saw Infinity War [spoilers beneath the cut]

[tielan]

And I'm impressed...

I was expecting the ending with Thanos triumphant, although everyone refusing to be even the vaguest bit utilitarian (and both Quill and Wanda finding their gumption but too late) kind of annoyed me. I am that person who would kill someone I loved to save the universe. But I acknowledge that I am not like most people.

Of course, once Thanos did his thing, I was hoping against hope that Maria would survive the post-credits scene - if only so there'd be the possibility of her in Avengers 4. Yeah, no luck there. Also, that scene was put forward as something for Captain Marvel, and I was looking forward to having Maria back. *sulks*

Otherwise...quite a few things I saw in the trailers weren't in the movie - was that just me? I wasn't expecting Team Steve and Team Tony quite so, uh, starkly, but that's where they went. Also, they spent absolutely no time on any of the relationships except Quill/Gamora and Wanda/Vision, and that was mostly because both Gamora and Vision were the sacrifice characters. Steve and Bucky hug, Natasha and Bruce have an awkward reunion (which Sam hangs a lampshade on) but that's about it.

The fanfic engines are revving right now (not just mine, but, really, everyone's) because there's two years to fill in between CW and IW, so all kinds of possibility. And a lot of dead air, because, really, there's just about zero dynamic change between Steve, Nat, Sam, and Wanda, compared to the start of CW. Nobody behaved loverlike, or, really, anything more than friends and colleagues. Honestly, the best 'shippy' moment for me was Strange giving up the Time-gem for Tony's life. Or Tony/Pepper.

And, TBH, that's probably a large part of why I enjoyed it.

In discussion with morbane, she's pointed out that the vanished characters will probably form a significant part of the next film, because they're part of the "reason" that the characters Left Behind are fighting Thanos. So, that's hopeful?

I am slightly annoyed by the complete lack of Valkyrie (although at least she wasn't shown dead...I think?). Okoye's presence was definitely a balm - I love the dynamic between her and T'Challa. For me, it echoes the dynamic between Nat and Steve - that droll vibe that's not quite sibling-ish but is pretty darned close.

Speaking of which Avengers: Left Behind is my new name for either this movie or the next one.

I have more things to think about and comment about, but I don't have a lot of brain right now. If you want to discuss spoilers in the comments, then I don't mind at all. I'd love to have conversations with people about different angles.

Also: when's Captain Marvel actually due to come out?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Nick POV section to write for sharp Evening stars and bright Morning flame (the sedoretu series).

Comments

[kore]

Avengers: Left Behind is my new name for either this movie or the next one

//SHRIEKS

Yeah, I....spoiled myself absolutely for this movie back when people were still insisting the reddit summary was fake, and uh, no. I'll be over here in my post-TWS bubble for like four years and counting now, never underestimate a fangirl's powers of denial.

I think morbane's on the nose and the characters who didn't get a lot of attention in this one will be there for the sequel. Sounds like that's mostly going to be Clint, Ant-Man, maybe the Wasp, Carol Nebula, Rocket, and of course ALSO Thor and Tony and Steve and Bruce! because they're the white guys. Nat will be there too I guess. Like everyone else I thought "the Big Damn Heroes will disappear and the up-and-comers will have to rescue them," but uh, no. Okay then.

What strikes me about this movie -- and no I haven't seen it and I'm not going to -- is how comic-book it is: you have to have seen nearly all the other movies for it to make any sense, even plotwise; it's basically a giant comics event with all the zany pairings and crossover teams; the white dudes are the most important part; and it's All About Thanos. To a degree that kind of squicks me out, really, because I never bought the "it was ALL leading to THANOS" stuff but I guess in the mind of Feige it really was. Which makes me wonder what he thought he was building. The dudes who go on and on about the Thanos stories are even worse than the ones who go on and on about OG Civil War. It obviously strikes some kind of deeply resonant emotional chord in their little psyches and I have no idea what it is.

But like I said elsewhere, if I want to see a giant asshole hell-bent on destroying everything so he can scratch that itch in his jockeys, ALL I HAVE TO DO IS LOOK OUT THE GODDAMN WINDOW. It's not something I want to see as entertainment.

[beatrice_otter]

I, too, am in a firmly post-TWS bubble. Black Panther happened, but that's the only one.

[kore]

YES

Well, I did love GotG, the first one. And the Black Panther parts of CW (Tchalla's arc!). And the Val parts of Ragnarok. But other than that. It was like the team movies especially went down this hole of GLOOOM AND DOOOM, which I suspect was a lot of Whedon's influence. (But Feige also apparently wanted Civil War and Thanos. Who knows.)

(I did also like the party scene in AoU. But that was it for that movie.)

[tielan]

Had the weekend to muse on it (luckily not too much and with a group of women who have marginal interest in this kind of movie) and I think that the Justin Chang article you linked to in your post says it best.

It does all the things a megasuperblockbuster is supposed to do, but lacks the soul and catharsis that the original Avengers movie had. I've been 'hearing' the Avengers theme in my head all weekend - that brassy, hopeful emotional tone that was entirely missing from the end of IW. I think that says a lot about what I missed from this movie.

[kore]

It does all the things a megasuperblockbuster is supposed to do, but lacks the soul and catharsis that the original Avengers movie had. I've been 'hearing' the Avengers theme in my head all weekend - that brassy, hopeful emotional tone that was entirely missing from the end of IW. I think that says a lot about what I missed from this movie.

That's a really great way of putting it, yeah. And this film really is defeatist -- I mean yeah, if it's Thanos's biopic/story/whatever, he wins, end of film. The next film will, apparently literally, be all about reversing it (and won't it be interesting to see if audiences will buy that. Again, literally buy it). But like I was just saying elsewhere, this film shows the gang defeated over and over and over again. Nothing works, and in fact their typical love-saves-us-all/we-don't-bargain-for-lives philosophy not only doesn't work, the writers rig it so that makes Thanos succeed (Gamora trying to save Nebula, Wanda trying to save Vision until too late, Strange trying to save Tony. Altho apparently the theory is Strange has set this all up for Tony to save the day -- bleah).