A.
Can't help but feel like I'm shortchanging Black Panther (A-) with that grade, since BP's a tighter, more cohesive film (which I tend to prefer). But the ambition and buildup behind Infinity War counts for a lot.
Unlike you guys, I found the comedy overbearing a few times. The quip that worked best was the Wakandan general very briefly saying she'd hoped that opening the country up would just result in the Olympics and Starbucks and the like, but IMO much of the humor was lengthier and more forced than that.
Thanos is the best MCU villain, even with very little setup (arguably
anti-setup, since an early appearance foreshadowed him "courting Death," meaning the writers must have decided on the change in motivation later). His rather powerful henchmen (as far as I remember) have no setup in the other movies, and most of them seem to simply exist as a "match" for an established hero (brute, wizard, chick with spear). I give them points for never having a hero win a simple boring fight with their counterpart (Hulk loses to power-gem-enchanced Thanos and can't even face the evil brute, the evil wizard appears genuinely more powerful than Dr. Strange, and it takes three heroines to stand up to the henchwoman). For the most part, the henchmen have to be countered by (multiple) differently-powered heros, reinforcing the "team" aspect.
Clickhole wants to make sure you are prepared for the movie.
Not sure the Onion (completely) intended it, but that's biting satire of any media outlet that insist on shoehorning ideological horseshit into every facet of their entertainment coverage. If that were a real article, imagine how hard everyone (except for the most hardcore zealots) would roll their eyes while reading it.
I wonder how this movie would hold up as a standalone feature. It seemed like there was a lot of continuity lockout with all the references to previous installments.
I'm gonna say not well at all. Black Panther is the MCU movie for people who checked out of the MCU long ago (and conversely, BP is fine to skip before IW if you're otherwise caught up). I took a friend who'd stayed away from the MCU since Winter Soldier to Black Panther and he liked it, but wouldn't take him to IW without assigning some homework first.
While he certainly isn't the only black person in the movie, having Heimdall be the first name casualty means this movie did kill the black guy first.
The black guy also died last.
SUBVERTED.
My expectations going in were that Tony Stark was a dead man walking (the character with by far the most past exposure with major potential emotional impact in his death . . . and the most expensive actor), and Spiderman was nigh untouchable (the face of a brand new hero franchise ready to make bank for two studios, and an actor already under contract for six films). So in the moment, I enjoyed both those twists . . .
. . . though after reflecting for a bit, it's kinda cheap. If any death should convince you that the "dissolvings" were done arbitrarily (and will be undone almost as arbitrarily), Spiderman's should. I dunno, maybe it's a good thing to telegraph the eventual reversal by obviously going too far. Tony's recovery is harder to justify . . . he was impaled and then patched up the hole (on only one side?) like it was just a flesh wound. The nano-suit is an upgrade, but this doesn't make sense unless it's sporting Wakandan magic. Is the nano-suit Wakandan? I don't think it is (no glowing blue highlights).
I know I'm mostly complaining but I really had a blast, and there's less to say about what I loved. The imax screening was booked solid, but I'll be seeing it there too as soon as it's less crowded. I wonder if most folks will want to see an ending like that more than once; expect Infinity War's opening weekend to beat Black Panther's, but in subsequent weeks it'll be tough to hold up as well BP has.
Topic: Avengers: Infinity War *Spoilers thread* (Read 4797 times)
