Monday, April 30, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War

(spoilers!)

This is what happens when you don't call Hawkeye.

A huge cinematic accomplishment, that's for sure. 18 movies came prior to it, which makes that movie a spectacle and a 'finale' moment. However....it's not really a grand finale at all. It's just something that needed to happen...for finale to occur. Next year.

Once again since 1. I already wrote shorter version of this review on letterboxd 2. I am lazy 3. it is becoming a tradition on the Corner that CBMs more often than not get list-style review, here is my list-review for Avengers: Infinity War.

THE GOOD:
- That voice in the beginning? That's Kenneth Branagh who directed first Thor. Very nice touch.
- They Alien3-ed Ragnarok which was very cool and that opening was shockingly bold. Not only was it shocking to see MCU film begin with villains walking around next to piles of dead bodies, but it was seriously brutal.
- Poor Idris Elba. First Dark Tower happens, now he lost that MCU money. He got a proper send-off, though, doing something important.
- Hiddleston was brilliant and he will be missed in those films. His death scene - if it sticks and hopefully it will - was the most daring moment in the film. While I had a feeling Thor's "you really are the worst brother!" was played for laughs - it got HUGE laughs in my cinema - nonetheless, this is the last thing Thor says to Loki. And Loki doesn't even get the last good dig at the villain, he tells Thanos he will never be God but that means nothing, since this was never Thanos' intention or desire. I was handling that shit pretty well but holy fuck, think of the children.
  - Every single joke in the movie landed, which was delightful because I always feel so embarrassed when something was meant to make the audience laugh and didn't. Huge, huge laughs from the crowd. In fact during Thor/Guardians scenes I had to read subtitles because people laughed so hard the dialogue was impossible to hear. This is easily the funniest movie in 2018 and I doubt it will lose that title by the end of the year. I laughed so much.
- Personally my favorites were Thor referring to Rocket as 'rabbit' and Cap's pure and adorable "I am Steve Rogers". And most of Stark's lines. "Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards". Also Tony's exasperated silence at Mantis' "kick names, take ass!" was hysterical. RDJ is truly a treasure and his acting makes everything that is supposed to be funny so much funnier.
- The funny/dark tones mixing didn't feel jarring at all.
- Fantastic interactions between the characters and lovely chemistry, especially Thor and Rocket and Tony and Strange. It was so much fun watching all these characters interact. So many moments which will make this movie so rewatchable - Strange appearing and Tony asking if he is there to sell tickets, Drax's "invisible" scene, Bucky and Rocket during the battle...it was so entertaining.
- The film was very well paced. I was a bit bored at times but not "150 mins long movie" bored. I didn't feel that run time.
- It's impressive that they managed to bring back Red Skull and managed to fit in Pepper.
- Okoye FTW. She is now my favorite female character in MCU. There's nothing better than her utter disgust at men acting stupid and/or incompetent. God, I love her.
- While we are on the subject of Wakanda, the single most epic moment of the whole movie is the chant followed by T'Challa screaming "WAKANDA FOREVER!" and beginning to run. Chills.
- Chills also because bless Disney for not blurring out that gigantic bulge in T'Challa's costume. My eyes were locked on Cap but then T'Challa started moving, THAT was there and I went:

