Avengers: Infinity Wars Review
May. 6th, 2018 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI enjoyed it.
Great
+ The humour was great and really well used. There were a lot of laughs in my theatre but it never felt like too much.
+ Tony/Peter was amazing and everything about their relationship is delightful. I adored them so much. Peter showing up to save Tony in the park was great. I love that Tony had a new set of nanotech armour for Peter all ready to go. I love that Tony tried to send Peter back to Earth. Tony being exasperated with Peter’s pop culture references. That little moment at the end when it was Peter helping Tony stand. I particularly loved how Tony was treating Peter like a junior Avenger even before knighting him (cute!). Tony quickly telling Peter what was going on in the park (progress!) and then trusting him by sending him to rescue Strange was great. So was Tony getting over his initial anger at Peter being on the ship and asking him what they should do about Strange’s capture and then actually going with Peter’s plan.
+ Tony/Strange was surprisingly great. I loved them. I love that they immediately clashed, as expected with that much snarky ego and arrogance between them, but then they also worked really well together, even when they disagreed. The Wink and Tony’s little smirk at it! Strange helping Tony up and Tony telling him “I owe you one”, and the way they kept holding onto each other long past the point they needed to. Tony’s concern and leaping forward to catch Strange after he stopped using the Time Stone, and that he apparently kept his hand on Strange’s arm the entire time. I know it was part of the one win but Strange exchanging the Time Stone for Tony’s life was great.
+ Thor was amazing. I loved every minute of his screen time. His interactions with the Guardians, the way he kept moving forward even under the weight of all he’d lost, him taking the full force of a star – all great.
+ Thor and Rocket were the most unexpected team-up and I loved them. I love that Thor looked at the Guardians and decided Rocket was clearly the leader. I adored Thor calling Rocket ‘Rabbit’ and Rocket being completely befuddled about how to react. Usually when people calls him by other names they mean it derogatorily and he knows how to react to that but Thor doesn’t have any derision in his tone and he just doesn’t know what to do with that. It’s great. I loved Rocket sympathising with Thor and talking to him about his feelings and try to help a clearly sad Thor.
+ "Loki Odinson" Aw. I loved everything we did get of Loki and Loki/Thor. Loki breaking because of Thor and giving up the Tesseract, Thor’s scream as Thanos kills Loki and Loki’s defiance as he dies, and then Thor desperately crawling to Loki’s body and collapsing on it was heartbreaking. So deliciously angsty! If only I was sure that Loki would be back.
+ Tony/Pepper ♥ I was so happy to see her and to see them happy and together. They go running together and Tony wants a kid and they’re all loving!
+ The Tony/Bruce hug and reunion was perfect. I love how Bruce just walked into Tony's arms like he was coming home. I loved Tony telling him that he missed him. The looks on their faces! So great.
+ I really wanted a Bruce/Pepper scene and while we didn't entirely get that I am so starved for anything about them that the fact that he said her name and that she was obviously really concerned for him made me pleased. It was like 10 seconds of non-interaction and it confirmed for me that during the time he lived in the tower between Avengers and Age of Ultron he and Pepper became friends. It made me ridiculously happy just for it to be confirmed on screen that they knew each other.)
+ Bruce’s confusion that The Avengers broke up ‘like a band’, heh.
+ ”Dude you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards.” LOL! But I love that Tony immediately follows it up with reassuring Bruce that it's alright that Hulk won't come out and then making sure he'll be safe by asking Wong to watch over him. This movie really brought back my Tony/Bruce love. Bruce running up to him in the park to question how the was going amused me a lot and then Tony saved Bruce which was also great.
+ LOVE the new nanotech suit! And all of Tony’s fun new weapons.
+ "Wong gets an invitation to my wedding!" LOL. If we get to see that wedding he'd better be there.
+ Mantis’s ‘mean’ face, LOL. I missed it the first time but it was an adorable little background moment. She had a couple of those. Like her jumping around on Titan.
+ Sullen teenage Groot and his interactions with the rest of the Guardians were pretty fun. [But I do miss baby Groot.]
