INFINITY AND BEYOND

MOVIE

Avengers: Infinity War
Robert Downey Jr, Chrisses Hemsworth, Pratt and Evans, Josh Brolia
Review Ray Chan

Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of a grand plan that began with the 2008 release of Iron Man, its aim to interconnect various Marvel movies into one epic space opera, each individual film forming parts of the mosaic.

    But with so many heroes and supporting cast assembled for the saga, and the multitude of settings and developments that have been established for each over the years, it's a movie that will prove challenging for the non-hardcore fan ... and ultimately surely incomprehensible for anyone watching a Marvel offering for the first time.

    Spare a thought for directors Anthony and Joe Russo, charged with mixing the light-hearted shenanigans of the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Thor: Ragnarok with the darker tones of the Captain America sequels, while also incorporating the high-tech worlds of Iron Man, Black Panther and the Hulk with the mysticism of Dr Strange. They direct with surety, but can be forgiven for forsaking emotions over action. 

    The nub of the crisis revolves round the majestic yet merciless villain Thanos, who wields the Infinity Gauntlet, a powerful artifact that will enable him to change the universe to his will … but only if he has all six stones embedded in the gadget.  

    We've seen some of the gems featured in various movies. Asgardian Heimdall has the space stone; the mind stone is embedded in the Vision's forehead; the powerful reality stone is in the hands of the celestial Collector; while Dr Strange holds the time stone in his amulet. 

    The movie follows Thanos as he meanders through the cosmos, battling friend and foe alike, gathering the stones with ease and aloofness. The prized jewel, the soul stone, is acquired by sacrificing his own daughter, the green-hued Gamora of the Guardians.

    There's a nice cameo from Peter Dinklage, often the go-to when a movie calls for an actor of shorter stature. But here, he actually plays the giant Eitri, the master craftsman who made both the gauntlet and Thor's hammer Mjolnir (destroyed by Hela), and who forges a new weapon for the Asgardian god.

    For the first  two hours and 20 minutes, it's essentially Thanos versus the Avengers, Guardians and super-powered allies as the champions try and defeat the warlord. There's little room for exposition or characterisation, save for the odd quips among the carnage, and the audience is left to go through the motions of watching battle scene after battle scene.

    However, the big payoff comes in the final 20 minutes, which shakes everything up. Without wishing to spoil the ending, suffice it to say that it will leave moviegoers with mixed feelings.

    Casual viewers will be dumbstruck, while diehards will inevitably leave the theatre with a sense of cynicism.

    Infinity War is definitely worth watching for its ambitious scale in selling the cosmic adventure, or simply to witness the end result of 10 years' worth of Marvel movie narratives. 

    But poignantly, it may also be remembered as the watershed moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the old paving way for the heroes of the future. 

    Over the years, the goalposts have moved considerably. Disney's acquisition of Marvel Studios mean the stable has become even more prodigious, with the movie house now having the rights to characters such as The Fantastic Four, X-Men and Deadpool.

    This, combined with the impending end of contracts of some of the major stars of the various franchises, may well indicate that the movie's cliffhanger is a means of  rebuilding the Marvel universe afresh.

@InfinityWarM 

FEEL-GOOD MOVIE WITHOUT THE FEELS

MOVIE
I Feel Pretty
Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams
Review Ray Chan

Amy Schumer's on a quest. Her TV series and movies to date have all dwelled on rejecting the ways in which women are expected to adhere to certain beauty barometers and behavioral standards in consumer society.

    And in I Feel Pretty, the theme keeps rolling on: the tale of an average-looking woman who struggles with feelings of deep insecurity and low self-esteem, until the day she thinks she has become a super model.   

    With this fresh confidence, she is empowered to live her life fearlessly and flawlessly, but what happens when she realises her appearance never changed? 

    Schumer again embraces the part of a lovable loser, a woman who tries hard to fit in but who invariably falls out: a role she's played time and again. 

    As homely Renee Bennett, she works for prestigious beauty company Lily LeClair. She can't help but notice that the head office is filled with long-legged ornaments  who look more at home on a catwalk even when strolling down the office hall. 

    When Renee suffers a knockout blow at the local gym, the concussion makes her believe she is a gorgeous beauty queen.

    Invigorated by this new-found confidence, she goes about her life believing she can achieve anything she wants, including landing a dream job and a boyfriend, unaware that it's all due to her own personality and not her superficial facade.

    And so on it goes, until Renee encounters another accident which makes her realise that her  features never really changed at all. 

    But that only inspires her to deliver a message to Lily LeClair's customers that their products are not merely for the dreamboats and stunners of the world, but also for the everyday women and “regular girls”.

    Cue message that it's what within that counts, and not without. And for this reviewer, it certainly felt as if the exposition was talking down to the audience, never a good move.

    The premise of I Feel Pretty is promising, but the message behind it is clear-cut from the start and viewers will wish it could have been conveyed with a more energetic script that delivered more laughs. Schumer is after all a comedian, but the movie hardly serves as an adequate vehicle for her talents.

    Female comedians have been self-deprecating about their attractiveness for decades, yet this movie takes that message to unnecessary extremes. 

   And as a thought to ponder: is it really politically correct to make plus-size jokes even if it the movie ends with a pandering, moralising message about body positivity? 

    I Feel Pretty is a feel-good movie about feeling good, but ironically, it lacks the feels where it matters.