- The short - way too short - scene of Cap and T'Challa charging ahead and fighting was glorious.
- Speaking of glorious, so far, in 2018, Chris Evans with that beard, rolling in Wakandan mud is the most beautiful thing I've seen this year. Holy God. It really is a waste we didn't see Drax's reaction to him. If Thor is pirate/angel hybrid and a God-man, then what the hell even is Cap? There are no words.
- Oh yeah, Drax's reaction to Thor and everyone dragging Star-Lord was wonderful.
- There is this shot when Thanos arrives in Wakanda and Cap runs and slides on the mud and I thought I was going to explode right then and there. So many were about to die but My God I WAS LIVING.
- That trailer shot of Cap managing to hold Thanos' hand. Turns out there was no magic involved. No trickery. It was just his courage. Just how noble he is. This is enough to make him so strong. Please don't take him away from us. We need our noble Disney prince alive.
- "We don't trade lives, Captain".
- Silvestri's score is fabulous but the best part is when we go to Wakanda and Black Panther's theme plays.
- Doctor Strange was about 1000x cooler here than in his own movie. I loved every single one of his scenes.
- Every single actor - with the exception of Johansson who NEEDS TO GO - is wonderful here. The standout is definitely Tom Holland but Robert Downey Jr. comes pretty damn close perfectly balancing out funny moments and excruciating ones.
- Chris Hemsworth really gets to shine, particularly in the film's brutal opening.
- It was great for MCU to finally give more to do for Wanda, it's too little and too late, but it's something.
- It was a nice touch to allow Paul Bettany to show up without make up - it made it easier to think of Vision as someone who has human emotions etc. and it made me care about him more.
- Zoe Saldana was brilliant. I do hope Gamora stays dead because otherwise it cheapens this whole movie and Thanos' quest.
- Josh Brolin is great and Thanos is the best MCU villain yet but of course there is little competition. Still, with all the motivation they give him he is still a bit underwritten to me and he still comes off as a mad villain and not some complex character. Of all the beings in this universe what makes him so special that he is the only one who has the will to do this?
- I did not cry but that Spiderman/IronMan scene near the end came very close
- Rocket having to watch Groot die - AGAIN - was fucking brutal. Oh my God.
  - Speaking of Groot, I loved him giving a part of himself for Stormbreaker to be made. I love that cutie pie so much.
- Chris Evans' delivery of "Oh God" near the end. That was heartbreaking.
- Dinklage showing up is always awesome.
- The film really did feel very grand and there were few very brave scenes - the whole opening was honestly shocking. The scene with Thanos and young Gamora near the end was very profound and the very last scene was a brave choice. The villain gets the final scene. That's very unusual.
- My favorite action scene was the attack near Sanctum with Ebony Mew (very cool villain) and Tony and Strange fighting him, you really felt the dread. I loved the way it began, with the camera following Tony.
- The end credits, all white on black and the title disappearing were awesome.
- The post credits scene was fantastic and definitely gets me hyped for what is to come but as someone who only watches these films and doesn't follow the comics had I not read about this scene before watching the movie I'd have no idea who they are referring to.
- Bless MCU for almost allowing Samuel L. Jackson to say "motherfucker!"

THE BAD:
- The special effects of people turning into dust were horrendous. When Bucky started disappearing I was hoping it will get better but nope. It looked so cheap. This right here looks 1000x better:
  - Also the way the scene was handled....it was too fast, I didn't think the gravity of it was felt. It was felt more in the post credits scene. If we actually saw a montage of people all over the planet disappearing it would better.  It was just terribly executed. I cry during everything and here I was just so puzzled about how BAD it looked that it kept me from being emotional. It was probably because of horribly ugly backdrop on Titan and that bland forest in Wakanda, because the effects looked much better in post credits scene.
- And Sam crawling through the bushes pathetically, lol I was dying.
- What is shocking to me is how shocked people are about that ending. This isn't the last movie. Also some of those who died in the awful dust CGI have sequels announced. Why are people shocked? The next one where some if not all of original Avengers inevitably die a noble death to reverse what happened is gonna be shocking and emotional, not this. Honestly if all it takes is 5 minutes of googling to find out that Spiderman, Black Panther and Strange have sequels in the works and there is another team-up movie next May, then this isn't much of shocking ending, ain't it?
- This film is getting praise for being bleak. I'd give you that if not post credits. We are clearly given to understand that Fury uses the last resort. Someone so powerful he didn't call that person during the previous horrible events in MCU but he is calling that person now.. If that's not hope, I don't know what is. Brie Larson is gonna swoop down from Heavens and kill that fucking bitch.
- We are told Wanda and Vision love each other and that Thanos loves Gamora but it's not earned. It's "tell don't show".
- There are comparisons to Fury Road being made online and I just...no. Doctor Strange does cool stuff and it's fun watching characters fight side by side but on visual level/action movie scale there was nothing particularly memorable here. That Wakanda scene where some alien creatures are charging at them? Oh, give me a break. That battle was such a non-event.
  - Think about that - Winter Soldier has that elevator fight and the highway fight. Civil War has airport fight with tons of cool stuff. Avengers has stuff like Natasha jumping off Cap's shield. Not one single breathtaking action set piece here.
- Thor's scenes are massively overhyped. Bridge scene in Ragnarok was better. So he flies in on the middle of a field and drops a one liner. Big freaking deal.
- Wanda, where's your accent at?
- The running joke of Bruce not being able to hulk out was the worst thing here. I repeat - the worst thing here. I felt bad for Mark Ruffalo and Hulk fans. Utterly humiliating. I was dreading we are gonna get Viagra joke.


