Thread by @JasonKirell

Okay, I'm about to deep dive into Infinity War.

This is going to be my third viewing of the film.

If you want to avoid spoilers, mute this thread now.

Really good opening with the Asgaardian ship sending a distress call over the Marvel logo.

The first character we hear from is Ebony Maw, who gives a chilling opening speech:

"Hear me and rejoice. You have had the privilege of being saved by the great Titan. You may think this is suffering. No. This is salvation. The universal scales tip towards balance because of your sacrifice. Smile, for even in death you have become children of Thanos."

Wow.

Then we swing over to get our first look at Thanos, a towering giant in full armor, standing over a fallen Thor.

Thanos picks Thor up with one hand and walks him over towards Loki while giving making a statement that pretty much defines his character and his motivation:

"I know what its like to lose," Thanos begins. "To feel so desperately that you're right, but to lose nonetheless. It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here. Or should I say, I am."

Seriously, that's one of the most chilling antagonist introductions I've ever seen in a movie, and Thanos hasn't even done anything physical yet.

You thought Loki and Killmonger were great villians. Thanos leaped them all with one speech in the first two minutes of the film.

Loki looking anguished as Thanos puts the power stone to Thor's head (which slowly starts to crack) is a really brilliant way to show that despite everything in their past, deep down Loki really did love Thor like a true brother.

And now we get into the Hulk - Thanos fight....

45 seconds.

That's how long Hulk lasted against Thanos.

Now to break down the fight.

Hulk sneak-attacks Thanos and shoulder blocks him away from Loki and the tesseract.

Hulk gets five punches in on Thanos before pushing him up against a wall.

Black dwarf steps in to assist, but Maw stops him, saying, "let him have his fun."

What follows is utterly brutal.

Hulk grabs Thanos' shoulders with both hands and Thanos just peels them off with little effort.

Thanos then delivers a quick jab to Hulk's throat. Hulk stammers back, takes a swing that Thanos blocks and delivers a one-two combo.

Hulk turns away and Thanos hits a kidney shot.

Thanos then delivers seven brutal punches to the face in about a second and a half before kneeing Hulk in the face and finishing the "fight" with a body slam.

10 punches and one knee. That was all it took to defeat the strongest being in Marvel comics history.

Brutal.

Also, absolutely perfect way to establish Thanos as an unstoppable force.

He wasn't a big, slow brute. He fought like a trained boxer who just happens to be 10 feet tall and 800lbs.

He had technique. He had speed. He had power.

He looked like a villain with hardly any flaws.

Heimdal using the bifrost to transport Hulk out of there was a fitting end for an underrated MCU character. He really had no purpose once Asgaard was destroyed.

And Loki's death.

Jeez.

Also appropriate, since he dies doing what he loved doing - trying to trick someone.

He just picked the wrong guy to trick. Thanos, in addition to being strong, fast and viscious, is also smart as hell.

The blood vessels in Loki's eyes bursting as Thanos squeezes his throat is just an amazing detail. And the subtle crunch when Thanos finally snaps his neck with one hand.

Oh my god.

There can be only one great villians in the MCU and Thanos just established that's him.

And that was just the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Probably the most brutal 10 minutes in MCU history...until later on in the film.

At this rate I'll be done with this deep dive by Friday.

And y'all wonder why I'm single.

Maybe a slight continuity error, but just before Hulk/Banner crashes through the NY sanctum, Dr. Strange is wearing regular clothes as he's about to go to a deli.

As soon as Hulk crashes through the stairs Strange's cape flies over to him & in the next shot he's in full uniform.

That could just be Strange and his magic, though.

It does beg the question, if Strange can materialize his coat out of nowhere, why couldn't he just materialize a tuna melt for Wong?

Side note - both Dr. Strange and Wong are played by guys named Benedict.

The guy who plays Wong is actually named Benedict Wong.

Cut to Tony and Pepper talking about his dream of having a baby.

Note - Jon Favreau's character Happy doesn't appear in the movie, but he is in a deleted scene that takes place here.

