Now that a couple of weeks have passed and I have seen this movie two times, I feel like I am in a place to finally talk about it. This will be as spoiler free as possible, but I'm only human. Also, it HAS been a month.
For those that know me, it should come as no surprise that I really liked this movie. The first time I saw it, the one word I used to sum this movie up was, "Satisfying". This movie is the culmination of over ten years of Marvel movies. It also serves as the end of an era.
First off, for anyone looking for the wall to wall, big time battles and spectacle that was Infinity War, you won't find that here. This movie is slower and more introspective than the last movie. I think it is a refreshing change because you get to spend time with a smaller cast of characters. Some of which might be the last time you see them. If you thought the last movie was a gut punch, this movie is even more devastating, if you can imagine that.
So as I was saying, one of the things I really liked about this movie is how we just get to see the different characters interact with each other. The last movie cleared the board so we get what's left. I don't think it's a spoiler to say we spend a lot of time with Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Rocket Raccoon, Hulk, Nebula, Iron Man, Ant Man and War Machine. This is not a pairing one would have expected to see and this is where this movie starts to feel just like a comic book. You throw together a bunch of characters that normally don't interact because a big, cosmic threat has brought them together. They have all dealt with the events of Infinity War (and the beginning of this movie) in their own ways. To say most of them don't deal well is an understatement. You are seeing these bright, shining heroes at their absolute low point.
This comes after we get kind of a resolution to the last movie within the first thirty minutes. I am speaking in generalities because after this moment, you're like, "Now what?" and that's where the movie continues.
I mentioned earlier how this movie is slower than Infinity War and the middle of this movie is slow. For those that have complained about this movie, those complaints are valid. What this movie does is at this point they expect you to have seen all of the other movies so there are a lot of moments that are call backs to all of the Marvel movies. In this way, this movie is completely impenetrable for new viewers. This is especially evident where (SPOILER INCOMING) some time travel is involved. This walks us through a greatest hits of some of the previous movies.
I will admit that if I had one small problem, is that it can be kind of lazy to show scenes from earlier movies except from a different perspective. This movie leans into that very hard. Now those scenes are mined for comedic gold now, but doesn't that undercut and make those scenes feel even sillier in retrospect? I like the courage it takes to be self aware to say, "Okay, maybe all that kind of stuff WAS ridiculous", but you're doing it in anyway while also simultaneously doing something that is inherently ridiculous. I apologize for being extremely vague here, but I realize some people still have not seen this yet.
BUT, and there is a big BUT here. I liked the callbacks to those scenes in the movies. I just wanted to play devil's advocate for a bit. It lead to some very great one liners and comedy from the situations the characters end up. The thing about everyone being a quip machine is they have all spent enough time with each other that it feels natural that they would start reacting the way that they do.
This movie moves all the pieces around on the board to lead into a very epic climax where we get an all out battle scene that dwarfs what we saw in Infinity War. It is laden with many, many cool moments that had me geeking right out of my Spider-Man socks. I felt like all the characters get a few cool moments so it feels like no one is left out. We even get an "Avengers Assemble!" from Captain America! In a separate post, I will go through MY favorite moments, as if I was doing a buzzfeed list. Ya'll know what I'm talking about.
So, comic books. Years ago and even now, there are always these big, epic events that involves all the characters that promises to change things forever. As a comic fan, you just roll your eyes knowing that in a year, everything will be back to the status quo. This movie is that very thing, except there were real repercussions. Not everyone makes this out alive. The fight scenes were appropriately comic booky. The last minute saves, the sacrifices, everything. These moments are what I love about comics. You just have to be careful that you don't do this all the time and this movie was the perfect time for that. It will honestly be tough to top this, but I will be excited to see Marvel try.
My last thought on it. Let's just Marvel (see what I did there) at the fact that this movie even exists at all. The collective weight of ten plus years of cinema is in this movie. The fact that it came together as well as it did is a testament to the filmmakers.
This movie left the cinematic universe in an interesting place. With Disney now owning the rights to Fantastic Four and the X-Men, there are many new directions they can take with what has already been established that can successfully extend this universe for another ten years.
It's been five weeks and if you haven't seen this movie yet, go see it! Those theaters should be cleared up now.
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