Review:: Infinity War

Here's my short review: Glad I didn't see it in theaters! After that, Spoiler Alert, (although it's been out so long, I doubt I needed to do that).

So, I just watched Infinity War for the first time on Netflix. I was surprised the camera work from Trent Opaloch wasn't as shakey than the hack job he and the Russo Brothers did on Captain America: Civil War. Also, the sound was infuriating. Ended up having to watch with headphones plugged in. Seemed no matter how loud I cranked it, the sound designers found ways to make the dialogue so low you couldn't hear it. Then when there was music or action it was blaring! Makes no sense at all!

Overall the story was OK. But, I have to admit there were several scenes I felt were plot devices and didn't make logical sense. But, I was no longer reading comics when Infinity War came out. I was honestly thinking Marvel's big build up film was going to be Secret Wars. Infinity Wars seemed more like a way for Disney to wipe the slate clean and create their own Marvel Universe. As I am pretty much sick of super hero films, I will say the action in this was entertaining.

Huge Fails for me were the following:

1. Spiderman's extra Spider legs on the Iron Spider Suit. OK, yeah, sure nano-tech was used in the suit. But, the legs being there kills the way Spider man is supposed to move. Lame! It's obvious whomever designed the suit and the filmmakers, The Russo Brothers never read a Spiderman comic book.

2. Hulk not being Hulk. Just another dumb plot device so Hulk would not go on a rampage and pretty much take over the film. So, the Earth is yet again attacked by aliens, and somehow NOW you can't become Hulk? Lame! Also, Thanos beats the crap out of Hulk in the beginning of the film. And this goes against cannon because the more enraged and hurt Hulk gets the stronger he gets. While their strength is about equal in the Marvel Database, the Gamma Radiation of Bruce Banner would eventually make Hulk stronger than Thanos. Hence, the battle should at least have lasted 10 or so minutes. Thanos kicked his ass quickly for yet another plot device.

3. There was no good reason given for Wakanda to open it's shield. It repelled a huge dropship only minutes before, and those alien soldiers were going to short it out? Total plot device! Should have made Wakanda and their help attack the drone ships and made a few spec ops aliens get inside to go after Vision. Also, during the battle some huge attack vehicles burrow under the shield. Why didn't they do that before?

4. The scene with Thanos and the young Gamora was creepy as Hell given what we know about Hollyweird and the sexual abuse and pedophilia going in the ranks. And also, a kid losing her family and then 1/2 of her people acting as calm as she was made no sense at all.

5. The entire motivation of Thanos wanting to get the Infinity Stones because there wasn't enough to go around and people and planets never seemed to have "full bellies" is lame! Why? Because if you get the Infinity Stones you could snap your fingers and NOT be such a dick! You could get the stones and just make everything peachy groovie for people. Hell, I'd set up an Infinity Gauntlet University and Scholarship Program to help the universe. "Whata got kid? You want to be an architect and make buildings that look like huge mushrooms? Done! Oh you want to play violin? Done! You want to start a boy band? Fuck off! I said HELP the universe! Not drive it nuts!

6. Wooden Acting! Not sure if the stars of this film were contemplating life after Marvel during the shoot, but some of these performances were less than convincing. There were several scenes where the actors seemed to mail it in. Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Don Cheadle, and Gwyneth Paltrow seemed like they couldn't be bothered to act and seemed to be only collecting a paycheck. Luckily the film was carried by Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Josh Brolin, and Zoe Saldana.

The rest of the cast was fine, but didn't really make or break the film.

Again, it was enjoyable. But, I also felt that it's a film where you have to turn off your brain. Couldn't imagine watching it over and over like I do with Buckaroo Banzai, Big Trouble in Little China, or Inception. There are action films that pay off over and over because they hit all the buttons people want when we see a film. With a much higher budget, somehow Infinity War does not hit those buttons.

Suppose the truth is that I have grown tired of super hero films. But, part of the reason I've become tired of them is how the filmmakers seem to take their audience for granted and do not respect our intelligence. And you can see that in this film. One blatant example is when the magic attacks used by Doctor Strange, and his #2 in command wizard, use portholes to cult off the arm of a large angry alien wielding a weapon, Doctor Strange somehow forgets this and doesn't try it on Thanos. Thats just lazy writing. And it assumes the audience was too dumb to ask that question.