The introduction of the alien donut ship with the wind blowing through the sanctum and civilians running and screaming was really well done.

Gave me flashbacks to the beginning of that Tom Cruise War of the Worlds movie.

Spiderman on the bus asking Ned to create a distraction and Ned just seeing the ship and screaming "We're all going to die!" is just wonderful.

Ned is a national treasure.

Obligatory Stan Lee cameo.

"What's wrong, haven't you kids seen a space ship before?"

LOL. One of his better cameos.

Tony calling Ebony Maw squidward is just great.

Banner trying to Hulk out and having performance issues.

"Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizards." - Tony Stark

Spiderman blocking the Black Dwarf's hammer blow to Tony is a great example of how strong Spiderman actually is.

Ebony Maw and Dr. Strange have a great little wizard fight.

Maw would have been a good main villian in any other MCU film.

Spiderman falling off the donut ship and being caught with the Iron Spider suit.

"Mr. Stark it smells like a new car in here."

Everything about this updated version of Spiderman is perfect.

Here's something that doesnt make sense to me.

Wong leaves, Banner asks where he's going, Wong says:

"The time stone is gone. The sanctum is unguarded. I have to protect it."

From what? Thanos is already here and he got the one thing the sanctum was supposed to be guarding.

Wong just noped right tf out.

Love that the Guardians introduction begins with a location tag of "Space."

Also, Rubber band Man is a nice happy song to intro the most lighthearted part of the MCU.

The Guardians and Thor scene is the funniest part of the film.

Starlord: "How the hell is this dude still alive?"

Drax: "This is not a dude. You're a dude. This is a man. A muscular, handsome man."

Starlord: "I'm muscular."

Rocket: "You're one sandwich away from fat."

Drax: "Its like a pirate had a baby with an angel."

Starlord: "All right. This is a wakeup call for me. I'm gonna hit the bowflex. I'm gonna get some dumbbells."

Rocket: "You know you can't eat dumbbells, right?"

Drax tells Thor Gamora is the daughter of Thanos.

Thor says Thanos killed his brother & stands up and starts walking towards Gamora.

"Uh oh," Rocket says.

Thor just puts a hand on her shoulder and says "families can be tough."

A lesser movie would have created conflict here.

Starlord stares at Thor's hand on Gamora's shoulder as he explains the events of Ragnarok, jealous of Thor.

"It's not a completion, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother & then I had to kill my father. That's probably even harder than having to kill a sister."

This is by far the funniest scene in the movie:

Thor: "I have to go to Nidavellir."

Drax: "That's a made-up word."

Thor: "All words are made up."

Thor is basically Space Yogi Berra.

Cut back to Vision and Scarlet Witch, who are now madly in love.

You really do feel the emotion between them. Both actors do a great job in this little scene.

And then Corvus Glave almost gives me a heart attack when he stabs Vision through the chest.

This fight scene between Vision, Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Black Widow and Falcon against Corvus Glave and Proxima Midnight is outstanding.

This movie has so many great fight scenes you can kinda forget how good this one is.

This was a 5-on-2 fight and the two almost win.

Cap's intro, catching Midnight's spear was amazing. The black suit, the beard, the music.

Saving Vision.

You forget that Vision and Captain America were fighting on opposite sides in Civil War.

Cap is just a good guy.

Up next is probably my favorite overall scene in the movie - a flashback to when Thanos devastated Gamora's home world and captured her.

It's so well done. Thanos, through all the chaos and destruction and death actually comes across as tender and loving in this scene.

He's so gentle with her, holding her hand, trying to distract her from her parents being shot.

Gently turning her head away from the execution of hundreds.

Brolin did a fantastic job as Thanos overall, but totally nailed the base level humanity that exists within him.

Killmonger was a terrific MCU villian bc he was well developed and real and his motivations weren't forced.

The fact that a completely CGI character can elicit the same level of understanding and empathy, even though he's a million times more evil than Killmonger, is unreal.

The scene at Nowhere when Thanos tricks the Guardians into thinking they killed him was so well done. It was one of the best fake-outs in movie history and also one of the saddest.

