I am not sure if the movie has silenced the critics, however it sure did silence the audience at the theater!
There was complete silence in the theater as the movie ended (more silence than the quiet place) as everyone was in shock as Thanos terminated half of the MCU by snap of his fingers.
I was silent as I was confused (and I still am) which stone enabled Thanos to unleash his ‘Vision’. When Thor dealt a fatal blow to Thanos with his Grut arm Axe piercing Thanos’s heart, it felt like one of those super hero movies (pre Logan) wherein the superhero triumphs against all odds, in our case one in fourteen million odds*
*(I am not committing a factual error here, just simplifying them by ignoring the fractions in the probability (special comment for all the dear geeks (both mathematical and comic)))
However, the dying Thanos responds by saying, “You should have gone for the head”, and SNAP the tide turns and the cheering audience lost its speech. My confusion : Which stone enabled him to do it? Was it the mind stone which executed his desire without him actually snapping, or was it the soul stone, as Thanos journeyed to his daughter inside the soul stone.
Nevertheless, what follows is one superhero after another biting the dust and we are left to the dead count.
It was too much for some fans to take. Earlier when Loki dies, fans were screaming, “Oh, NO”, when it seemed Iron Man was fatally hit they went, “Please NO”. However, they lost their NO voice as before they could shriek one by one the characters were disappearing.
Hence, it is essential to watch the movie in packed cinema halls with the fandom, the background music they provide, makes up the cinematic experience. Last time I felt that electric atmosphere with the Thor (Ragnarok) so this time I was up a week before release, booked tickets online, insisted on the IMAX experience, sacrificing position in the cinema hall, by ending up in the third row from the screen.The whole experience, ‘was WORTH it’
The cinema hall seemed possessed, as with introduction of every new character, a collective scream peppered with whistles went out drowning the on screen music. Spiderman got the loudest “Oooooo”, English language needs to develop a new super superlative for loud to describe the reception for Tony Stark, and another super level for when he puts on the suit!.
I got a bit carried away with the atmosphere, and shrieked out loud for a scene when a dark character emerged on the other side of a moving train. I initially mistook it for Aquaman, then got more confused by the beard, eventually a few seconds later realized that it was The Captian, yet all through this I never stopped my shriek.
Now by the sacrilege of mixing MCU with Justice League, you must have realized I am not a fanboy, a geek, a follower. None of the comic-con adjectives apply to me. To be honest, Age of Ultron, Winter Soldier are pretty blurred in my cortex, as are Guardians Vol 1, Dark World etc. The red faced character we see for the soul stone, I still don’t remember his name! I just enjoy the movies for their punches, both physical and verbal, with mind blowing 3D.
So standalone I enjoyed the infinity war. It was funny in parts, the CGI is almost flawless, everyone gets a chance, plus IMAX added to the whole experience, even though I would have preferred to be couple of rows back. I also liked the built up of Thanos. The idea that he is destined to do what he does is thematic, similar to Asgard getting destroyed in Ragnarok. The villain sheds a few tears, as the creators tried to humanize the character. However you can flaw them in titling the movie as ‘Infinity’ and headlining it with Thanos who believes in ‘Finite’, having finite creatures for finite resources. Somebody should have told him the irony of it.
The real fun was in watching the end credits, we deduced that the reason for the plot not leaking was that very few Indians were working as back office assistants to the assistants in the movie. However, finding a few local names, names we may bump into at a local pan shop, in the end credits of a major Hollywood production, is quite an exercise. The post end credits scene was again a mystery. The logo shown on the pager (who uses a pager with a color screen!) led to endless speculation. My first guess was Ant Man, and as seconds passed we took creative liberties in linking Krish to the franchise, the peak was when Shaktiman got mentioned, missed out on Captian Vyom though!
In summation, keep your phone charged and internet active, you may need it a lot as you walk outside the theater!
The Breakdown
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