+ ”It’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel.” Hee. Drax thirst for Thor is a delight. I feel you dude!
+ ”Families can be tough.” Oh man, Thor’s whole little speech about family to Gamora was delightful. I love that he immediately offered her empathy when he learned she was Thanos’s daughter instead of anger like everyone was expecting, and then shared his own family issues. It was so perfectly him. I love Thor.
+ Quill’s jealousy of Thor and attempts to one-up and imitate him was amusing.
+ Steve calling the Avengers compound 'home', awwww.
+ ‘Invisible’ Drax watching Gamora/Peter and eating chips, lol.
+ Oh, Gamora. Her grief when she thought she killed Thanos, the relief that was mixed up in it. How affected she was but how it was still only a piece of the rage and hatred she feels towards Thanos. I really liked that they made her emotions so complicated but still didn’t have her understanding or forgiving towards him.
+ Quill actually fulfilling his promise to Gamora and pulling the trigger surprised me and made me think better of him. (Thanos too apparently, lol.) I liked it because even though he didn’t know why Gamora wanted him to do it he trusted her, he made a promise to her and he kept it. It was really interesting when you compare it to the other sacrifices or refusals to sacrifice in the movie.
+ I loved Steve calling Tony “Earth’s best defender”. Also I liked how unapologetic he was to Ross.
+ The Cloak of Levitation continues to be great. I love that it’s very much a character with a personality. It had so many great reactions. I loved it’s protectiveness of Strange, and that it playing a part in the final fight against Thanos. Pretty worried about it, tbh. More so than a bunch of actual characters. Did it turn to dust like everyone else? Can the Cloak show up in the next movie beat-up but angry and still kicking? Tony can pull off a Cloak!
+ I loved Peter’s “if anything it’s your fault I’m here” and the reactions to that. The Cloak reacting in the background – clearly sympathetic to Tony at Peter’s everything and then it’s ‘oh no he didn’t’ was hilarious.
+ Peter trying to introduce himself to the Cloak – aww, also hee.
+ Peter's new suit having spider legs was awesome. I hope we get to see a lot more of them.
+ “Oh, we’re using made up names” – Peter. Heeee. I love Peter. He’s adorable.
+ I love that Gamora give up the Soul Stone to save Nebula and that little moment where she cups her cheek.
+ ”I could lose a lot.” :( And then Rocket ends the movie having lost pretty much everyone, Groot dying in front of him.
+ Tony/Strange/Peter vs Guardians was very fun. Drax brought so much humour to that scene - being taken out by the Cloak and then his "why is Gamora" - LMAO.
+ Peter’s expression when Quill says that Thor’s not that good looking – LOL.
+ I found it fun watching Tony having to be the serious adult and being very annoyed by it.
+ Tony’s long pause and deep sigh after Mantis’s “kick names, take ass” made me laugh. Poor Tony. Hee.
+ Red Skull was probably the biggest shock actually. I never would have thought he'd be in this and yet he was used really well. It makes no sense but it’s magic space stones, so whatever. I liked that his story was tied up.
+ Rhodey trolling Bruce with the whole bowing thing, hee.
+ Okoye's expression when Bruce face-planted, ha.
+ I loved Groot using his arm to make a handle for Thor’s new hammer in order to save Thor’s life.
+ Thor’s arrival in Wakanda was brilliant. I love the lightning power. Possibly the best single moment of the movie.
+ The Thanos vs Avengers + Guardians fight was excellent. Really enjoyed it. Loved Strange using his powers with the others. They actually did a great job with the teamwork and might even have succeeded.
+ Loved Peter saving Mantis. Those spider legs are so cool!
+ Bucky and Rocket were super fun. Bucky just casually accepting the fact that there is a talking raccoon with a shotgun is great. I loved Bucky picking Rocket up and swinging him around. I loved Rocket coveting Bucky's new arm. Want more of them.
+ "I am Groot" / "I am Steve Rogers." Adorable! I love how sincere Steve was.
+ I liked Shuri continuing to work even as they were being attacked.