The range of emotion, going from comedy to action to drama when Gamora thinks she killed him...

Zoe Saldana totally nails this scene.

Then Thanos turning Drax to stone bricks and Many is into paper with the reality stone. Brutal.

Gamora asking Starlord to kill her and Starlord being unable to until the last second.

Then. Bubbles.

"I like you." - Thanos to Starlord.

One aspect of Thanos that's really welcome is his respect for his opponents. You can tell he isn't just motivated by blind hatred or revenge, which makes him completely unique and probably much more dangerous.

Next we move on to Wakanda, where BP gives Bucky his vibranium fighting arm.

Bucky is just without an arm now. Apparently they couldn't even get him a simple plastic prosthetic to use for clearing hay or whatever he's been doing for a while.

Back to Ebony Maw and Dr. Strange, who has a bunch of super sharp surgical needles surrounding him.

Tony and Peter make a plan.

Peter: "Ever see that really old movie, Aliens?"

I love how Peter Parker's entire ability to strategize is dependant upon sci fi movies he's watched.

Ebony Maw was such a OP villain for a second-tier guy it kinda makes sense they'd have to shortcut a way around a long drawn-out fight scene.

The thing I don't understand, though, is why the vacuum of space was a thing on this ship and not the Asgaardian ship from earlier.

That ship was literally blown in half. Everyone should have been sucked out into space before Thanos even set foot on it.

Next we move on to the throne room scene with Thanos and Gamora where Thanos laments that Gamora didn't stick with him and Gamora explains how unhappy she was as Thanos' prisoner.

What's interesting about this scene is what was left out. A deleted scene in the extras expands upon this part of the movie, where Thanos uses the reality stone to show a projection of a younger Gamora coming back from a mission where she killed some king & chopped his head off.

She tosses the head at Thanos' feet and Thanos compliments her on a job well done.

And Gamora smiles.

She's actually happy.

Thanos freezes this scene and shows it to Gamora, who reacts with a combination of shame and denial.

Not sure why this was cut out. It adds so much.

The relationship between Gamora and Thanos is at the heart of this movie and removing that scene removed a ton of info about how complicated their relationship really was.

I could watch an entire movie just about Gamora and Thanos.

A great exchange between Thanos and Gamora:

G: "I was a child when you took me."

T: "I saved you."

G: "No. No. We were happy on my planet."

T: "Going to bed hungry, scrounging for scraps? Your planet was on the brink of collapse. I stopped that..."

T: "....You know what's happened since then? The children born have known nothing but full bellies and clear skies. It's a paradise."

G: "Because you murdered half the planet."

T: "A small price to pay for salvation."

G: "You're insane."

...

T: "Little one, it's a simple calculus. This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked life will cease to exist. It needs correction."

G: "You don't know that!"

T: "I'm the only one who knows that. Or at least, I'm the only 1 w/ the will to act on it."

Thanos is Space Donald Trump.

"I alone can fix it."

Thanos then takes Gamora to where he's holding Nebula - who we last saw at the end of Guardians 2 when she vowed to go after Thanos.

He caught her on his ship and is doing this to her:

She's mostly metal, so I guess he's using some sort of magnetic field to rip her apart. She looks to be in a tremendous amount of pain, but I'm not sure why. If she's mostly metal she shouldn't feel pain.

He tortures her until Gamora tells him where the soul stone is.

The interesting thing about this scene is that he's not torturing Nebula to be a dick, or for revenge.

The second Gamora told him where the soul stone was he stopped torturing Nebula.

He could have ripped her apart right there, but he didn't.

In fact, throughout the entire movie Thanos basically shows restraint in only killing the people he absolutely needs to - Heimdal bc he can summon the bifrost and Loki bc he can't be trusted to be left alive.

He actively goes out of his way not to kill anyone he doesn't need to.

Moving on to a scene with Rocket and Thor on their way to Nidavellir to forge Thor's new hammer.

This is an absolutely fantastic scene that really shows more depth and vulnerability to Thor than in the previous five movie versions combined.