THE INFURIATING:
- Cap's team has so little to do. Widow is almost laughably underused and what she has officially made her into insufferably boring and annoying character. She doesn't do or say much BUT of course they have her in a cat fight with Promixa Midnight for some reason. That only made Widow look dumb as fuck. By all means, taunt the powerful enemy as your friends' lives are in danger. Johansson looks bored playing the part and Widow isn't even an interesting character to begin with. The fact she is getting a solo now that is unnecessary (we just had Atomic Blonde and of course Jennifer Lawrence's Whore School and Widow's past was shown in reprehensibly sexist, awful and terribly handled flashback's in Age of Ultron), overdue (they are at 20+ movie and NOW they are gracious enough to give her a movie?) and frankly a waste (give Okoye her solo instead).
This is what she did when Thor landed. Woman, what the hell are you acting to?!
- Here she is biting her nails as aliens arrive. I can't even.

- Missing trailer shots which for the love of God, were better than what was in the movie. The most epic shot of Wakanda battle (heroes running) was not in the movie. Thor rising his hand - obviously with edited out Stormbreaker - with Rocket and Groot watching in awe was not in the movie. Cap's "let's go" not in the movie. I appreciate all the stuff they did to surprise people but when the trailer is more epic than the actual film.....that ain't good. Also they even took out RDJ saying 'wow!' in Star-Lord scene which crippled the joke and took me out of the movie because I was so puzzled as to why they took it out. It's not my fault for watching the trailer, it's their fault for putting it in the trailer and taking it out of the movie.

THE HORRIFYING:
- I'm not sure the situation where people say Strange is stupid because he gave up the stone to save Tony is what writers intended for people to think, because good lord they do. It's very clear to me that he is giving it up because in one outcome he saw them win Tony was alive but that's not really signaled well, whereas the possibility to make another gauntlet (the form in the forge) is telegraphed. The worst offender of laborious writing to make people care more because something is gonna happen is having Petter and Tony discuss having a kid. Good God.
- It's such a contrivance that ALL the original Avengers are sill alive. You just know we are losing some of them in the next movie. MCU God help you if you kill off Cap so that Star-Lord can live. God help you.
 

75/100

26 comments:

  1. I'm writing my review at the moment as I'm still devastated and in shock over what the fuck happened. Thanos.... that is a true villain. If there was a battle royale for great villains. I can guarantee he would be one of the last ones standing. He's just evil. The ending was a shock and the entire theater went silent when I saw it this morning. Fucking hell.

    I remember why both Clint Barton and Scott Lang aren't there because of a plea deal they did and considering what just happened in the end. Seems pretty pointless to know what happened to them as we don't know. This was a fucking kick in the balls and I'm still reeling from what I saw.

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    1. Why? You honestly think next movie wont reverse that? 12months and it is reversed. How is it pointless to know where the 2 Avengers are? I am pretty sure they are boh in Ant Man and the Wasp

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    2. You got a point. I think Doctor Strange knew something. Passed it on to Tony and Nebula and maybe they could do something. Then, hopefully everyone would be back as well as Clint, Ant-Man, Wasp, and Captain Marvel.

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    3. Strange saw the futures, he saw the one where they win and allowed for things to happen. He saved Tony because Tony is needed in winning scenario

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  2. Nice review!