+ Wanda saving Natasha and Okoye was great. ”She’s not alone.” was a great moment and I loved the Natasha/Okoye/Wanda team-up.
+ I liked Bruce deciding that he'd just do it himself if Hulk wouldn't - and then he did! That was a great moment for him.
+ I loved Peter saving the Guardians from floating away and his apology for not knowing their names.
+ Loved the fight between Thanos and Strange and the fight between Thanos and Tony.
+ Tony getting stabbed was such an OMG moment. I was so worried he was going to die.
+ The final moments between Vision and Wanda, and him begging her to destroy the stone, was really well done.
+ Everyone dissolving into dust – wow. Peter’s death, and him literally turning to dust in Tony’s arms, was the most painful. Ouch. Then Rocket watching Groot die in front of him. And por Okoye!
+ I’m so happy Nebula survived. I hope Avengers 4 gives us some of her and Tony’s journey back to Earth because I am so freaking excited by the idea of Tony&Nebula becoming BFFs.
+ Love that we got to see Fury and Maria even if it was only to see them dissolve into dust.
Other
+ Weirdly I thought there should have been more actual deaths. Heimdell, Loki, Gamora and Vision were the only named characters who died on screen and considering just how terrible the situation was I really feel like there should have been more. At least one of the heroes on Titan should have died. We should have seen a couple deaths in Wakanda. And then hit us with erasing even more people from existence.
+ I’m glad that Loki died as a hero but there is no way him stabbing Thanos would have worked and he had to know it wouldn’t work. It makes me wonder if he had some sort of plan there other than dying? During the Hulk/Thanos fight he completely disappeared only to reappear as Thanos was leaving in order to do his doomed attack and that is really suspicious to me. Thor was hanging around post fight but Loki was gone until choosing to show himself. So why attack when it's so clearly never going to work? It doesn't make sense to me as something Loki would do. He could have waited until Thanos was gone, freed Thor and moved on from there. No, there's something more going on here. Despite Thanos's rather on the nose "no resurrections this time" I'm pretty sure that Loki will be coming back. He's a trickster god, the god of mischief, it is totally in his wheelhouse! I’m not delusional! Mt straw grasping is completely logical! Also! Loki told Thor “the sun will shine on us again”, so yeah. Totally coming back.
+ Bruce was... different? He felt off. The fact that I haven’t seen Ragnarok yet likely doesn’t help. It’s been a couple years for him since Age of Ultron so things have obviously changed but still… I don’t know how much I actually like new Bruce. He was used much more as comic relief and some of it worked and some of it didn’t. I think it would have worked more for me if it hadn’t been such a constant thing this movie. He also came off rather broken, in a way? Hesitant. Defeated by life, by his experiences during his time off Earth? It definitely felt like “I’m always angry” is no longer true. The edge of darkness that I got from the character in the first two Avengers movies seemed completely gone in this one which makes me unhappy. Overall, I’m really not sure how I feel about this version of Bruce. I miss the old one. It’s made me a little less excited about seeing Ragnarok.
+ So... I have to admit that while I still adore Tony/Pepper (OTP!) I am not a fan of how she’s been used after the Iron Man movies. Post-IM3 Pepper stops being a character in her own right and the movies use her only as needed to further Tony’s story. Avengers 2 they’re fine, Civil War they’re suddenly ‘on a break’ because Pepper is back to being anti-superheroing but in reality because the movie needed Tony to be really alone and in his worst place for that final confrontation with Steve/Bucky. They’re back together in Homecoming and still together in Infinity War – except Pepper is still not happy about the superheroing and telling him to stop it -- even though she got back together with him knowing he was still Iron Man. Presumable as lead up to Tony making the decision to give up the mantle of Iron Man in Avengers 4. He needs a reason to do it, Pepper is right there not having liked it in the Iron Man movies so why not lean on that as the reason. Because it’s not about Pepper, the people in charge don’t care about her as a character, it’s about furthering Tony’s story whether it makes any sense for her, and I am feeling so aggravated about. SO. AGGRAVATED.
