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The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

The Student News Site of San Francisco State University

Golden Gate Xpress

To infinity and beyond 10 years: C Lo’s Movie Reviews

To+infinity+and+beyond+10+years%3A+C+Lo%E2%80%99s+Movie+Reviews

It’s all come down to this.

10 years in the making, from 2008’s “Iron Man” all the way up to this February’s “Black Panther” — that’s almost half of my life.

The Marvel cinematic universe has always brought joy to me with every new film that builds upon their franchise. I’ve grown up with these heroes on the big screen as well as the TV screen. As an imaginative child and teen, one can say that they were my friends.

With the gargantuan culmination of characters that is “The Avengers: Infinity War,” I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not going to be the same. Characters that I have grown up with will cease to exist and I’m not okay with that. I may just accept it, since signed contracts with Marvel Studios are just business, but the hole in my heart from losing some of the characters I have loved will remain.

Thanos is to blame.

Continuing right after “Thor: Ragnarok,” the evil, purple and Mad Titan Thanos begins his hunt for all six Infinity Stones.

These sources of pure energy are powerful singularities that were in existence before creation itself and when the universe got its start through the Big Bang, those singularities forged into six stones known as the space, soul, mind, time, reality, and power stones.

Any creature in the universe that can wield one or two of these stones would already be the most powerful creature in the universe. But with all six, he can control the universe itself and make it bow to his will. With the Infinity Gauntlet, a glove-like accessory with six slots, each for an infinity stone, Thanos can control all the singularities.

He’s come to Earth, to finish his search for the stones. His mission, once he has all of the stones, is to wipe out half of the universe’s population in order to bring balance to resources, ending overpopulation.

The scary part: he would be able do it with the snap of his fingers.

Earth’s mightiest heroes unite and we see grand battles take place. However, there’s a real cost to facing Thanos: death.

It’s difficult to talk about “Infinity War” without talking about spoilers, but the most important aspect about a review of such an anticipated movie is: Is it good?

Well, it’s definitely fun as hell.

I enjoyed “Infinity War” from start to finish. My bias towards nerd and geek culture does have a lot to say on my stance but as a cinephile, I’m content with how the directing duo, Joe and Anthony Russo, were able to realize this challenge on screen.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that a movie with Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy united against a malevolent force would ever be made.

The Russo brothers had come into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with directors credits on “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and then followed that up with “Captain America: Civil War,” the latter of which is my favorite MCU film to date. And because they have dealt with an ensemble cast before, there was no worry to how they would balance all these characters in “Infinity War.”

Unfortunately, for all the blood, sweat and tears that was put into creating this epic, the Russo brothers had bitten off too much from the Marvel cake. “Infinity War” is a compilation of geek climaxes that never takes its time to settle on what a character is doing.

It makes sense though. There are just way too many characters — more than 40 of them — to give each one of them equal and forefront roles. This film was a much more thoughtful approach to giving the villain his own emotional and grounded storyline.

Thanos was the real star. And yes, I understand that there has been 10 years of Marvel Studios films that lead up to the meetup with the Mad Titan, but when the heroes come face-to-face with Thanos, it’s almost as if they are disposable characters. With that note, bring tissues because you’ll need them.

The second half of “Infinity War” is a powerhouse action blockbuster, and while I can go into a film being comfortable with that kind of storytelling, I expected the first part of a two-part finale to tell a more captivating story. As a comparison, “The Winter Soldier” found the balance of being a comic book movie and a political thriller.

All-in-all, I had fun with “Infinity War.” Seeing all the characters from the beginning team up to face a bigger threat than we’ve seen in “The Avengers” or “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” was quite an ordeal of epic comic book magnitude.

However, despite the awesome team-ups and the nefarious, California raisin-looking Thanos, the leading topic of conversation when talking about “Infinity War” is and will be its ending.

What an empty promise.

It still made me cry like a baby anyways.

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To infinity and beyond 10 years: C Lo’s Movie Reviews