    I agree with pretty much all the points. It's far from the best Marvel movie, despite it breaking all the records. Now that I know it broke records, I'm even more disappointed in it.

    I'm most frustrated about the fact that Cap didn't get a proper arc. Babysitting Vision was useless and we all knew this.

    As you know (and I'm sorry), I really liked Thor's arc in this. His storyline started off with such a shock (kind of my only one in the film), and continued to be a very simple plot. Which I actually liked, considering everything around was so hectic.

    The action sequence on Titan was better than the last action sequence. But even the one on Titan didn't beat the airport scene, nor the things in Winter Soldier. There the action was more tight, and I don't know, I just like the action scenes in Cap's trilogy more than Infinity War.

    I'm still probably going to see IW again though, but that's to see more Chris Evans and laugh. Because you're right, the movie is really funny and the comic relief it provides really made the first half of the movie pop.

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    1. Thank you! I am sure he will have much more to do next time, I just hope they won't kill him :/

      LOL don't apologize to me, apologize to Christopher for cheating on him :D

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  3. I agree with most of your points. I don't think Thor is overhyped and I don't feel Wanda/Vision is unearned. We saw a glimpse of their intrigue in AOU and it continued to grow in CACW. I think they've been pretty consistent with the build there.

    I'm with you on Scarlett though. I like Black Widow a lot. And Scarlett used to be a very good actress but she has been massively phoning it in lately. Her fight alongside Wanda and Okoye was probably the coolest thing she did in the movie.

    And yaaaaaaaaaaaas all hail Okoye. I need a gif of her reaction to hulk buster.

    I need about 100 gifs of this movie tbh.

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    1. Yeah, that's the thing, we saw a glimpse. Its consistent, sure, I just don't feel it.

      I read somewhere she had an affair with some guy from the crew while they were working on this movie lol so maybe that is where her focus was, because it certainly wasn't on the part

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  4. All of the above! I couldn't agree more on the missing trailer shots, especially the epic charge that I was really looking forward to see. I'm also livid about what Infinity War did with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk. His character deserved so much better.

    Still, it's impressive how well the story came together, given how so many things were going on at the same time. I was genuinely expecting it to be a total mess, and it wasn't at all.

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    1. Maybe they are punishing Ruffalo for spoilers :P

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  5. Hi Sati, I hope you're doing well. I haven't been in blogosphere for a while. I've had a difficult year that hasn't allowed me to blog much. After my dog died, I had a freak illness that put me in the hospital for a week, then my dad died and I've been dealing with his affairs. Just so crazy that it all happened at once. I'm having my second child in a few days...so that's been keeping me busy too! Thankfully that's something positive to focus on.

    Anywhoo, it hasn't left me much time for blogging or watching movies. I am finally coming back to check on everyone's blogs. I miss the community. I really enjoyed your review. I haven't seen it yet, but from what I read I'm going to wait for it to stream. I had big issues with the age of ultron. It sounds like the problems for the avengers film worsened. It's unfortunate b/c the Russo brothers make great captain america films.

    I totally agree w/ you about a widow film. It's sad that it's taken 20 films to get a widow film...now her character has been totally destroyed by bad writing. Atomic Blonde was so excellent. It was more widow than widow herself. I haven't seen the Jlaw sparrow film. It didn't look good. No one does femme fatale like Charlize Theron.

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    1. oh my God I'm so sorry :( My condolences to you! Congratulations on the baby!

      Well it's fun and it's worth seeing in the cinema. The film is hilarious and entertaining and it's miles above Ultron which was such a mess. Black Widow movie is just so unnecessary right now and they should do a solo for another heroine

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  6. Nice review! So sorry this comment is a novel.

    Infinity War was definitely funny, but it was a little disappointing that the humor carried onto scenes that were supposed to be meaningful (Gamora/Quill's conversation immediately interrupted by Drax comes to mind actually). But I can honestly overlook the humor, excluding what they did to Hulk. I'm just pissed about what they did to him here and in Ragnarok. But I really liked the character development for everyone else. I don't think this is the worst one yet, but it's not the absolute best - especially if Avengers 4 pulls a Walking Dead and undoes everything this one set-up.'

