On Earth, we have Bruce Banner meeting Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), uniting with Steve Rogers and the rest after 4 long years! Last but not least, a viscous voyage shouldering emotional conflicts ensued betwixt Thanos and Gamora.

Esteemed screenwriting guru Robert McKee once said: "True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure. The greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature." And that's the exact rule the writers duo have adhered to. Tony Stark choosing to save the universe once again over an official retreat, Peter Quill forced to pull the trigger on Gamora as per promise, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) coerced to open the protective gate up and allow the invaders to enter Wakanda so that he could divert the attention on Vision, Gamora who would rather exterminate herself than succumbing to Thanos' request and genocide wishes, Peter Quill standing between extricating the universe or avenging his girlfriend's death, Doctor Strange surrendering the one thing he sworn to protect in exchange for Tony Stark's life, Thanos reluctantly killing Gamora to fulfill his mission and Scarlet Witch cornered with no choice but to destroy the Mind Stone along with Vision for the greater good in an exceptionally painful episode were expertly crafted arduous decisions our characters had to make. And that's what produced a fantabulous narration! Not to forget, the writers kept in mind which characters haven't met whom yet and played it coherently. Dialogues were wonderful, setups and payoffs were finely startling, expositions were glazed across smoothly without being heavy-handed and Gamora's secret marinated us in mystery for a while. The storyline travelled wrinkleless with very minimal bumps and we were always aware of where the characters were heading and what they were after at all times.

Tony Stark baptizing Peter into an Avenger, stretching his limbs on a Cauldron of Cosmos while listening to Doctor Strange, dealing with the latter's Cloak of Levitation and asking Bruce Banner to turn green without further humiliating him in front of a magician burst our stomachs out of laughter! A terrified Hulk who doesn't want to come out even after being scolded and cursed at by Bruce, Guardians sneakily hiding from Thanos in Knowhere, Steve Rogers greeting Groot (Vin Diesel), Spidey seeking handshake from grumpy cape, facial hair comments flying across from Captain to Thor and vice versa, real guns transforming into bubble-spitting toys, angsty teenage Groot who's always hooked onto video games, Guardians meeting Thor and the conversations among him, Peter Quill and Rocket were uproarious! Certain one-liners such as Okoye (Danai Gurira) asking why Scarlet Witch wasn't in the fight in the first place after seeing her fry the many ground wheels was funny! Yes, admittedly, a portion of the jokes went awkward a tad because of its slightly extended duration, like Drax (Dave Bautista) infiltrating Quill's and Gamora's privacy, Stark's long stare-sigh after talking to the man and Wong inquiring Bruce about his next intentions with the flip phone. The same can be said pertaining to Gamora's murky speech to Thanos that went on for some time shortly before her immolation. Since different characters with drastically variant wavelengths bound to meet and bump into each other, tonal inconsistencies were expected to occur here and there. But, these were minute flaws in a vast ocean like this!

No matter what we talk about, it all boils down to this one particular entity, and his name is Thanos. There was a time Marvel's films were complained of stale color grading. They heard it and fixed it right away starting from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. There was a time the lack of impactful background scores was an issue with these movies, and it immediately got rectified Black Panther onwards. Technical debates aside, the biggest bug has always been the absence of a de règle, formidable villain. Marvel mitigated this with Killmonger in Black Panther, but absolutely nailed it big time with Thanos, a heartless intergalactic despot from Titan who has the unbeatable might and power to rip apart any superhero one throws at him! His commanding dictatorial presence alone was sheer threatening! It flushed surges of tension-boosted chills down everyone's spines! The moment he enters a scene with a prelude quiet wind, you know no one is safe. No one can escape. No one can win. No one can live. If fear has a face, it's Thanos. Such invincibility was brought breathing by amazing penmanship and Josh Brolin's astounding performance! The best antagonist believes he or she is a good person and what they're doing is right. That's precisely the case here. You could clearly see how messed up his mind was yet understand his motivations and where he's coming from. What you call genocide is favor and mercy for him. A vivid backstory highlighting his complex relationship with Gamora since she was adopted as a kid provided us a spectacle to witness what was he like in the past and how his own hometown perished due to overpopulation. His idea and scheme were spelled more comprehensibly via the knife balancing act. Sacrifices were piece of cake for this monster! He's able to mourn in mind for the daughter he murdered himself while simultaneously ensuring his selfish aspirations see the daylight! You could pretty much argue to the point of saying Thanos is the protagonist in Avengers: Infinity War, as the movie told the tale of how he overcame the obstacles hurled at him en route to his goal. That's precisely why he didn't go around simply slaughtering superheroes just for the sake of doing so. His actions were meaningfully necessary with a purpose, and at the end, he ended up with a Negative Character Arc, falling into the oblivion of darkness for achieving the wrong thing. Because of this character, the movie was much darker, matured and eventually rendered the stakes real! The consequences hit us like a bulldozer! From clutching Thor's head and squeezing it like a plush, taking off his helmet and plugging the Space Stone onto his glove, sinking our hearts by stabbing Tony Stark, revitalizing Vision by reversing time using the Time Stone only to pluck the Mind Stone off his forehead and throw him away like a used toilet paper plus snapping his Gauntlet fingers to end half the Universe even after being transpierced and pushed in further by Thor's Stormbreaker were draconianly imposing, scary and intense! Add on with ticking time, deadlines and approaches, the show was an adrenaline highway not recommended for the weak-hearted! As Thanos retired peacefully with a smile under the sunrise after gifting us a devastating torrential loss of characters fading away in the form of dust particles, we wished for the worst to happen to him in the next installment. Oh God, Peter Parker's cry is still audible in our ears!

