Is 'Avengers: Infinity War' worth the hype?

[Auto-Didact]

First off please keep this thread SPOILER FREE, at least for the time being seeing the film has just released, spoilers go in spoiler tags. Carrying on.

Just saw it. Absolutely loved it. Highly recommend dropping whatever you are doing now and to immediately go see it in IMAX asap.

Also, and this goes very much more for this film in comparison to other Marvel Cinematic Universe films: you definitely need to have seen at least some of the other major films in order to enjoy this one, there is simply too much going on for a newcomer.

So in case you have been living under a rock for the past ten years and haven't seen any of the MCU films yet or don't know where to start but don't have the time to watch ~20 movies before going to watch this one, I'd recommend watching at least the following few in the following order (italic ones are optional):
Avengers
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Guardians of the Galaxy
Captain America: Civil War
Doctor Strange
Black Panther
Thor Ragnarok

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I'm going to see it tomorrow! Can't wait!

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Just got back from seeing it. They went pretty epic. Big time action all movie. Lots of consequences and big cliff hanger. Can't wait to see what is next!

 

[Auto-Didact]

From a pure cinematic filmmaking perspective, without going into any actual story elements, I think this film is a testament to where filmmaking has come the world over. The film is absolutely massive, prior films in the series and entire other large franchises really seems miniscule in comparison. For example, I used to think the Star Wars films were huge both in sheer scale, amount of locations and number of participants, but now they all seem rather self-contained to me, while the MCU has become practically limitless.

Don't get me wrong, the numerological mold of the cinematic trilogy archetype had been challenged far before Marvel Studios stepped into the game, a fact which is also clearly reflected in the number and naming of Star Wars films. However, all major offerings of something larger than a trilogy before this film seem to have been made in largely a rather linear, or multilinear, fashion of progression.

With Infinity War, things have really changed, forever. Not only has the concept of a trilogy practically been dismantled, the story progression has with this film seemingly become fully nonlinear, carefully balancing the order in all the chaos. The following is spoileresque:

Spoiler

despite being the first half of a two part epic, this film actually has in it the self-containedness of being capable of being a final film; if the Marvel Studios stopped releasing any more films tomorrow, I for one would definitely be content.

Then again, on pure naming alone, this is the third Avengers film and being the third in a multi-jointed trilogy, they have actually pulled off not being the worst of the three; I would even argue that the exact opposite is true and that this is clearly the best of the three, but I would have to reserve full judgment until next year, when the second part is released.

In any case, I don't think there has ever been a film of this size hyped this much which has actually gone on to deliver well and beyond on expectations and I can't even imagine any other studio in any other franchise pulling off something similar to what has been achieved here. The bar has been raised and I sincerely hope the rest of the industry is capable of keeping it held up.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

number of participants

I think they did an amazing job balancing screen time for the great number of super heroes. I also adore marvel's humor bits. It's so good. So dry and sarcastic. I love it.

 

[Azurite]

This is not a Spoiler.. it concerns the Infiniti Stones which are part of other series...

"Before creation itself, there were six singularities, then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants of this system were forged into concentrated ingots... Infinity Stones."
— A blonde-haired Benicio Del Toro in Guardians of the Galaxy

These are:

Space Stone = Tesseract
Reality Stone = Aether
Power Stone = Orb
Mind Stone = Loki's Scepter/Vision
Time Stone = Doctor Strange Talisman
Soul Stone = upcoming

When the holder tried to alter the molecular composition of an object.. say turning a knife into air bubbles.. what gem stones were used?

Also when teleporting objects.. does the holder needs to change the molecular structure of matter and make it travel or does he change space itself? What do you think?

 

[Azurite]

What is Thanos body made of? Can he survive a direct nuclear detonation meters away? It takes only very small microseconds for the nuclear fireball to initiate after the trigger was pressed.. so I don't think he would be fast enough to use any of the stones...

 

[Auto-Didact]

What is Thanos body made of? Can he survive a direct nuclear detonation meters away? It takes only very small microseconds for the nuclear fireball to initiate after the trigger was pressed.. so I don't think he would be fast enough to use any of the stones...

Pretty sure he can't straight-up survive an unexpected nuke to the face, but with enough preparation and/or Infinity stones, he could probably easily handle the situation.

