Ten Years of Infinity are Avenged

Hey, let’s all celebrate! The new Avengers film is here! Surely it won’t disappoint us the way Star Wars recently did. Or didn’t, depending on your perspective. While Disney is ruling the world, they have to please us as peasants, right? Hail to Mickey Mouse!

So you saw it, right? Good. So let’s use some perspective. What exactly is Infinity War, and what did it need to be? Why should we hate it or love it? I think the popular trend is that many people love it. More do than don’t at least.

And why not. The Marvel cinematic universe has now spent an entire decade making 18 films to lead up to this. That is more time than I’ve put into literally anything — apologies to my girlfriends, cars, and man grooming. It’s just pretty impressive. However, naysayers and haters are always a thing. Hell, one of my closest friends hated it. He essentially called it a mess with no coherent narrative. Well then!

But what needs to be understood is that this film is actually not a “film” by conventional means. Bear with me, film school scholars. This is not a contained movie. It’s a culmination, and it doesn’t need to abide by a basic 3-act structure. This movie is the final act of a decade worth of world building.

Had you not watched the Iron Man trilogy or the amazing Captain America trilogy, you might not have an understanding or a relationship with many of these characters. Had you not enjoyed the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, you may not have a grasp on that universe or what they brought into our funhouse. Doctor Strange is maybe the most underrated film of the universe, and it’s a major player for Infinity War. And now more than ever, if you didn’t keep up with the Thor films, you may have missed out on an orgy of awesomeness.

This is the point. Infinity War isn’t a contained film. If you didn’t take the time to watch 18 movies to lead up to this, congratulations: you have a life. I apparently do not. But for those like me, we actually did watch all these movies. And to be honest: they pulled it off. They ripped it out of the park with a corked Louisville slugger.

Because this is not a singular movie. It’s the beginning of the third act of a massive narrative that you have to be invested in for a long time. You had to keep up with the ongoing storyline for years. Oh…goodness…it’s almost like…it’s a comic book! MIND BLOWN!

If you walk into Infinity War with a blind understanding of everything that’s led up to this, I still think you’ll enjoy it. It’s got a great punch. However, it’s overloaded with characters that the director is assuming we already know. And most of us do. So they don’t spend time on character development or world building — because that shit has been done for ten years. We know Stark, Cap, Hulk, Thor, the Guardians, Black Panther and Spider-Man. We know Loki. We know the stones. We’ve seen Thanos. And now Thanos takes the center stage as the star.

The film is a masterpiece in my personally totally unbiased correct opinion. But what makes it so special is that it doesn’t have to follow any sort of preconceived structure. It has a decade of content that has already pumped up its origins. All it had to do is throw two dozen characters in a blender, then make it work as a film. Easy peasy.

And they nailed it. It’s tough to juggle that many big personalities. But Infinity War has the advantage of having all of its build-up already done for it. As I said, this isn’t a typical film. It’s the beginning of the end of a 10-year saga. It’s all action and big payoff. There is no first or second act, because we’ve already been watching those things since 2008.

It’s what Marvel fans and comic fans and movie fans wanted. It’s big. And it’s done well. And even though it’s messy at times, it delivers everything it needs to as the first part of act 3 in a decade-long production. What have you accomplished in the last decade that pays off better than this? Did you buy a new mattress?

And no, having a child doesn’t count. It’s beautiful for you, but hardly as good as being the Hulk. The Hulk is always better. Unless you have a Hulk baby.