In the new Avengers movie Infinity War, most of the Marvel heroes we’ve encountered (I noticed a surprising lack of Hawkeye and Ant-Man) join together to take on the big, bad rock collector himself, Thanos.

This movie definitely changed from its earlier counterparts. The movie was much darker with less joking (there still was plenty of jokes, such as Spider-Man and Star-Lord arguing over pop culture references and Dr. Strange’s “fake name”) and more torture…and screaming. Not to mention a lot of death…and I mean A LOT of death.

I liked that we got to see more of Gamora’s past, namely how Thanos came to adopt her. And I enjoyed that they didn’t paint Thanos as a complete evil jerk who only wants to destroy the universe because he’s got a crush on Death. You actually see that he has somewhat of a heart. Go figure.

One of my main questions was why did Thor need to get another hammer (axe this time)? I thought he learned in the last Thor movie that the power was inside him all along (cue image of rainbow and sweet music). But he doesn’t use his lightning until after getting the axe. I understand that an axe does more damage than a fist and that you would need something sharp to defeat Thanos for good. But it just seemed like Thor had reverted back to his hammer dependence.

I am really glad that they added the four mechanical spider arms (or waldoes, yes that is a thing–look it up) to Spider-Man’s Iron Spider suit. And Iron Man’s nanotech suit was pretty awesome too. I liked how they made the suit look streamline, like it formed to Tony instead of being a clunky piece of armor. I also liked the addition that it could create all sorts of weapons and seal openings.

The costumes of Captain America and the other outlaw heroes looked just as you’d imagine for a group who’d been on the run for two years. Thanos’ outfit made him look a lot like the comic book version. There were some movie style tweaks to it; but overall, it looked like he’d come right off the page.

Finally, Thor’s costume during the final battle was pretty epic (and say what you will, but I kind of like short hair Thor better). But I have to say Dr. Strange’s cloak is still the best, especially when it started mocking Tony as he lectured Spider-Man.

I did have a problem with Thanos and his use of the Infinity Stones. He didn’t seem to use them much, other than the power and space ones. I expected him to do more like he did on Nowhere where he turned Drax to stone and Mantis to ribbons or at the very least teleport around the battlefield like Goku. I guess he wanted to fight the heroes in order to test them because whenever one got a good hit in or did something unexpected, Thanos would say something close to, “I like you.” And he did adopt Gamora because she was a fighter.

And, of course, there was the trope of Dr. Strange using the time stone to check out all the possible outcomes of their battle with Thanos, which he says he checked like 14,000 or so and only one ended in victory. I groaned and rolled my eyes at that point. Just once I’d like them to say, “Oh no, there was like five ways we could win.”

But, I have to say my favorite part of the movie was not in the movie but in the theater. It was almost more fun listening to the audience cheer when Thor made his entrance at the final battle or their gasps when Thanos stabs Iron Man than watching the actual movie.

So to wrap things up, I have to give Infinity Wars a 4.8 out of 5, mainly because it was a two part movie and now I have to wait about a year to find out what happened.  I mean, come ON MARVEL!! GAH!!

One last note, I do have to give the movie crew credit for being able to do a movie where there are multiple setting shifts (one minute you’re on Titan with Iron Man and his team then next you’re with Thor and Rocket and then back on Earth with Captain America and the rest). Normally, I can’t stand this kind of flopping about, making it seem like there are too many characters and plots going on to keep track of, but the Infinity Wars crew did an excellent job of timing the shifts and not overwhelming people with new information. The shifts seemed seamless. GG everyone, GG.

PS (okay so one more thing): I like teen Groot better than baby Groot. Disinterested, mouthy Groot is so funny. Plus, he’s a gamer–bonus points, Groot.

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In other news, the next installment in my eBook series “The Life of Ace Journeyman” titled Alliance comes out May 8. Pre-order now from your favorite eBook retailer. Or you can purchase one of my other eBooks (also available at many fine online retailers).