    While working on my Captain America posts, I thought "what if The Red Skull didn't die but disappeared into another universe". I was super proud of myself when he showed up. *tina fey high fives herself gif* lol

    Chris was highly underused, but there is alot of people to get around to. But all of his scenes in Wakanda were amazing. Him fighting Thanos and that scream he makes gives me CHILLS.

    I'm so happy I ran to the bathroom with Peter/Tony scene. I've seen gifs on tumblr and I don't know if I'll ever watch it. lol

    I don't know who I want to come back, if anybody at all - despite the fact that most of the dead ones still have contracts. I just feel like Loki's time is up, bringing back Gamora would be cheap (if only she is the one that somehow manages to kill Thanos), etc. I'm amazed that people are not reading into Strange handing over the Time Stone. Not just by him saying "this is the only way(?)" but just the way Benedict looked while handing it over - it didn't pain him at all; he wasn't upset or pissed; he looked like he was covering something up. I read on some gossip sites that think Avengers 4 is going to be set a few years after this. So if people didn't get Strange handing over the time stone, I can't imagine how lost they're going to be if we skip ahead.

    OMG THAT BIG LEBOWSKI GIF I'M LIVINGGGGGG

    OKOYE IS THE QUEEN

    I didn't realize how much was left out of the trailer - but I honestly can't remember what was left in or what I might've missed. Did Black Panther say Get This Man A Shield? Did we see Steve start up his crab hands? That run in Wakanda was epic and definitely should've been kept.

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    1. Thank you! :)

      Walking Dead has time travel now? :P Infinity War was at least miles above Ultron but this is what happens when one doesn't let sexist Whedon make movies.

      Oh man sorry you missed that! That was a very good scene but way too short.

      I really don't know why and how people missed that whole bit about Strange. The writing here wasn't very sophisticated and they even had Strange say that when the push comes to shove he will choose the fate of the universe over stark and the kid. What did people think he changed his mind because Tony is really funny lol? Just ridiculous.

      Black Panther did say that. We saw Steve do that but not him doing that and saying 'let's go'. I think there is a whole scene where he is given the new shields missing from the movie.

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  7. OMG, Walking Dead has so many timelines - they show what happens in the past, in the future, stuff happening between camps on the same day, it's literally time travel. lol

    Wow, I need to see it again for those Wakanda scenes. Maybe I was focusing on the beard too much. lol

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    1. Holy God I haven't watched that show in years, it seems like such a mess now :)

      Eh, we all were :)

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  8. I honestly do not understand how people did not see that ending coming from a mile away. It is CLASSIC comic book cliffhanger storytelling, plus, it was telegraphed from the first scene (the only truly shocking thing in the whole movie, although frankly, it was past time for Loki to bite it).

    I died laughing whenever Thor referred to Rocket as "Rabbit". Far and away the best running gag of the movie (other than the constant ignoring of Starlord, which.... SELFISH IDIOT). The interactions between the characters were all great, but I agree they should have spent more time to show us the love Thanos had for Gamora.

    Between Bettany, Boseman, Bautista, Ruffalo, Evans, Hemsworth, and the guy playing Mbaku, there are WAAAAAAAAAY too many handsome men in this movie (and I only leave off SebStan because I CAN NOT with that disgusting hair). And even still, Danai Gurira is the only one I can look at whenever she is on screen. OKOYE (and her side-eye) FOR THE WIN.

    But seriously, that ending was so obvious it was insulting. I've already ranted about it on Brittany's review and on Letterboxd, but... first they get rid of all the B-Listers, and then all of the other leads except for the original Avengers. UGH. RIDICULOUS. Especially since they had already announced sequels for Black Panther and Spider-Man and the Guardians. They KNEW what happened at the end of this movie. They could have held off on announcing those sequels and THEN that ending MIGHT have held some genuine fear/emotion.

    If the sequel to this doesn't end up with the original Avengers sacrificing themselves to save everyone else, I will eat my hat.

