Avengers: Infinity War

Seeing this film made me wish I had been around 7 years old when the first Iron Man movie was released.

And I had been allowed to watch it.

I still loved watching Avengers: Infinity War, and there were moments when I looked on with the uncompromised emotional intensity that rapturously flourished in my youth, but if I had watched every Marvel film with commensurate innocent intensity and then suddenly sat back to watch Avengers: Infinity War around the age of 17, the film that brings them all together, unites them with wild improvised spontaneous universal synergies, the energy from a star even harnessed within for manufacturing purposes, I think it would have seemed like 149 minutes of pure unadulterated joy, even if so much distress accompanies its beloved characters.

I don't mean to argue that there isn't a lot of brilliant television out there, or series is perhaps a better word to use these days, I love The Frankenstein Chronicles, Star Trek: Discovery, and Myths & Monsters for instance, and I'm hooked on Zoo and Frontier, but television is usually trying to be as good as film, whereas exceptionally bad films seem like they should have been released on television, creative mixes of the 2 mediums notwithstanding, Netflix currently attempting to bridge the gap.

But it's like the geniuses at Marvel asked themselves, "what if we create multiple films, always bearing in mind that we're creating films specifically, yet envision their totality like an incredible television series, patiently stitched together over the course of a decade?

That might bear ecstatic fruit.

And simmer the ultimate cliffhanger."

To be young and see so many cherished characters packed into one epic syntheses may have been both shocking and overwhelming, but would it not have also been mindbogglingly awe inspiring, like having millions of recordings from around the world available on your computer for $9.99 a month?

Perhaps I misjudge the intensity of the theoretical emotion.

I'm looking back and imagining what it would have been like if the pop cultural coordinates of the early 21st Century had been superimposed on the late 20th, but if they had been alternatively superimposed before I had acquired knowledge of both timelines, I may not have noticed a difference, and may have assumed frequent loosely unified instalments from a thoughtfully orchestrated pyrotechnic colossus were as natural as Sam falling for Diane, or George moving back in with his parents, since I wouldn't have known that I was taking an alternative timeline for granted, and therefore would have assumed my foundations were unilaterally temporal.

If Marvel is like Star Trek squared, what the heck is Star Trek cubed?

Avengers: Infinity War, if Orwellianly titled, malheureusement, worked for me.

There's the inevitable cheese associated with bringing so so many distinct characters into one film, but the cool smoothly devours it, grates it into an exhilarating intergalactic artisanal soirée.

I especially loved how Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) immediately decides to just stow away on an alien spacecraft in order to surprise attack the universe's most threatening villain.

Classic amelioration.

Star-Lord's (Chris Pratt) ideas also impress.

As do those of the Wakandans.

Not to mention the inherent self-sacrifice built into the script.

And pairing-up Thor (Chris Hemsworth) with feisty Rocket (Bradley Cooper).

I'm sure there's a plan for the intervening years, but Infinity War boldly erases billions in profit in order to make a more realistic film.

That's damn commendable.

I've been watching a groundhog eat grass for the entire time I've been writing this.

It keeps running back to his hole when people walk past.

And then comes back shortly thereafter.

He'll probably be shyer in Summer.

So I'm lucky I chose this spot for today.