When the holder tried to alter the molecular composition of an object.. say turning a knife into air bubbles.. what gem stones were used?

This seems spoileresque.

Also when teleporting objects.. does the holder needs to change the molecular structure of matter and make it travel or does he change space itself? What do you think?

The Space Stone works by opening wormholes in space.

 

[Azurite]

Pretty sure he can't straight-up survive an unexpected nuke to the face, but with enough preparation and/or Infinity stones, he could probably easily handle the situation.
This seems spoileresque.
The Space Stone works by opening wormholes in space.

Does the Reality stone (Aether) work by just transforming normal baryonic matter to dark matter? Some in the net described the Reality Stone as giving the holder the power to change the molecular structure of matter.. was this in the comics? I watched Thor Dark World again last night but didn't see this effect.

 

[Auto-Didact]

Does the Reality stone (Aether) work by just transforming normal baryonic matter to dark matter? Some in the net described the Reality Stone as giving the holder the power to change the molecular structure of matter.. was this in the comics? I watched Thor Dark World again last night but didn't see this effect.

In Thor The Dark World, it was said that the Aether can turn matter into dark matter, yes, but this may have been retconned similar to how the Tesseract was retconned from being a energy source to being a teleportation device.

Spoiler

Then again the non-pure Stone forms may just generally have different properties to the Stone forms we see in Infinity War. The Aether in the form of the Reality Stone seems to be capable of reversibly warping all observable/measurable properties of anything physical for extended periods of time or even indefinitely. It seems similar to Strange's/Loki's illusions, i.e. a specific manipulation of perception of (groups of) people, only more absolute,
i.e. for all practical purposes indistinguishable from an actual manipulation of reality.

 

[Azurite]

In Thor The Dark World, it was said that the Aether can turn matter into dark matter, yes, but this may have been retconned similar to how the Tesseract was retconned from being a energy source to being a teleportation/telekinetic device.

But the Tesseract is the Space Stone.. so teleportation is its natural state (wormhole in spacetime), how can it be energy source (how can manifold be energy source)?

 

[Auto-Didact]

But the Tesseract is the Space Stone.. so teleportation is its natural state (wormhole in spacetime), how can it be energy source (how can manifold be energy source)?

The Tesseract is the cube seen in the prior movies, the Space Stone is what is inside the Tesseract. There is no guarantee that the two do not have somewhat different properties, eg. perhaps the Space Stone encased in the Tesseract utilizes the stone's teleportation ability in order to generate or amplify energy. Don't forget that we saw the Tesseract explicitly being used as a kind of generator/energy source in both Captain America 1 and in The Avengers.

Moreover, if you want to get actual physics involved, there are energy requirements in opening and maintaining wormholes, perhaps this same energy can be utilized if it is not being used to create wormholes. This of course already all is pure speculation, so I'll just leave out any non-linear aspects of gravity as further "explanations".

 

[Azurite]

The Tesseract is the cube seen in the prior movies, the Space Stone is what is inside the Tesseract. There is no guarantee that the two do not have somewhat different properties, eg. perhaps the Space Stone encased in the Tesseract utilizes the stone's teleportation ability in order to generate or amplify energy. Don't forget that we saw the Tesseract explicitly being used as a kind of generator/energy source in both Captain America 1 and in The Avengers.

Moreover, if you want to get actual physics involved, there are energy requirements in opening and maintaining wormholes, perhaps this same energy can be utilized if it is not being used to create wormholes. This of course already all is pure speculation, so I'll just leave out any non-linear aspects of gravity as further "explanations".

I'll watch Captain America 1 again tonight. I re watched many old Marvels movie over the weekend to review the gem stones whereabouts, etc. I think the purpose of Avengers Infinity Wars is to make you watch all the previous movies before.. clever move.

Without the Infinity stones, the stories would be more boring.. which brings us to this.. in the future what technology or items would new Marvel movies be based on that can invoke the same excitement as the Infinity stones?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I saw it last night and thought it was an excellent film. As the lights went down in the theatre I couldn't help but think back to when I was sitting down to watch Iron Man on a lazy afternoon ten years ago. This kind of branching cinema narrative paying off after a decade (basically my whole adult life) blew me away on its own, let alone how good the film was.

I really enjoyed the humour of it and thought the various groups of characters were well suited to each other. For such a packed film it didn't feel unbalanced to me, or rushed. Each scene got the right amount of time.

