Went back and watched it a second time tonight, watching for details instead of pure unadulterated joy (the best way to watch an MCU movie), and find some answers to things I thought of reading this discussion.
The “best” villains always are. They offer some measure of profit/pleasure/eternal happiness, if one can only ignore that missing thing - like empathy or genocidal tendencies.
The ending “deaths” didn’t bother me much the first time, but they clobbered me this time around, especially Scarlet Witch, Peter Parker, and Groot. Peter’s and Groot’s deaths were hard both for the aforementioned “scared kid” voice and their innocence. Remember in GotG2, Groot spent the entire movie playing and dancing (except for the whole big button deal). Stark has obviously taken on a father role for Parker, even if he refuses to admit it, and to have him wisp in Tony’s arms has to have a profound emotional impact going forward.
It’s been consistently outrageous for awhile now. Steve Rogers pulled a freaking helicopter out of the sky in Civil War. I just go into every scene assuming every character is as powerful as the others, unless the other is a Bad Guy. They’re invincible without the combined strength of several Supers.
Also, it’s pretty strongly implied that Rogers got some vibranium tech before the big battle, as T’Challa tells someone off-screen to “get this man a shield”.
But Thanos isn’t omniscient, and wasn’t omnipotent until acquiring all the stones. It seemed like the Tesseract and the Time Stone were both located on alternate dimensions until recalled by Loki and Strange, respectively. The Supers greatest strengths (loyalty and love) are also their biggest DUUUUURP weaknesses.
I had the same conversation with a few other people - there’s something like 14 movies just to INTRODUCE the characters in Infinity War, even more for backstory (I think the only one you don’t need is Ant-Man, if you just accept him as a character in Civil War and promptly shunt him aside, as he doesn’t reappear).
The Bifrost sent Hulk back. Then there’s obviously the explanation of Thanos returning - neither Banner nor Strange actually know WHO Thanos is, so I’d wager there is some time passing there, and then the search for Stark. It might not be days, but several hours could have easily passed. If Asgard is close to Earth and the refugees are already halfway there, it’s not so far (on a galactic scale) as it might be.
Thor got his ass kicked the first time around - Rocket touches on this during their conversation.
T - “No one has ever defeated me.”
R - “Thanos did.”
T - “No one has ever defeated me twice.”
Oh, there’s so many interesting ways they could have ended the movie if they wanted a “WTF” audience. The Captain Marvel one was pretty great too, if IW2 wasn’t already filmed.
My thoughts:
Tony Stark is alone on Titan with Nebula, and she’s not exactly the comforting type. He’s spent his entire time knowing Peter Parker keeping him as far from true danger as he could, and had to watch the kid wisp in front of him anyway. That’s gonna mess him up, especially after his whole conversation about kids with Pepper at the start of the movie.
Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Brolin need some awards. They’ll never get them because superhero movie, but they were masterful. Olsen’s lip quiver when Vision finally says “It’s time” is like a gut punch from Thanos. Even with the CGI, Brolin’s portrayal of loss was fantastic. Remember, he lost all of his children in a very short period. Even as a genocidal maniac willing to murder one child and torture another in order to continue his murder spree, you got the feeling he felt grief over them.
A point of weakness even for Super Saiyan Thanos - he’s not omniscient and his power is generally localized. Throughout the movie, the things he’s done wear off after he leaves - Drax and Mantis regain their forms on Knowhere, Banner pulls the Hulkbuster out of the cliff.
Also, the Dark Order was never defeated in a straight up fight - every single death was the result of being surprised. Nothing more to it, just something I noticed - sucked out into space, rocketed into the force field, tossed into a wrecking ball by someone believed out of the fight, and stabbed in the back. Their weapons all had some pretty impressive abilities - Cull Obsidian’s transforming hammer, Proxima Midnight’s staff returning to her a la Mjollnir, and Corvus Glaive’s well…glaive, going through vibranium like butter and redirect Mind Stone blasts.
I’ll say the humor in this one was MUCH better than Ragnarok or even GotG2. Banner’s issues with Hulking out added to the tension while still raising a smirk, and the interplay between the various groups (Quill and Thor, Stark and Strange, Rocket and Bucky) really added to the movie. None of it felt forced. Drax’s “I’ve mastered the ability to stand so still as to be invisible to the eye” bit was fantastic, as well as Stark’s “Did you really just say hitherto undreamt of?”
Last point: let’s take as accepted that Stark and Banner are quite possibly THE eminent geniuses in the world. It took Shuri about 5 seconds to obliterate their approach on Vision. It was definitely a “DAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYUUUUUM!” moment.