Hemsworth kills it here.

R: "This is Thanos we're talking about. He's the toughest there is."

T: "Well, he's never fought me."

R: "Yeah, he has."

T: "He's never fought me twice. And I'm getting a new hammer."

R: "Well, that better be some hammer."

T: "You know, I'm 1500 yrs old. I've killed twice as many enemies as that. Every one would have rather killed me & I succeeded bc fate wants me alive. Thanos is just the latest in a long line of bastards who will feel my vengeance. Fate wills it so.

R: "What if you're wrong?"

T: "If I'm wrong then what more could I lose."

Hemsworth is literally on the verge of tears in this scene. It's the most vulnerable we've ever seen Thor and you compare where he is now to where he started in the MCU it's like two completely different characters.

By now Thor has lost everything. His father, his mother, his brother, his best friends, his hammer.

He's a perfect parallel to Thanos, who also loses everything by the end of the film.

These two characters mirror each other so well.

Just to pause here for a second and say this film has the best writing of any in the MCU.

There are four or five top speeches that by all rights are too good to be in a movie about space gods and talking raccoons and witches and robot men.

The entire scene where Thor arrives to get Storm Breaker forged is wonderful. Peter Dinklege brings his usual excellence and it's awesome that he's still playing a dwarf, but he's like 20 feet tall.

"Woah, woah, woah, please don't put your eggs in me." - Peter to Mantis.

"Die, blanket of death." - Drax to Dr. Strange's cloak.

"Where is Gamora?"
"I'll do you one better, who is Gamora?"
"I'll do you one better, why is Gamora?"

The Avengers meeting Guardians scene is gold.

On Titan, Dr. Strange uses the time stone to see 14,000,605 possible outcomes of the fight with Thanos, of which they only win one.

Which begs the question, since we know Ant Man and the quantum realm are crucial to the next movie, did Dr. Strange see him and Capt. Marvel?

Also, unless the one successful outcome was the 14,000,605th possible outcome, what was the point of looking at the others? Just study what the one successful outcome was and come back and tell everyone what happens.

On Vormir, we see that Red Skull is now the guardian of the soul stone after getting kicked out of the tesseract.

His job is to, as he says, guide others to what he himself cannot possess.

So...did others come looking for it? Or was Thanos just the first to find it?

Also, holy crap is the CGI on Thanos phenomenal.

It's top notch throughout the while movie, but the close-up shots here in this scene make you forget this isn't Josh Brolin with purple makeup and prosthetics.

It really is the little details that make Thanos so realistic. In the scene where he comes to the realization he has to sacrifice Gamora you can see the muscles in his neck and throat contract.

Just amazing attention to detail by the special effects team.

And the tiny lip quiver after he tosses her off the cliff. Remarkable.

It's clear when you watch this film and how every CGI scene was near perfect that they really half-assed the CGI on Black Panther in order to focus on this film.

Back in Wakanda, we see Shuri for the first time an hour and a half into the movie. Probably the worst part of this film as she was the second best character in Black Panther and deserved more screen time in this. She basically has a minute more screen time than General Ross.

Thor getting Storm Breaker forged is probably a Top-3 epic scene in MCU history.

Facing the full power of a dying star. Thor is basically crazy OP.

Back to Wakanda and the scene where the dog aliens start breaking through the force filed and I'm wondering why Banner and the Hill Buster are standing behind the Wakandan soldiers and not in front of them.

You're in a giant metal suit, dude. Step up.

The scene when they open up a small part of the force field and they all run toward the aliens and Cap and BP just fly past everyone makes me giddy.

I hate running, but goddamn if I don't enjoy watching other people run really fast.

GAH, the Storm Breaker scene is so epic. And Groot making the handle himself is just perfect, though I'm not sure why a small twine of wood would be able to handle the power of Storm Breaker and not shatter.

And the obligatory bicep shot for @redcanwine

Back to Wakanda for the final fight scene.

Just FYI, Wakanda in this movie was actually filmed in Georgia, with photos of Africa used for the far background.