Please bear in mind that this was an action behemoth machine on loose! Right from the very first battle that took place in the middle of a New York's road, the stunt segments constantly ramped up its notches all the way North! Scotland ambush on Vision, Doctor Strange caught torturously between Ebony Maw's (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) micro surgery needles, Gamora slitting Thanos in an imaginary situation fabricated by the latter's Reality Stone, 4 women brawl, Guardians facing off Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange before teaming up on Thanos beautifully to try removing the Gauntlet, Thor taking in the full force of a dying star, War Machine (Don Cheadle) dropping bombs after bombs, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) holding Rocket as an additional shooter for his vibranium arm, Ebony Maw stacking bricks on Doctor Strange, Thor struggling to keep the rings aligned at Nidavellir for the forging of Stormbreaker maul, Gauntlet absorbing and spitting fire back at Iron Man, Groot inspired to be responsible and takes action by chopping off his arm and complete the new weapon for the God of Thunder's rebirth, Thanos throwing a moon (yes, a freaking moon!) at Tony Stark, Peter Quill raging on Thanos, Doctor Strange's one-to-one standoff with Thanos and the whole goddamn climactic war at Wakanda with swarms of Chitauris hyperswept away by Thor's lightning advent were mind-bogglingly splendiferous! There were a couple of missed opportunities to actually finish off the Black Order members, but when the ripen chance arrived, man was it satisfyingly executed!

Avengers: Infinity War was one of the most expensive motion pictures ever made, and you could see the money onscreen! Picked-apart Nebula (Karen Gillan), hologram meeting, Drax and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) turned into blocks and strips respectively, hypnotic and minimalistic set design for Vormir with lunar eclipse standing behind mist and levitating Red Skull (Ross Marquand) cameoing as stonekeeper, Thor arrested with metal scraps, Doctor Strange's jittering body looking into a million combinations of outcomes, Vision's glitchy suit, enlarged Peter Dinklage as Eitri the Dwarf King, transparent butterflies, multiple reincarnations of Doctor Strange, half-Hulk transformed Bruce collapsing on floor, Wong cutting off Cull Obsidian's (Terry Notary) hand through circles of transportation, debris gathered alike birds, motion capture for the Black Order members and the entire body of work that has gone into creating our cute, squishy purple Thanos were luxurious visual effects riding on premium quality! However, the CGI for Bruce Banner tucked inside Hulkbuster was tacky. Technologies such as Iron Spider Armor with mechanical arms known as Waldoes attaching itself onto fainting Spider-Man, built-in nanotech Iron Man Model Prime Suit unloading with a touch, ground wheels destroying Wakanda and updated Hulkbuster were nothing short of greatness! On a side note, gigantic typography stamped venues and smart censorship such as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) dissolving before blurting the actor's classic "Motherfucker" blended in well with the proceedings, eliminating the need of using any ugly beeps.

Of course, the death toll was high in this one! Loki's (Tom Hiddleston) demise was unexpected, and as soon as it happened in the first few minutes together with Heimdall's (Idris Elba) passing, we knew the movie wasn't fooling around! At least what's admirable regarding a backboneless character like him in the past was, he stuck with his brother throughout here without switching sides, earning our respect in the process. Thanos swapping Gamora for the Soul Stone by murdering her ruthlessly delivered a sharp blow on our guts! With half of the Avengers disintegrated leaving only the original members behind and Nick Fury sending a distress signal to Captain Marvel in the post-credits scene, we'll have to patiently wait and see what's gonna transpire next. This is the godfather of all cliffhangers!

While there's hope Shuri (Letitia Wright) would be able to resurrect Vision using the data she has retrieved and all the powdered characters would return from Soul World in Avengers 4, it's highly likely Gamora, Loki and Heimdall will remain dead. We still need to see Tony and Steve reconciling too! Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, keep calm, pray 2019 to appear tomorrow and be grateful that at the very least, Thor has gotten back an eye! Marvel, as of Avengers: Infinity War, has made their best and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious movie yet, and the only way hereon is up! Dear Earthlings, Thanos demands full participation from us for the most astronomical event in the galaxy this century!