    Also, I may or may not have become pregnant every time Evans appeared on screen. That man puts the DREAM in DREAMBOAT.

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    1. Yeah the ending was so obvious to anyone who spent 5 minutes on Thanos' wiki page before going to see the film :) Really, it would be surprising if he didn't do that. And I am so surprised at how much people are surprised, I mean come on, it's not the last movie and as you said there are already sequels for individual characters announced. The worst thing to do though is if they bring back Gamora because her getting sacrificed was such a huge part of Thanos' journey. Undoing that is just cheating but they will probably do that.

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  9. that lebowski-gif.. totally agree on hulk, where did that come from? is he just being funny/awkward? outing myself as team-thor now, I applauded everytime he showed up :) thank you for sharing!

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    1. I think it's a revenge on Ruffalo for spoiling, it's the only thing that makes sense :)

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  10. ***Apologies in advance for the essay of a reply. This post has tickled my brain a little***

    "It's such a contrivance that ALL the original Avengers are sill alive."

    This is kinda mainly the biggest reason why I dislike these movies, especially Civil War. You knew there wasn't gonna be anyone dying there, not anyone important anyway.

    But hell you were right in that other comment, I don't know what movie I saw the first time, but this really is brutal, how did I not see the stakes? After Loki at the start... I honestly thought Starks might die! That they managed to raise the stakes for me-- after a feeling of NONE AT ALL for all of CW.... a pretty great feat!

    And this is all from a dude who --hated-- these movies two years ago - you have basically waned me onto them! =P

    For some reason I remembered (probably because it what was I was expecting) it being all light like Civil War and the others. It tried a little too hard to be funny I thought, and I was only laughing at the overused bit about Pratt's insecurities because I for some reason just intensely dislike him as a person and actor. Not sure why they had to be in the movie at all, made it too crowded.

    And hey...:

    You did this for me for Logan and it became one of faves of the year (up from 4/6 to 6/6!) - I've seen BP, Thor3, CA:CW, Ultron... are there any other films that will help make this more sense?

    I have no idea who Strange is, or why the red dude has this real important thing in his head. Is it just a case of them throwing too much into one movie? Who was the girl he loves? They aren't Avengers are they? I missed where those two were introduced totally.

    ANYWAYS.... As expected, excellent analysis. It still amazes me that you keep this up and work full time- I don't do shit and you write more often than me! I wish you had more time cos your film reviews always rule and open my eyes up a bit. Or a lot =]

    Cheers! And again, sorry for the essay

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    1. "red dude has this real important thing in his head." - that was in Age of Ultron. Scarlett Witch was also introduced in Ultron

      I think in order to make sense of IW you should watch all of the films, I'm not gonna give the whole rundown of what has what, sorry, it's just too much. The stones were featured both in films and in post credits of a lot of those, some don't have anything about them like Iron Man 2

      Yeah, it's just getting more and more busy :/

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  11. Fair enough. Now that I'm getting into the genre I'm gonna watch some of the older ones. The stone was in Ultron? Damn I gotta watch that again.

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  12. Ohhhhhh I never realised that about Dr Strange/Tony!! Also, Dinklage was the best surprise in the whole thing. I saw this two weeks after it initially came out so I'd seen lots of these shattering to pieces memes by then and I thought it was taking the piss, I never realised it was something that ACTUALLY happened in the film. Brought back horrible flashbacks from Harry Potter 7 pt 2.

    Finally OMG YES, the most fun was watching all these characters interact!!! I wasn't a massive fan of Infinity War in general but I mean, it was fun, there were some really good dynamics there.

    Brilliant review, as always. <3

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  13. Awesome review!! Even though I enjoyed this movie, I was disappointed in how some of the characters (especially the Hulk and Black Widow (they can never get her character right) didn't seem to get a lot of focus or character depth. It's more troubling with Captain America since I was expecting him to make up with Iron Man after Civil War. That ending was brutal though! I hope Avengers: Endgame is good!

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    1. Thank you! Yeah Hulk was kinda embarrassing, I think he will get better scenes in Endgame. Widow has been dreadful for so many movies :/

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