My take away from Iron Man 3 was that Pepper had made her peace with Tony as Iron Man. Her dissatisfaction in that movie wasn’t about Tony being Iron Man it was about Tony hiding his trauma by throwing himself into building dozens of suits and obsessing instead of dealing with it. Him destroying them at the end symbolised that he was ready to deal with his trauma and that he was moving on. Not that he was no longer going to be Iron Man. To me it seemed like Pepper understood better Tony’s desire to be Iron Man and accepted it. Avengers 2 maintained the status quo. Then suddenly in Civil War they were on a break because Pepper couldn’t deal with Tony as Iron Man? Then just as suddenly and with no explanation they were back together (and getting engaged) at the end of Homecoming – while Tony was still acting as Iron Man because ??? And now we have them happily engaged…. except Pepper is still apparently bringing up her dislike of him being Iron Man, even though she agreed to marry him knowing that he was staying Iron Man. >:( I’m not happy about this. Pepper deserves better than this.
That final Pepper/Tony call on the ship where she demands that he “come back here right now” bothered me so much. Her having flashbacks to Avengers 1 and the nuke makes sense but, ugh. I’m just really not happy with the direction they went in for her. I will always regret and think wistfully on Extremis!Pepper and what could have been. They did an entire superhero origin story right along with Tony's! Whyyyy couldn't they have leaned into that?
+ Quill losing it on Thanos when he learned about Gamora’s death and subsequently ruining the plan was absolutely the stupidest move he could have made, was absolutely infuriating to watch and was also absolutely in character. This is the dude where upon learning that Ego killed his mother immediately shot him without a thought! This is absolutely what he does.
+ ”We don’t trade lives.” Ehhh, except the hundreds in Wakanda being used to protect Vision and the untold trillions at risk if Thanos succeeds. Steve never did answer why it was okay for him to sacrifice himself but it wasn’t okay for Vision to make the same choice.
+ Wanda/Vision worked much better for me here than in Civil War but I still don’t really care about them. They were fine? I felt bad for Wanda. But meh.
+ Vision felt very de-powered.
+ Wong cutting off the bad guy's lower arm with a portal makes me wonder why they didn't do that to Thanos. Strange didn’t even consider the possibility! I mean, honestly. It bothered me even more than Thor not taking the head shot at the end. He literally cut off an arm! Do that! Or cut off his arm some other way instead of trying to remove the glove. Is his arm invulnerable in some way?
+ It took Gamora way too long to realise what was happening. That she even needed Red Skull to point out that Thanos’s tears we’re for her. I also wish her death had been filmed more about her than about Thanos’s feelings.
+ For as much as I liked the women teaming up I wish that Okoye had had a bigger role in the fight, that the fight itself had been longer and I was a little annoyed that, of course, the lone female bad guy ends up fighting the three female heroes.
+ Why didn’t the Wakandan’s use their really neat planes or the cool remote technology they have?
+ I realize that they don’t want to add more characters, especially new ones (A+ choice), to an already overfull movie but I wish instead of the Avengers being so reduced Tony had found a couple newbies to go along with Rhodey and Vision, and created a new team post-Civil War.
+ I’m disappointed that the movies never did anything more with the Vision & Tony relationship. I was hoping for something in this movie but alas. He didn’t even react to Tony being missing.
+ I’m not a fan that they skipped the Guardians/Thor introductions. It wasn’t really necessary so I get why they skipped that part but I wanted to see it.
+ I want to know how Thanos knows Tony's name. Is it just that Loki told him during The Avengers all about the enemies he was facing? That seems the most obvious and yet still something about how he said it felt like there was more to it. “Cursed with knowledge”, hmm.
+ Why did Peter last so much longer than literally ever other character as he turned to dust?
+ I'm annoyed by Rhodey apparently regretting signing the Accords. He was very clear in why he was for them and even after the accident he didn't regret it. So him suddenly doing so and having Team Cap be right by making the Accords all about Ross/US government management (?), in order to apparently sweep the entire thing under the rug, they are really cheapening what happened in Civil War for me.
