Tuesday, May 08, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War

This personal review contains mild spoilers.

Over the weekend, my daughter took me to see Avengers: Infinity War. I knew going into it that I might have missed something along the way, because this is the 19th movie in the series leading up to the story. I have seen exactly three of those movies: Iron Man, Thor, and Black Panther. The only one I saw in a theater was Black Panther, so I didn't pay as much attention to the other two on TV, and that was a long time ago.

I read a lot of comic books when I was a kid. I'd get one for 15 cents every week, but I'd also read the ones I didn't buy while Mom shopped for groceries. But they were mostly DC, and Marvel was the "other" comics brand back in the 60s. Not an inferior brand, but one that didn't have their heroes on TV. And I eventually quit reading comic books. So pretty much all I knew about the characters going in was what I'd seen on the internet. 

A few months ago, I took a group to see The Last Jedi. I did not know until the movie was over that one young lady had never seen a Star Wars movie until just then. She was totally confused during most of the film, but enjoyed it. I figured that's how I would see Avengers: Infinity War.  

Yes, I spent the entire movie being confused. I gave up trying to figure out the names of the characters. Some surprised me by turning out to be superheroes eventually. What kind of super power does that one have? Who knows? It would have been easier to recognize Captain America if there were any indication in his dress that he was American. Does he have any super powers? I couldn't tell from this movie. When they were fighting (and they were constantly fighting), I had a hard time telling the good guys from the bad guys. Of course, all the in-jokes that referred to previous films went right over my head- and my daughter's, too, since she's only seen about half the movies leading up to this. However, Stan Lee was easy to recognize.

I tried to enjoy it anyway. But the depressing ending kind of ruined the mood. We all know good and well that the dead heroes will not stay dead because they have sequels in the works. But now I feel they were just obligating me to go to the next Avengers film to see how it turns out. The entire MCU appears to be engineered to obligate people to watch other movies. For example, to see the original Avengers movie, you felt obligated to go back and watch the origin movies for all the superheroes who appeared in it. Then for this movie, you should have felt obligated to watch the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Spider-Man movies. And if you had gone back and watched Ant Man, you would have felt silly for doing it because he's not in Avengers: Infinity War. And everyone who sees Avengers: Infinity War is now obligated to watch the sequel for the undoing.

But what if the next Avengers film decides to include the X-Men? That's ten movies, going back to 2000, and three more in the works. No, I'm not going to watch 25 superhero movies to get into the loop. However, the best outcome of watching Avengers: Infinity War is that I really want to watch the Guardians of the Galaxy series now.     

6 comments:

gwdMaine said...

I accept that.

Massimo said...

Hi MissC I found your post very very close to my point of view. I have the same impression too that the superheroes movies are design to force you in watching them all and I don't like that at all. That said, I think this mechanism is the same that worked for the superheroes comics and that's why I never quite got into it. Thanks for sharing that!

Vireya said...

I knew there was a good reason I have avoided every single superhero movie!

Anonymous said...

As someone around your age, I can relate! I don't really have much interest in the comic book heroes, I've watched a few of the movies, but mostly, found them boring. I did enjoy both GOTG movies - the 70s music and esthetic... and Disney boy wonder Kurt Russell in GOTG2! I am sure you will enjoy them too. They have nostalgia and action, and it's a winning combination.

Miss Cellania said...

To be honest, I'm more attracted by the comedy.

iamams said...

The only ones I have watched were Guardians of the Galaxy I and II. Your review makes me want to go see Infinity War just to see why this movie made you want to watch the Guardian movies.