BRING ME THANOS!!!!

HO-LEE-SHIT

Nice little fake-out as we immediately see a portal open up and Thanos step out and we think he's coming to challenge Thor, but nope...they're on Titan.

The Titan scene has a great slow build. Thanos just talking to Dr. Strange, explaining the history of his world and how it died, how that motivated him.

It also touched on something you don't often see in hero-villain conflicts, namely, what the villain plans on doing after.

T: "With all 6 stones I could just snap my fingers and they would all cease to exist. I call that mercy."

DS: "Then what?"

T: "I rest. Watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the greatest wills."

Say what you will about Thanos' methods or goals, but it's clear he's not Darth Vader or Sauron. He doesn't want to rule over everyone.

He just wants balance. One could even say he wants peace and prosperity for all (who are left).

That's, kinda deep for a big purple alien.

As for the actual fight scene itself, for being completely CGI it was amazing. Probably the best fight scene in the movie, if not the entire 10 year history of the MCU.

Starlord gets a lot of shit for screwing up and knocking Mantis' hands off Thanos, but you can understand why.

Flying into a blind rage when you just found out the love if your life was killed by the guy in front of you - I get that.

Tony didn't even know Gamora, of course he was going to just focus on the mission.

Drax and Mantis were too busy holding down Thanos for it to sink in.

Back to Wakanda.

"Oh, I'll get that arm." - Rocket to Bucky.

Damn, how they turned a talking raccoon into a top-5 Marvel character is some magic shit all it's own.

Those giant spinning wheel things that burrowed under the force field.

Maybe lead with those things instead of waiting until your army is already on the battlefield in front of them.

I know they were just foot soldiers and expendable, but still. Bad strategy there.

Scarlet Witch lifting them all up at once and using them against the dog aliens is kinda proof that her powers as shown so far haven't even scratched the surface of what she's capable of.

She might be second to Thor in terms of super powers.

Then the fight between Proxima Midnight, Black Widow, Okoye and Scarlet Witch.

Not the best fight in the movie, but it was good to see most of the secondary female cast get some screen time in a fight scene.

Corvus Glave has to be the most underrated of all the Thanos children.

He basically destroyed vision and came within seconds of beating Captain America until he got stabbed in the back.

And his staff literally cut through vibranium like it was tin.

Back to Titan and I'm not sure which fight I prefer more - Thanos vs. Dr. Strange or Thanos vs. Iron Man.

Dr. Strange put up a good fight using all his magic tricks, but the reality stone kinda nullified most of it.

Iron Man surprised the hell out of me w/ the fight he put up.

He took a full on blast from the power stone, blocked it with his shield, spun around and grounded Thanos with his foot before hitting him on the side of the head with his giant metal mallet arm.

And then...

I mean, jeez. At that point it's just not fair. That was about the best Iron Man could do.

"You have my respect, Stark. When I'm done half of humanity will still be alive. I hope they remember you."

Thanos is just a fascinating character.

A cool little detail that occurs subtlety throughout the movie, but one you can really see in the scene where Dr. Strange hands over the time stone, is that Dr. Strange's hands constantly shake.

Even though he's the sorcerer supreme, he still doesn't use magic to fix his hands.

And now back to Wakanda for the end fight scene, and boy is it a doozy.

All the remaining Avengers take on Thanos, who just brushes them aside like nothing.

And while that is going on Scarlet Witch is trying to break the mind stone out if vision. It's heartbreaking.

Truly one of the most emotional scenes in the film.

The last line of defense is, of course, Captain America, who grabs the Gauntlet and holds it back as Thanos...

...Seems actually surprised Cap has the strength to hang with him.

The look on Thanos' face right before he knocks out Cap is really interesting. It's like a mixture of surprise, respect and a little bit of awe that this human can even put up a bit of a fight.

But eventually Cap goes down, and nothing stands between him and Vision except for Scarlet Witch, which brings us to the epic finale and one of the most soul-crushing scenes in recent movie history.

This. This right here is fucking amazing.