Great
+ The humour was great and really well used. There were a lot of laughs in my theatre but it never felt like too much.
+ Tony/Peter was amazing and everything about their relationship is delightful. I adored them so much. Peter showing up to save Tony in the park was great. I love that Tony had a new set of nanotech armour for Peter all ready to go. I love that Tony tried to send Peter back to Earth. Tony being exasperated with Peter’s pop culture references. That little moment at the end when it was Peter helping Tony stand. I particularly loved how Tony was treating Peter like a junior Avenger even before knighting him (cute!). Tony quickly telling Peter what was going on in the park (progress!) and then trusting him by sending him to rescue Strange was great. So was Tony getting over his initial anger at Peter being on the ship and asking him what they should do about Strange’s capture and then actually going with Peter’s plan.
+ Tony/Strange was surprisingly great. I loved them. I love that they immediately clashed, as expected with that much snarky ego and arrogance between them, but then they also worked really well together, even when they disagreed. The Wink and Tony’s little smirk at it! Strange helping Tony up and Tony telling him “I owe you one”, and the way they kept holding onto each other long past the point they needed to. Tony’s concern and leaping forward to catch Strange after he stopped using the Time Stone, and that he apparently kept his hand on Strange’s arm the entire time. I know it was part of the one win but Strange exchanging the Time Stone for Tony’s life was great.
+ Thor was amazing. I loved every minute of his screen time. His interactions with the Guardians, the way he kept moving forward even under the weight of all he’d lost, him taking the full force of a star – all great.
+ Thor and Rocket were the most unexpected team-up and I loved them. I love that Thor looked at the Guardians and decided Rocket was clearly the leader. I adored Thor calling Rocket ‘Rabbit’ and Rocket being completely befuddled about how to react. Usually when people calls him by other names they mean it derogatorily and he knows how to react to that but Thor doesn’t have any derision in his tone and he just doesn’t know what to do with that. It’s great. I loved Rocket sympathising with Thor and talking to him about his feelings and try to help a clearly sad Thor.
+ "Loki Odinson" Aw. I loved everything we did get of Loki and Loki/Thor. Loki breaking because of Thor and giving up the Tesseract, Thor’s scream as Thanos kills Loki and Loki’s defiance as he dies, and then Thor desperately crawling to Loki’s body and collapsing on it was heartbreaking. So deliciously angsty! If only I was sure that Loki would be back.
+ Tony/Pepper ♥ I was so happy to see her and to see them happy and together. They go running together and Tony wants a kid and they’re all loving!
+ The Tony/Bruce hug and reunion was perfect. I love how Bruce just walked into Tony's arms like he was coming home. I loved Tony telling him that he missed him. The looks on their faces! So great.
+ I really wanted a Bruce/Pepper scene and while we didn't entirely get that I am so starved for anything about them that the fact that he said her name and that she was obviously really concerned for him made me pleased. It was like 10 seconds of non-interaction and it confirmed for me that during the time he lived in the tower between Avengers and Age of Ultron he and Pepper became friends. It made me ridiculously happy just for it to be confirmed on screen that they knew each other.)
+ Bruce’s confusion that The Avengers broke up ‘like a band’, heh.
+ ”Dude you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards.” LOL! But I love that Tony immediately follows it up with reassuring Bruce that it's alright that Hulk won't come out and then making sure he'll be safe by asking Wong to watch over him. This movie really brought back my Tony/Bruce love. Bruce running up to him in the park to question how the was going amused me a lot and then Tony saved Bruce which was also great.
+ LOVE the new nanotech suit! And all of Tony’s fun new weapons.
+ "Wong gets an invitation to my wedding!" LOL. If we get to see that wedding he'd better be there.
+ Mantis’s ‘mean’ face, LOL. I missed it the first time but it was an adorable little background moment. She had a couple of those. Like her jumping around on Titan.
+ Sullen teenage Groot and his interactions with the rest of the Guardians were pretty fun. [But I do miss baby Groot.]
