Avengers: Infinity War (Joe & Anthony Russo, April 27, 2018) Movie • Page 41

Critics who make a big deal out of it read to me as critics who were oblivious to the fact that the issue was going to be there.

 

My counterpoint would be that there isn’t only one potential correct way to make “Avengers: Infinity War”. Maybe a critic could make a point that they could have found an artistic way to reduce the number of major characters given the focus while still keeping the essential plot points and it would’ve made a better movie... or even that they should have changed the plot structure in a major way. Just because criticisms are “expected” doesn’t mean they aren’t present and accurate.

 

I generally don’t complain about something I safely assumed. Maybe some critics complain about something they already knew (if it wasn’t a surprise). There are flaws (nothing for people in this thread to go in panic mode over) in this movie that were not foreseeable that critics haven’t paid as much attention to.

 

I still don't understand why you have a problem with people criticizing it being overstuffed. Like, why don't you like them mentioning that? Why not complain about something you assumed?

 

That’s like me saying, “Trump is a terrible president. But I safely assumed he was going to be a terrible president before he was elected... so I’m never going to mention it again.”

 

It just comes off as silly and trivial when we are talking about a movie that has over 30 big characters in it. My group of friends know it’s overstuffed and have said it would be since the characters were confirmed. It’s basically a “tell us something we don’t know” at this point.

 

Okay, I get that, but it's a very valid thing to bring up if it took you out of the movie.

 

I don’t mind if it’s something a critic brings up but to cover it over other issues that the audience wouldn’t be expecting (and easier for the writers to avoid) is something that just nips me in a weird way.

 

I just don’t get this argument at all. A movie critic’s job is to assess the ENTIRE movie... including and especially for people who haven’t been obsessively following the lead up to its release like a lot of us have. Something not being “surprising” doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken into account if you’re looking at the movie *as a whole*.

 

Eh, I disagree. This is a cross over movie, it's been promoted that way. Going into this movie I have very high expectations to see a LOT of characters. To knock it for what it's primarily providing seems wrong. I'd compare it to complaining that Jurassic Park had too many dinosaurs.

 

If someone’s critique was “The focus being on too many dinosaurs detracts from the story and human element and makes for a mediocre movie”, I’d say that’s a valid critique (and is basically the argument made about the entire Transformers series by a lot of critics).

There should absolutely be an element of judging movies on what they’re trying to accomplish, but there’s a reason film critics (or critics generally) often look at the big-picture view in their critiques. Because fundamental flaws in the basics can often actually detract from what a movie *is* trying to accomplish... regardless of what that goal may be.

 

Except Jurassic Park focused mainly on the T-Rex, raptors and the spitter. It's a bad comparison.

 

Speaking of overstuffed, how does the Hulk's bulge look in this thing?

 

At this point, unless they've been living under a rock, critics should know not to critique this movie in a vacuum.

 

If I understand what you're saying, I completely disagree with this viewpoint. Why shouldn't they be reviewed as a standalone movie?

 

It's not that they shouldn't, but critiquing this movie as a standalone and disregarding the ten years worth of anticipation and story-telling will really just create a dissonance with the vast majority of this movie's audience, who already know these character's stories and are there to see them all intertwine.

It's not a conventional movie, it's very much a crossover movie. I'd be surprised if it manages to also work well as a standalone.

 

That's my issue with movies like these. Every movie should stride to be entertaining, thought-provoking, etc... on its' own. At least good ones, in my opinion.

 

I look at this movie as MCU: Episode 18. There's way too much back story and cross overs for it to be "on it's own."

 

Right, and I don't like that. I get that there would be a lot of things you'd be lost about if you haven't seen all the movies or most of them or whatever, but it should still work by itself in that it's well directed, the plot is understandable, the motivations make sense, etc...

 

I'm a film critic located in Houston, TX and I had the chance to attend an early screening of this yesterday afternoon. It doesn't feel like a two and a half hour film and I feel like I was ready to watch it again as soon as it was over. If you're interested in reading a spoiler-free review of the film, I've posted one here. If reviews aren't your thing just know that Infinity War basically exceeds every expectation you may have for it and is the pinnacle of the MCU up to this point (as it should be).

 

What did you think about Red Skull?

 

Man, I can't imagine seeing the first "Iron Man," "Black Panther" or "Ragnarok" and thinking this is better than that.

 

Over time I might be more judgmental but this is my favorite MCU film just for the fact that I finally got what I've wanted: very high and emotional stakes.

 

I’m not expecting to like this more than either guardians, cap 2 or 3. Those are my shit.

 

I will be very, VERY disappointed if I like this less than Black Panther or Ragnarok