So I had originally planned to watch this tonight, but due to RL complications I went yesterday night instead.

My feelings are mixed.

It's not that I didn't like it - I did, a lot. But it was very different from what I was expecting. Most Marvel movies share the same plot arch, more or less, where the main action scenes take place after the second half, with the first half serving as a build-up towards that point. Based on the Russos' work in Civil War, I was looking forward to that build-up. I was counting on that build-up. I was prepared to leave the cinema an emotional wreck thanks to that build-up.

Instead we got full gear action from the first scene, and the whole movie was basically that: action scenes with some dialogue in between. I loved it, don't get me wrong. But I missed the emotional part. The only scene that delivered this to me was Gamora's death.

I liked the shock value of killing off main characters from the very beginning, although this kind of extinguished the surprise element of the finale for me, because it showed me that they meant business here (if you kill Loki in the first scene, what are you gonna do for the finale? BOOM).

I did like the finale, and the fact that the only ones left standing are the original Avengers (five plus Clint) along with only three or four other characters from the MCU. I found it kind of poetic. But it failed to shock me, because it's pretty obvious that this will be reversed, if anything because there are new Spiderman/GotG movies planned for 2019/2020. So all in all, it left me in an awkward place: I know I'm supposed to feel sad, but I can't be, because it sure feels temporary.

I'm really looking forward to the second part next year. The more I think about it, the more I feel that IW1 is just the prelude, and that I should treat both movies as a package after IW2 comes out. It was like watching a TV episode with a really good cliffhanger.

Anyway, I'm watching this again with my sister on Wednesday. But I want to share with you my husband's comment as we were leaving the theater last night: "They basically told you in the trailer what would happen. In time, you'll know what it's like to lose... You just didn't believe them. You underestimated the purple bastard."


Also, I really, really missed Clint. (sighs)