+ ”It’s like a pirate had a baby with an angel.” Hee. Drax thirst for Thor is a delight. I feel you dude!
+ ”Families can be tough.” Oh man, Thor’s whole little speech about family to Gamora was delightful. I love that he immediately offered her empathy when he learned she was Thanos’s daughter instead of anger like everyone was expecting, and then shared his own family issues. It was so perfectly him. I love Thor.
+ Quill’s jealousy of Thor and attempts to one-up and imitate him was amusing.
+ Steve calling the Avengers compound 'home', awwww.
+ ‘Invisible’ Drax watching Gamora/Peter and eating chips, lol.
+ Oh, Gamora. Her grief when she thought she killed Thanos, the relief that was mixed up in it. How affected she was but how it was still only a piece of the rage and hatred she feels towards Thanos. I really liked that they made her emotions so complicated but still didn’t have her understanding or forgiving towards him.
+ Quill actually fulfilling his promise to Gamora and pulling the trigger surprised me and made me think better of him. (Thanos too apparently, lol.) I liked it because even though he didn’t know why Gamora wanted him to do it he trusted her, he made a promise to her and he kept it. It was really interesting when you compare it to the other sacrifices or refusals to sacrifice in the movie.
+ I loved Steve calling Tony “Earth’s best defender”. Also I liked how unapologetic he was to Ross.
+ The Cloak of Levitation continues to be great. I love that it’s very much a character with a personality. It had so many great reactions. I loved it’s protectiveness of Strange, and that it playing a part in the final fight against Thanos. Pretty worried about it, tbh. More so than a bunch of actual characters. Did it turn to dust like everyone else? Can the Cloak show up in the next movie beat-up but angry and still kicking? Tony can pull off a Cloak!
+ I loved Peter’s “if anything it’s your fault I’m here” and the reactions to that. The Cloak reacting in the background – clearly sympathetic to Tony at Peter’s everything and then it’s ‘oh no he didn’t’ was hilarious.
+ Peter trying to introduce himself to the Cloak – aww, also hee.
+ Peter's new suit having spider legs was awesome. I hope we get to see a lot more of them.
+ “Oh, we’re using made up names” – Peter. Heeee. I love Peter. He’s adorable.
+ I love that Gamora give up the Soul Stone to save Nebula and that little moment where she cups her cheek.
+ ”I could lose a lot.” :( And then Rocket ends the movie having lost pretty much everyone, Groot dying in front of him.
+ Tony/Strange/Peter vs Guardians was very fun. Drax brought so much humour to that scene - being taken out by the Cloak and then his "why is Gamora" - LMAO.
+ Peter’s expression when Quill says that Thor’s not that good looking – LOL.
+ I found it fun watching Tony having to be the serious adult and being very annoyed by it.
+ Tony’s long pause and deep sigh after Mantis’s “kick names, take ass” made me laugh. Poor Tony. Hee.
+ Red Skull was probably the biggest shock actually. I never would have thought he'd be in this and yet he was used really well. It makes no sense but it’s magic space stones, so whatever. I liked that his story was tied up.
+ Rhodey trolling Bruce with the whole bowing thing, hee.
+ Okoye's expression when Bruce face-planted, ha.
+ I loved Groot using his arm to make a handle for Thor’s new hammer in order to save Thor’s life.
+ Thor’s arrival in Wakanda was brilliant. I love the lightning power. Possibly the best single moment of the movie.
+ The Thanos vs Avengers + Guardians fight was excellent. Really enjoyed it. Loved Strange using his powers with the others. They actually did a great job with the teamwork and might even have succeeded.
+ Loved Peter saving Mantis. Those spider legs are so cool!
+ Bucky and Rocket were super fun. Bucky just casually accepting the fact that there is a talking raccoon with a shotgun is great. I loved Bucky picking Rocket up and swinging him around. I loved Rocket coveting Bucky's new arm. Want more of them.
+ "I am Groot" / "I am Steve Rogers." Adorable! I love how sincere Steve was.
+ I liked Shuri continuing to work even as they were being attacked.