Does the Reality stone (Aether) work by just transforming normal baryonic matter to dark matter? Some in the net described the Reality Stone as giving the holder the power to change the molecular structure of matter.. was this in the comics? I watched Thor Dark World again last night but didn't see this effect.

It works by magic, in the figurative sense of the word.

Spoiler

It's use doesn't conform to any logically consistent laws of physics but instead seems to follow whatever dream-like logic the user wants. Drax falling into cubes and mantis into ribbons whilst still somehow being alive for example. The one possible limit we see is that when Thanos stops concentrating or moves away the effect reverts.

 

[Azurite]

why is there no SPOILER thread so we can discuss the movie itself...

by the way.. when certain movie has international box office of say 700 million dollars.. does it mean it's net or gross? If gross.. what percentage does the movie company usually get? just estimating how much this movie really earns after deducting all expenses...

 

[Auto-Didact]

You can discuss the movie, just use spoiler tags.

Gross, its usually just amount of money raised by tickets sold.

 

[BWV]

The soul stone in the comics was Adam Warlock who was hinted at in Guardians 2. Also the Silver Surfer supposedly has a movie in the works (now that Disney/marvel owns the rights after the Fox aquisition. SS was a big part of the original comic book IW, so wondering if they are going to work him (and Galactus) in. Thanos in the comics was more of an erratic Caligula-type villain than a crazed environmentalist. In the comic his power-crazed ego was his downfall but that does not really fit the Thanos character in the movie

 

[Auto-Didact]

As you say, there is plenty different between the comics and the MCU. I think, especially with Thanos, that is definitely for the better.

As for the Fox deal, it isn't completely round yet, while the next Avengers movie has already been shot and is in the process of editing.

The directors have also directly said that Adam Warlock will not feature in the Avengers movie next year but will be reserved for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

 

[Grinkle]

a crazed environmentalist.

As of today, some estimates say the human race overall is living at about 1.5x a sustainable population / standard of living cross product.

Spoiler

I see in Thanos a portrait of a harsh reality check, not a crazed environmentalist. That is what I liked most about the movie. The bad guy is an embodiment of where we are heading. That is a first world perspective. The third world perspective might be that Thanos is an embodiment of where already are today.

 

[MidgetDwarf]

What is Thanos body made of? Can he survive a direct nuclear detonation meters away? It takes only very small microseconds for the nuclear fireball to initiate after the trigger was pressed.. so I don't think he would be fast enough to use any of the stones...

Depends what iteration of Thanos we are talking about. Read the comic, one of the most overpowered characters.

 

[dahoa]

Infinity Wars is now available in Blu-ray. I just rewatched it.

I'm just wondering.. there are billions and billions of galaxies in the universe.. and the infinity stones is part of the original Big Bang. Why does most events seem to center on Earth and not other planets?

And if the multiverse were true.. that means a real Infinity Wars events is occurring in an alternate universe? By the way.. is there is a race of Thanos humanoids or is he the only one (perhaps created by mutations just like the Hulk)?

 

[Auto-Didact]

Infinity Wars is now available in Blu-ray. I just rewatched it.

I'm just wondering.. there are billions and billions of galaxies in the universe.. and the infinity stones is part of the original Big Bang. Why does most events seem to center on Earth and not other planets?

And if the multiverse were true.. that means a real Infinity Wars events is occurring in an alternate universe? By the way.. is there is a race of Thanos humanoids or is he the only one (perhaps created by mutations just like the Hulk)?

Because it was written by Earthlings. To be fair though they do explore several different places within the galaxy.

The multiverse isn't true. And yes, Thanos is a mutant Titan, the others look like regular humans.

 

[Auto-Didact]

As of today, some estimates say the human race overall is living at about 1.5x a sustainable population / standard of living cross product.

Spoiler

I see in Thanos a portrait of a harsh reality check, not a crazed environmentalist. That is what I liked most about the movie. The bad guy is an embodiment of where we are heading. That is a first world perspective. The third world perspective might be that Thanos is an embodiment of where already are today.

Thanos' argument is actually quite more plausible than most simple carrying capacity equations imply.

