Movie Review: "Avengers: Infinity War" - Epic in Every Sense

10 years. I don't think that anyone could have imagined where things have lead to when the first Iron Man movie came out back then. Against all odds, Marvel changed the film industry by creating a cinematic universe full of so many different types of heroes. With "Avengers: Infinity War", it was time to bring everything together and to an end. There may be some point where the MCU will become too large and collapse into itself, but today is not that day.

"Infinity War" is as ambitious as first Avengers film was, not only uniting all the heroes of Earth, but the space-faring Guardians of the Galaxy as well. And when you have a villain bent on wiping out half the universe, it's going to take all the big guns. Considering the stories this film is based on, what we have here is the first true event comic book movie, where the story is so massive in scale that it will affect every corner and bring characters together that never met before. We see new and every entertaining interactions between Avengers and Guardians, including Thor and Rocket, Iron Man and Star-Lord, and (albeit briefly) Captain America and Groot.

Tonally, this is probably the darkest film to come from the MCU, and it makes it clear from the beginning not just with the first scene, but by the opening Marvel Studios logo not including its usual fanfare music. Shit was definitely about to get real. That's not to say that the film doesn't include the trademark humor the films have been known for. Hell, it's probably the most I've laughed at a first viewing of a Marvel movie. In fact, it's those moments that are needed to alleviate the dark moments, otherwise, I think the movie would be downright depressing.

The action is top notch as always, and I would say probably the most graphic from these films (the opening scene and Vision getting stabbed from behind come to mind). One of my favorite moments though was Spider-Man swinging through New York during a fight scene; I know we've seen Spider-Man swinging through the city in past films before, but this is the first time we've seen him do it in the MCU. It was quite a big deal for me.

But let's talk about the real star of the film: Thanos, voiced by Josh Brolin. Having been teased since the first Avengers film and Brolin being cast four years prior to "Infinity War", this has been built up for a long time. What we get is not only without a doubt the best MCU villain probably ever, but Thanos will go down as one of the greatest villains in cinematic history, right there with Darth Vader. His very presence is imposing and with the power at his disposal, there's true fear in what he'll do next. In a way, he's a natural disaster, like a hurricane brewing in the ocean that has finally made landfall.  Thankfully he's not just evil for evil's sake, as he's shown to be a complex character. He truly believes his goals are noble and he does have some shred of love in his heart. All villains before pale to the glory of Thanos (which isn't hard in some cases).

The film is full of a lot of shocks and twists that fans won't see coming, especially the ending, even though we probably should have. I myself am still in awe of what happened. It's best to remember that when the film was announced, it was a two-parter, with the second coming out in 2019. Despite the name change, it's still definitely a two-parter. That being the case, even though this is definitely the best MCU film to date, the story's not over yet and I will wait until Avengers 4 is released next year before updating my ranking list.

All in all, "Avengers: Infinity War" is an epic event of heroes coming together against a great evil that needs to be experienced in theaters with a finale no one can be prepared for. For those of us who've followed these characters since the beginning, it's an emotional roller coaster. It only hurts that we must wait a year to find out how it all truly ends.

Movie Review: "Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay" - Another Mixed Bag (SPOILERS)

It goes without saying that Suicide Squad has become a household name recently. The 2016 live action film, despite not being critically well received, was still able to find an audience. That said, I guess I should have seen an animated film coming. And much like it's real life counterpart, "Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay" had potential but doesn't necessarily live up to it.

To give the film some initial props, the characters definitely feel more in line with their comic book counterparts. They make it clear that these are bad guys, who will fight and betray each other, not looking for any kind of redemption. However, there is still a level comradery between some of the characters. This is most evident in Deadshot and Bronze Tiger. Tiger is more noble to contrast Deadshot's selfishness, but they have as much similarities as they do differences, especially in their backstories.

As another R rated entry into DC's animated film line, the level of action is allowed to be as graphic as possible, aiming for the same vain as splatter exploitation films. While the initial scene achieves that, I found it down hill from there. The rest of the action in the film isn't bad, but it doesn't really stand out compared to that opening scene or any other DC animated film.

This film is pretty much a who's who of supervillains. That's a strength and weakness to me. On one hand, you get to see a bunch of villains who may not have had much spotlight on them before. However, some of them are gone as quickly as they appear, and unless you're familiar with the comics, you won't even know who they are, and even if you do, you still may not even care for them here. The point is, a lot of characters are superfluous to the plot.

For the most part, the voice cast is pretty good. We have Christian Slater as Deadshot, who definitely fits the roll well. Vanessa Williams plays Amanda Waller, who does such a good job, you'd almost think it was CCH Pounder again. For what little time she appeared, I liked Dania Ramirez as Scandal Savage. You also have C. Thomas Howell reprising the role of the Reverse-Flash, which is not only a call back to "The Flashpoint Paradox", but also connects to that film.

If I had a problem with anyone, it's Tara Strong, once again playing Harley Quinn. While she's usually great as the character, I couldn't help but feel her heart wasn't in it this time around; some lines weren't delivered as well as they could have been. Besides that, I just didn't feel Tara's voice fit with Harley's character design here. On another note, she is the main source of comedy in the film, usually from her or characters reacting to her. It lands half the time, but grating the other half, which I again attribute to Tara's line deliveries. It also doesn't help that there were awkward moments of silence like they're spacing it out for the viewer to laugh (and that's for comedic moments not just involving Harley as well).

The plot of this film is in my opinion kind of silly. The base of it is Amanda Waller sending the Suicide Squad to retrieve a "Get out of Hell Free" card, which is also being sought by Vandal Savage and the Reverse-Flash. And I'm not simplifying it there; the card literally says "Get out of Hell Free" in plain English on it. Whoever possesses the card at the moment of their death is immediately sent to Heaven. Now, the idea of such a macguffin isn't bad, but I have a hard time taking it seriously when a magical item like that literally says "Get out of Hell Free" instead of some ancient magic language.

This also ties into two other problems I have. The first being that we didn't need two sets of villains going after the card. You could have left Vandal Savage out entirely and just have the Reverse-Flash seeking the card; he definitely had the more interesting motive, trying to prolong his death long enough to get the card. The second being their use of the hero Doctor Fate, who had possession of the card before it was stolen. This is a new version of the character created for the film called Steel Maxum, who was chosen by Nabu for his fitness to become the new Doctor Fate. Aside from his fitness, the guy is your typical douchebag in love with himself who loses the card because of his own stupidity, leading Nabu to revoke the title from him, but I'm just left bewildered that he was chosen in the first place.

I was really excited for this film, and while it does well in some areas, I just can't overlook its flaws enough to recommend it, not even to fans of the live action film. And while I thought the live action film had good elements that were misused, "Hell to Pay" is bloated with characters and a plot that's all over the place.

As it stands, the best depiction of the Suicide Squad in film still remains "Batman: Assault on Arkham", which was essentially a Suicide Squad movie that despite my problems with it when it first came out, has actually improved with age.

Coming up next from DC's animated movie line is a two parter: "Death of Superman" and "Reign of the Supermen". In this instance, I'm going to wait until the second part is released to watch both and review them all at once; so don't expect that until next year.