+ Wanda saving Natasha and Okoye was great. ”She’s not alone.” was a great moment and I loved the Natasha/Okoye/Wanda team-up.
+ I liked Bruce deciding that he'd just do it himself if Hulk wouldn't - and then he did! That was a great moment for him.
+ I loved Peter saving the Guardians from floating away and his apology for not knowing their names.
+ Loved the fight between Thanos and Strange and the fight between Thanos and Tony.
+ Tony getting stabbed was such an OMG moment. I was so worried he was going to die.
+ The final moments between Vision and Wanda, and him begging her to destroy the stone, was really well done.
+ Everyone dissolving into dust – wow. Peter’s death, and him literally turning to dust in Tony’s arms, was the most painful. Ouch. Then Rocket watching Groot die in front of him. And por Okoye!
+ I’m so happy Nebula survived. I hope Avengers 4 gives us some of her and Tony’s journey back to Earth because I am so freaking excited by the idea of Tony&Nebula becoming BFFs.
+ Love that we got to see Fury and Maria even if it was only to see them dissolve into dust.
Other
+ Weirdly I thought there should have been more actual deaths. Heimdell, Loki, Gamora and Vision were the only named characters who died on screen and considering just how terrible the situation was I really feel like there should have been more. At least one of the heroes on Titan should have died. We should have seen a couple deaths in Wakanda. And then hit us with erasing even more people from existence.
+ I’m glad that Loki died as a hero but there is no way him stabbing Thanos would have worked and he had to know it wouldn’t work. It makes me wonder if he had some sort of plan there other than dying? During the Hulk/Thanos fight he completely disappeared only to reappear as Thanos was leaving in order to do his doomed attack and that is really suspicious to me. Thor was hanging around post fight but Loki was gone until choosing to show himself. So why attack when it's so clearly never going to work? It doesn't make sense to me as something Loki would do. He could have waited until Thanos was gone, freed Thor and moved on from there. No, there's something more going on here. Despite Thanos's rather on the nose "no resurrections this time" I'm pretty sure that Loki will be coming back. He's a trickster god, the god of mischief, it is totally in his wheelhouse! I’m not delusional! Mt straw grasping is completely logical! Also! Loki told Thor “the sun will shine on us again”, so yeah. Totally coming back.
+ Bruce was... different? He felt off. The fact that I haven’t seen Ragnarok yet likely doesn’t help. It’s been a couple years for him since Age of Ultron so things have obviously changed but still… I don’t know how much I actually like new Bruce. He was used much more as comic relief and some of it worked and some of it didn’t. I think it would have worked more for me if it hadn’t been such a constant thing this movie. He also came off rather broken, in a way? Hesitant. Defeated by life, by his experiences during his time off Earth? It definitely felt like “I’m always angry” is no longer true. The edge of darkness that I got from the character in the first two Avengers movies seemed completely gone in this one which makes me unhappy. Overall, I’m really not sure how I feel about this version of Bruce. I miss the old one. It’s made me a little less excited about seeing Ragnarok.
+ So... I have to admit that while I still adore Tony/Pepper (OTP!) I am not a fan of how she’s been used after the Iron Man movies. Post-IM3 Pepper stops being a character in her own right and the movies use her only as needed to further Tony’s story. Avengers 2 they’re fine, Civil War they’re suddenly ‘on a break’ because Pepper is back to being anti-superheroing but in reality because the movie needed Tony to be really alone and in his worst place for that final confrontation with Steve/Bucky. They’re back together in Homecoming and still together in Infinity War – except Pepper is still not happy about the superheroing and telling him to stop it -- even though she got back together with him knowing he was still Iron Man. Presumable as lead up to Tony making the decision to give up the mantle of Iron Man in Avengers 4. He needs a reason to do it, Pepper is right there not having liked it in the Iron Man movies so why not lean on that as the reason. Because it’s not about Pepper, the people in charge don’t care about her as a character, it’s about furthering Tony’s story whether it makes any sense for her, and I am feeling so aggravated about. SO. AGGRAVATED.
