Avengers: Infinity War - review

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear right off the bat. Avengers Infinity War is not just a movie. This is an event. This is the season finale of a ten year, nineteen episode comic book series that was merely the twinkle in Kevin Feige’s eye back in 2008.
Disregard what the internet memes say. This *IS* the most ambitious film event of all-time. Nothing else even comes close.

Expectations are higher than they were for another fandom 19 years ago for The Phantom Menace. But can they possibly be met? 

Will it work as a film in its own right and will it work as the culmination of everything that has come before it.

The answer, Marvel fans will be happy to here... is YES.
As for the “story so far”, or “previously on Avengers Infinity War”, it would take Luis from Ant-Man’s motor mouth to take the audience on a abridged history of the MCU in five minutes to get everyone up to speed so let’s just get down to brass tacks.
Thanos, the big purple dude who has been sitting on his giant space toilet (Empire magazine’s words, not mine) since The Avengers has finally decided to claim the six Infinity Stones required to complete his Infinity Gauntlet (3 years after first claiming he would “do it myself” back at the end of Age Of Ultron). This puts him on a collision course with the Asgardians (The Tesseract), the Guardians of the Galaxy (who know where the Power and Reality stones are) and Earth’s mightiest heroes with whom the Mind and Time stones currently reside.
Straight away, from the first scene and his introduction, it is clear that this is Thanos's movie. Immediately establishing as a credible threat and the toughest challenge the Avengers have ever faced. Trust me, there will no longer be jokes about him sitting on his space toilet after this. He is built like a brick space sh*t house and knows how to throw a punch and he certainly has the stones (if you'll pardon the pun) to lay the preverbial smackdown on our beloved heroes.
Josh Brolin, pulling double comic book duty this Summer, proves the perfect choice for the Titan-ic villain. Enhanced by some stunning CGI work, he is simulataneously physically imposing, viciously cruel but also singular in his vision. As all zealots, he believes that his course of action is the correct one, no matter the cost to himself, his family or the universe.

The movie's central narrative thrust follows Thanos on his quest and it turns out to be the correct move on the part of the Russo brothers and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. By making Thanos the main protagonist of the story, it allows the filmmakers to delicately keep all the different plates spinning around him. And boy are there a lot of plates. There are 14 main characters who have had their name in the title of a movie, along with dozens more who make up various iterations of the Avenger rosters.
The Russo's split their cast into teams, each with a plot thread relating to a different Infinity Stone, providing some unexpected pairings that the audience wouldn't have realised they needed until now.
Following the events of Civil War, Steve Rogers (no longer Captain America) has stuck close to fellow fugitives Black Widow and Falcon who take a jaunt to Edinburgh, Scotland to rescue Scarlet Witch and Vision, who has a literal target on his forehead.
Thor, who has shown in Ragnarok that he can mine chemistry and comedy out of any pairing, teams up with Rocket Raccoon and Groot while the rest of the Guardians travel to Knowhere as Gamora's relationship to her "father" comes to the fore.
Finally back on Earth, Doctor Strange and Tony Stark battle for the position of Alpha Male with a goatee, and constantly chastise Peter Parker for his "really old" pop culture references.
Despite the over abundance of characters, every single one gets a moment to shine either with a quip or action beat. Although given the runtime, it leaves you wanting more from them all and some plot threads are left dangling, and maybe will still exist in the form of deleted scenes on the DVD i.e. Natasha and Bruce's relationship now he's returned.
The narrative switches back and forth between the groups organically so that the audience are always aware of who is where and how Thanos's plan is advancing before the various roads to Infinity War converge on Titan (Thanos's home planet) and Wakanda for the final showdown(s).
The trailers have thankfully given away very little of the main action sequences and they definitely deliver on an epic scale unlike anything seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before.
It is a cliche in superhero movies that no one ever really dies or stays dead but right from the off, the Russo's put all their chips on the table and tell the audience that all bets are off in terms of who is walking (or flying) out alive of this battle. There is a palpable level of fear and danger every time a hero goes one-on-one with Brolin's Titan, who towers over them in the same way Dwayne The Rock Johnson towers over Kevin Hart.
No more plot details will be discussed because despite all the theorising and speculating, it goes places you simply could not have predicted and thus is best enjoyed spoiler-free.
Avengers Infinity War is the event movie to end all event movies and where possible should be seen with an audience of hardcore fans. The ones at the midnight screening were invested in every single second. Resulting in bouts of laughter, squeals of joy, shocked gasps, shedded tears and moments of pure, stunned silence... and in Scotland, cheers for a sign in a window that read "We will deep fry your kebab"!
Just like someone holding a complete Infinity Gauntlet, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is virtually unstoppable at this point and Avengers Infinity War is their finest hour so far... but one expects as a time stone would tell, the best is yet to come.