In a world, where events have consequences i.e. a realistic world, the impact of such an event across the universe would probably be attributed as occurring due to some specific reason, either divine or natural. Like in the real world, these explanations would become 'wisdom' and so probably produce a religion/ideology which promotes a message which strongly resembles Thanos' stance, assuming he doesn't/didn't spread such a message himself. This would change the future dynamics of the universe considerably, strongly disfavoring the occurence of a repeat event.

 

[dahoa]

Right now they are in the last stages of filming part 2 of the Infinity wars.. there are literally thousands and thousands of people who work in the project.. I wonder why no one leaks the story.. what penalty would they be charged if they leaked it out?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Right now they are in the last stages of filming part 2 of the Infinity wars.. there are literally thousands and thousands of people who work in the project.. I wonder why no one leaks the story.. what penalty would they be charged if they leaked it out?

Hulk smash?

 

[dahoa]

Hulk smash?

Maybe there is a death penalty authorized.. explaining why no one ever leaked any plots?

 

[Grinkle]

Maybe there is a death penalty authorized.. explaining why no one ever leaked any plots?

Look at it from the other side - why would one risk one's career to leak a plot line? What would the motivation be?

 

[dahoa]

Look at it from the other side - why would one risk one's career to leak a plot line? What would the motivation be?

So the employee is barred from revealing it to his family and kids or are they all sworn to secretary. Won't a kid leak it to the classmate, etc.? How can they control 10,000 employees (comprising the graphics artists, etc.) whose work with them is only temporary. Anyone got a clue?

 

[Borg]

I'm sure that the producers are telling everyone the plot.
While the main actors will know more of the plot based on their lines, a hundred extras running away from a green screen won't. Niether will the guy editing a few frames of film with special effects.

See the wiki article on Compartmentalization for more on how its done.

 

[dahoa]

So there is absolutely no leaked information now?

The fate of the entire universe is at very stake right now.

 

[Borg]

You asked how they can control 10,000 employees from disclosing the plot. The answer is that they don't have to. By limiting information to a need-to-know basis, they greatly reduce the amount of information out there. Then, if a plot line gets out, they have a small set of people who could have leaked it. If they can determine from that point who leaked it, that person would probably never work in the industry again. That is a pretty major dis-incentive to disclose anything.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Compartmentalisation aside there often are story leaks around big movies (usually closer to the release) but finding the signal in the noise is very hard. There are so many rumours, theories and outright lies flying through media and online that even if someone has a solid inside leak from their hairdressers’ mums’ friend who works on set verifying is all but impossible.

 

[dahoa]

reasonable explanation... anyway what is the most notable leak in movie history?

And do they plan to release Infinity Wars in 4K bluray? It's already released in normal bluray. And so far.. has it reached more than 2 billion dollar box office?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

reasonable explanation... anyway what is the most notable leak in movie history?

Two years before Empire Strikes Back the actor who played Darth Vader (David Prowse, not James Earl Jones who did the voice) told a bunch of fans that Vader was Luke's father. It was even printed in newspapers, but because we're talking about the late 70s the leak didn't really spread that far.
https://www.slashfilm.com/david-prowse-ruin-the-empire-strikes-back-years-release/

And do they plan to release Infinity Wars in 4K bluray? It's already released in normal bluray. And so far.. has it reached more than 2 billion dollar box office?

These are all things a google search can tell you.

 

[dahoa]

About Infinity Wars and dozens of preludes to it over a decade, it mostly deals with objects that holds incredible powers. This is even true in DC Justice League. So let's try to trace our mythology and occult literature that speaks of such objecst. I know of 2 right now.

1. Rod of Initiation. This is supposed to be wielded by Shamballa Masters.. Shamballa is supposed to be an etheric or dark matter city floating high above the Gobi Desert. When they accepted the Chosen Initiates. They use the Rod of Initiation to awaken the powers of the Neophyte. Some Shamballa denizens can't just shift to physical hadronic matter via dark matter portal so they possesses people.. this is behind the story of David Icke shapeshifting reptilians.

2. Ark of the Covenant. This is like Tesseract, an object of incredible power that can open portals and make it communicate with certain people. Also those who can be near the object should be specially trained and shielded lest they be electrocuted which happened in the story.

What else you know? from our past mythology and occult literature.. this is to compare what idea is more creative and perhaps Marvel stories and Infinity Wars preludes came from these?