My take away from Iron Man 3 was that Pepper had made her peace with Tony as Iron Man. Her dissatisfaction in that movie wasn’t about Tony being Iron Man it was about Tony hiding his trauma by throwing himself into building dozens of suits and obsessing instead of dealing with it. Him destroying them at the end symbolised that he was ready to deal with his trauma and that he was moving on. Not that he was no longer going to be Iron Man. To me it seemed like Pepper understood better Tony’s desire to be Iron Man and accepted it. Avengers 2 maintained the status quo. Then suddenly in Civil War they were on a break because Pepper couldn’t deal with Tony as Iron Man? Then just as suddenly and with no explanation they were back together (and getting engaged) at the end of Homecoming – while Tony was still acting as Iron Man because ??? And now we have them happily engaged…. except Pepper is still apparently bringing up her dislike of him being Iron Man, even though she agreed to marry him knowing that he was staying Iron Man. >:( I’m not happy about this. Pepper deserves better than this.
That final Pepper/Tony call on the ship where she demands that he “come back here right now” bothered me so much. Her having flashbacks to Avengers 1 and the nuke makes sense but, ugh. I’m just really not happy with the direction they went in for her. I will always regret and think wistfully on Extremis!Pepper and what could have been. They did an entire superhero origin story right along with Tony's! Whyyyy couldn't they have leaned into that?
+ Quill losing it on Thanos when he learned about Gamora’s death and subsequently ruining the plan was absolutely the stupidest move he could have made, was absolutely infuriating to watch and was also absolutely in character. This is the dude where upon learning that Ego killed his mother immediately shot him without a thought! This is absolutely what he does.
+ ”We don’t trade lives.” Ehhh, except the hundreds in Wakanda being used to protect Vision and the untold trillions at risk if Thanos succeeds. Steve never did answer why it was okay for him to sacrifice himself but it wasn’t okay for Vision to make the same choice.
+ Wanda/Vision worked much better for me here than in Civil War but I still don’t really care about them. They were fine? I felt bad for Wanda. But meh.
+ Vision felt very de-powered.
+ Wong cutting off the bad guy's lower arm with a portal makes me wonder why they didn't do that to Thanos. Strange didn’t even consider the possibility! I mean, honestly. It bothered me even more than Thor not taking the head shot at the end. He literally cut off an arm! Do that! Or cut off his arm some other way instead of trying to remove the glove. Is his arm invulnerable in some way?
+ It took Gamora way too long to realise what was happening. That she even needed Red Skull to point out that Thanos’s tears we’re for her. I also wish her death had been filmed more about her than about Thanos’s feelings.
+ For as much as I liked the women teaming up I wish that Okoye had had a bigger role in the fight, that the fight itself had been longer and I was a little annoyed that, of course, the lone female bad guy ends up fighting the three female heroes.
+ Why didn’t the Wakandan’s use their really neat planes or the cool remote technology they have?
+ I realize that they don’t want to add more characters, especially new ones (A+ choice), to an already overfull movie but I wish instead of the Avengers being so reduced Tony had found a couple newbies to go along with Rhodey and Vision, and created a new team post-Civil War.
+ I’m disappointed that the movies never did anything more with the Vision & Tony relationship. I was hoping for something in this movie but alas. He didn’t even react to Tony being missing.
+ I’m not a fan that they skipped the Guardians/Thor introductions. It wasn’t really necessary so I get why they skipped that part but I wanted to see it.
+ I want to know how Thanos knows Tony's name. Is it just that Loki told him during The Avengers all about the enemies he was facing? That seems the most obvious and yet still something about how he said it felt like there was more to it. “Cursed with knowledge”, hmm.
+ Why did Peter last so much longer than literally ever other character as he turned to dust?
+ I'm annoyed by Rhodey apparently regretting signing the Accords. He was very clear in why he was for them and even after the accident he didn't regret it. So him suddenly doing so and having Team Cap be right by making the Accords all about Ross/US government management (?), in order to apparently sweep the entire thing under the rug, they are really cheapening what happened in Civil War for me.