5 stars

Road to Infinity War - Phase 3 - Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Controversial opinion it may be but you know what? I'll just come out and say it.
Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 is better than Guardians Of The Galaxy.
While it might not have the shock and surprise factor of the original (in that "Wow, this is actually really good"), Vol. 2 is a much richer, deeper, more emotional film that's true focus is not some scheme to wipe out all life in the universe (well it slightly is).
The film begins the most enjoyable title sequence of any Marvel movie as Baby Groot dances to ELO's Mr Blue Sky and the Guardians battle a giant space monster behind him. Actually come to think about, it, is it the only Marvel title sequence? They don't usually have any credits until the end of the film do they?
Anyway, the fight to protect some Anthrax batteries for the Sovereign race is merely a Macguffin to lead to the real story. Similar to an episode of Family Guy where the first ten minutes of the episode are just set up for another story.
And that story is, as Vin Diesel mentions every ten minutes or so in all of the Fast & Furious movies, "Family".
It is about the relationships between a father and a son, a surrogate father and a son and between two "sisters".
Following on from the events of Vol. 1 where Star Lord Peter Quill discovered that his father was not of Earth, his father Ego The Living Planet comes looking for his son after hearing of a human who "held an infinity stone in his hand and didn't die".
The face of the Living Planet takes the form of the "rugged good looks" of Kurt Russell which harks back to the Eighties as he was one of the decades most iconic heroes in the likes of The Thing, Escape From New York and Big Trouble In Little China and he brings all of that swagger and charisma to the role and is a perfect fit for Peter's father.
Having found him, Ego wants to show Peter his true potential as part-Celestial being. He takes Peter, Gamora and Drax off to his planet, leaving Rocket to repair their ship and babysit Groot and Nebula. But he'll have problems of his own when the Ravagers return with Yondu looking for payback.
Vol. 2 plays out a bit like a Greatest Hits mix tape compiled by Peter's Mom.
On the A side, if you liked the 80s references from the first film, don't worry there are plenty more here. Enjoy the surprise MVP of Vol. 1 Drax the Destroyer? He gets more time to shine and develop in this one. And once again, Gunn has picked the perfect song list to go with the story. Who doesn't spend the next two days after seeing this singing Brandy?
Flip the tape over to the B side however and as expressed earlier, the film is a very deep, emotional family tale.
Gamora and Nebula attempt to work through their issues by doing what any sisters would do. Try to kill each other of course! This manifests in an unexpected but wonderful North by Northwest homage that leads into a proper scrap with some excellent work from Karen Gillan, relishing the increased screen time.
Of course, the main plot is Chris Pratt working through his daddy issues. Early on he tells Gamora he wished he could have played catch with his dad and told the kids at school his real father was David Hasselhoff and both of these references come back later on in surprising ways. When Ego's ultimate plan for Peter is unveiled, it is up to Yondu to float in Mary Poppins style to help save the day.
If Batista was Vol. 1's MVP, then Michael Rooker is certainly the MVP of Vol. 2. He has worked with James Gunn on a number of projects but he delivers his finest work with this performance.
I was not expecting the climax of the film to have the emotional sucker punch that it did.
*Spoilers ahead*
From the moment Yondu sacrifices himself to save Peter with the line "He may of been your father boy, but he wasn't your daddy", to Peter's realisation that he has lost two father figures, to the Ravager funeral...

The new line up of the Guardians confirmed at the end of the film, adding Mantis and a now surly, teenage Groot, there is nothing but excitement to see how they interact with "Earth's mightiest heroes" as all the different plot threads come together for Infinity War.

Infinity Stone counter = 5

Road to Infinity War - Phase 2 - Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Let's admit it. This shouldn't have worked. A cosmic comedy adventure featuring D-list Marvel characters that included a talking raccoon and a walking tree that could only say three words?
And at a time when D.C. were struggling to put together a Batman vs Superman movie.
But Marvel Studios once again proved why they are the best in the business and knocked it out of the park with Guardians Of The Galaxy. Created a smash hit movie franchise. Turned Chris Pratt into a A-List superstar and got a compilation soundtrack to become one of the biggest selling albums of the year and nominated for a Grammy!
It might have seemed like a risk but GotG was actually an essential building block in the MCU as it was the first film to directly deal with the Infinity Stones which Thanos will ultimately look to finally add to his gauntlet after 6 years of sitting on his arse!
We get the Power Stone in the Orb as the "Ark of the Covenant, Maltese Falcon kinda vibe" MacGuffin for the movie and Benicio Del Toro's Collector to provide the back story to the gems.
The central plot is so-so, with the group moving from one planet to the next to retrieve the orb and stop the bland, generic bad guy's evil schemes which result in Phase 2's standard Act 3 of having very large things falling from the sky into over-populated urban areas (Helicarriers in Winter Soldier, Dark Elven ships in Thor The Dark World, Sokovia in Ultron).
What makes the film works in spite of any flaws is the casting, chemistry and "banter" of the Guardians.
Pratt *IS* Peter Quill from the moment he starts dancing around to Come And Get And Your Love in a giant space cave. It tells you everything you need to know about the character without him having to say a word but when he does he is hilarious. Confusing the likes of Gamora and Drax with his Eighties references to mighty heroes such as Kevin Bacon for example.
Despite initial misgivings over the casting of Bradley Cooper, he does an excellent job as Rocket Raccoon and Diesel (who has previous form as The Iron Giant) manages to do so much with just three words. Who knew there were so many different ways you could say "I am Groot"?
The biggest revelation here however was Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer. Best known for being from WWE, this was his first real film role and while there were the usual questions over whether he would be a Hulk Hogan or a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, he actually steals the entire film with his remarkable comic timing.
Overall, there is a looseness and sense of fun and wonder about the film that simultaneously expands the MCU into the wider cosmic universe but also keeps it grounded and real thanks to the soundtrack that features well known (and soon to be well known) songs from the Seventies and Eighties, all of which are perfectly used.
Finally, on this rewatch, despite pouring over every frame, sadly no closer to discovering James Gunn's final hidden Easter Egg. Next time A'Holes!

Infinity Stone counter = 4 (Power Stone, Reality Stone, Space Stone, Mind Stone)