‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Review

Well, here it is. After 10 years, the Marvel universe finally comes together for its biggest film ever. What began with Iron Man (2008) has now evolved into a full universe with different characters and stories that people have come to love. Avengers: Infinity War is probably the most ambitious movie ever and Marvel takes a lot of risks with this film that, for the most part, payoff.

Plot

The infinity stones are powerful objects that have been seen throughout various films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each one contains an immeasurable amount of power. The Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin), is determined to collect all six and use them in order to wipe out half of the population of the universe in order to provide balance.

Once he collects all six, he can complete this task with just the snap of his fingers. It is up to the Avengers to prevent Thanos from collecting the stones and save the universe.

Characters

If I tried to go through every character, this review would take forever so I am just going to talk about some characters who stole the spotlight. First off, Robert Downey Jr. is the origin of the MCU and I love him as Tony Stark. He owns this character and he brings a ton of emotion to this character in this movie. The relationship between him and Spiderman (Tom Holland) is fantastic in this movie.

Ever since Thor: Ragnarok, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has become one of my favorite characters. He has a lot to do in this film and it’s awesome. He has a lot of applause-worthy moments and Hemsworth brings the same humor to the character that was seen in the previous Thor movie. 

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is also great in this movie. The scenes where he uses his sorcery skills are awesome. The effects are great and they really utilize his skills effectively.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are great. They bring their signature style into the film without feeling out of place. Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) have great chemistry once again but it was really great to see how Rocket, Groot, and Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) interacted with the rest of the Avengers. 

Drax (Dave Bautista) was really funny once again. The scenes involving Wakanda were great, but I was surprised at how little Black Panther was in the film. I think Disney didn’t realize how successful his character would be before they made this movie.

However, what really surprised me about this film was that this movie was really about Thanos. It really focuses on his journey and his motivations for getting the stones. Thanos is by far the best Marvel villain now in the MCU. He is crazy powerful, but I really understood his character. I get why he is doing what he is doing, but his methods are just way too radical. 

Brolin does fantastic with the voice work for his character. He is evil, but there are moments where I see some morality in his character. The effects on Thanos also look fantastic considering he is all CGI. I also liked Thanos’s henchmen who made up The Black Order. They were all legitimate threats, but my favorite was definitely Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor). I thought he was the most interesting.

Direction

The Russo Brothers are back to direct a third Marvel film and, again, they knock it out of the park. The film is beautifully shot and the action is expertly done. This is definitely Marvel’s darkest movie yet and they do a great job at conveying the level of panic that the Avengers are facing. 

They create a tone of hopelessness at some points which makes the stakes seem so much higher. The stakes have never been this high for any film in the MCU. They do a really good job at balancing the darkness and the humor of the film.

They also do a really good job at pacing the movie. The movie just immediately starts and it makes you fear Thanos within the first minute of the movie. The action is continuous throughout and the film goes by quickly even though it is around 2 hours and 30 minutes. 

This film also takes a lot of risks. It is very difficult to discuss this movie without spoiling anything because there is a lot to spoil. All I will say is that the ending is something that fans will be talking about for years.

While this is an epic movie, it does have some problems. The Russo Brothers do the best that they can at balancing all these different characters, the film still seems a bit bloated. The middle of this film has a lot of different storylines going on at once and it has to cut between each one a lot and it is hard to stay locked into the film when it keeps jumping back and forth. 

The middle felt a bit slow because it was devoting too much time to all the different stories. There are also certain decisions by characters that just felt out of place. Sometimes they do things that just don’t make sense for the character to do.

Final Thoughts

Avengers: Infinity War is an epic superhero film that delivers on 10 years of films that have led to this moment. While it does feel overstuffed with characters and stories at times, the action and the villain make up for it. Seeing these characters interact with one another was awesome to see and the film knows how to amaze fans without feeling like it is catering to fans. 

If you are someone like me who has seen all previous 19 films and is fully invested in these characters, then you will have a blast, but you will walk out in total shock. If you are a casual fan who has seen a couple of these movies but isn’t fully invested, then you may be confused, but you will still be entertained.

Rating: 9/10