SW is literally cracking an Infinity stone, killing her lover and fending off Thanos with 5 infinity stones.

All while crying her eyes out.

She might be my new favorite character in the MCU.

Visions final words before SW cracks the stone.

"I love you."

Goddamn it. I have to stop cutting onions while reviewing movies.

I mean, this is the face of genuine anguish.

So SW cracks the stone, Vision seems to completely disintegrate. Thanos walks up to her and, expresses compassion, again.

T: "I understand, my child. Better than anyone."

SW: "You could never."

T: "Today I lost more than you could know. But now is no time to mourn."

Now, if this was Star Wars Thanos would accentuate the TIME part of that line, based on what he's about to do.

But Brolin played it straight, and it made what Thanos does next absolutely shocking and horrifying.

Thanos uses the time stone to bring Vision back, then walks up to him and without saying a word, literally rips the mind stone out if Vision's head.

Vision goes limp. His body turns gray and Thanos dumps his lifeless corpse like a newspaper on a front stoop.

God. Damn.

Brutal.

That is next level evil.

Forget what Thanos does next, just that move alone catapults him into being one if the best villians, not just in the MCU, but of all movie history.

I don't think anyone has ever been killed twice, once by their lover and again by their enemy.

Now, what happens next is where this Avengers movie differs wildly from Age of Ultron.

Yeah, Quicksilver died in AoU, but Ultron was eventually defeated.

Here we have Thor flying in with his new weapon, the one made specifically to kill Thanos....

He throws Stormbreaker, which cuts right through the might of the six infinity stones to strike Thanos right in the chest.

In any other Marvel movie, or any other movie period, this would be where the hero saves the day at the last minute.

Alas, as Thanos says...

"You should have gone for the head."

*snap*

Thanos then appears somewhere. He's not wearing the gauntlet.

He sees a figure off in the distance. It's child Gamora.

T: "Daughter?"

G: "Did you do it?"

T: "Yes."

G: "What did it cost?"

T: "Everything."

There should not be this much depth in a comic book movie.

Anyway, we jump back to Wakanda where Thanos and Thor are still entangled.

They both look at the Infinity Gauntlet, which looks like this:

"What did you do?" Thor asks, as Thanos uses the space stone to teleport away, leaving a bloody Stormbreaker on the ground.

And then the scene that launched a thousand internet memes begins.

Bucky disintegrates.
Black Panther disintegrates.
Groot disintegrates.
Scarlet Witch disintegrates.
Falcon disintegrates.

On Titan...

Mantis disintegrates.
Drax disintegrates.
Peter Quill disintegrates.
Dr. Strange disintegrates.

"Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good."

God, this scene killed me. Peter Parker is 16.

He was the last to go bc his super powers were fighting it for as long as they could.

His last lines are crushing:

"I don't know what's happening. I don't know what's happening. Please. I don't want to go. Please, sir, I don't want to go. Please, I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I'm sorry."

Jesus Christ. This guy can act his ass off.

Cut back to Wakanda where everyone is around Vision's body.

Black Widow looks like she's about to throw up.

Cap looks completely defeated.

Banner is crying in the Hulkbuster suit.

Rhodey doesn't get what happened.

And Rocket is just sitting on a log with his head down.

The final scene, fittingly, goes to Thanos. Who is back on Titan, which is lush and green and beautiful (reality stone?).

He sits down and watches the sun rise, just like he said he was going to.

The bad guy won.

An amazing ending to an amazing film.

I'd say this is the Empire Strikes Back of the MCU, but that would be an insult to this film.

The Empire didn't win in ESB.

Thanos won. He beat all the Avengers. He killed half of all life in the universe.

Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.

I didn't like this movie nearly as much in the theater as I did watching it at home. It's hard to appreciate how much depth there is in a spectacle film like this when you don't have the chance to go back and re-watch for details.

This is the best MCU film. By a lot.

And with that, I'm going to close this deep dive, because I started this review with my phone fully charged x and well....

I hope you enjoyed this, guys. Thanks for putting up with me spamming your TL.