A film that is 10 years in the making! Avengers: Infinity War (2018, Joe & Anthony Russo) brings together every aspect of the MCU, all to fight Thanos (Josh Brolin), a villain who has built up ever since the first Avengers (2012, Joss Whedon). With Fan excitement at an all-time high, expectations off the scale and a lot to cover in just one film, Infinity War has got a lot of work to do. Can it balance everything?
This is a Non-Spoiler Review. So, if you haven't seen the film then you might like to read this. However, this is one paragraph in which I talk about the finale and story structure and, whilst doesn't have anything specific, features things that could be considered spoilers to some readers. So, I would suggest skipping that paragraph if you want to see the film with a clean slate.
First Thoughts
This movie is insane! From beginning to end it grabs you and doesn't let go! I would compare Avengers: Infinity War to a Rollercoaster. In the sense that it's more of an experience than it is a film, which is both good and bad.
Thanos
Marvel has been building up this character for a long, long time and they actually delivered! Thanos (Josh Brolin) is now the best villain in the MCU. He's intimidating, whenever he stepped into a scene you could feel the tension. But he was also a really good character. There were parts where I got where he was coming from in his master plan. He wasn't just some guy who wanted to hurt people, he had reasons for why he did what he did and they were displayed very well. And it's mainly down to Josh Brolin (Sicario, No Country For Old Men) who was so charismatic in his performance that he made Thanos more than just a big tough guy. I can't wait to see more from Thanos!
The Dark Order
Another bunch of charismatic villains. Whilst they didn't get a lot of screentime I really enjoyed the members of the Dark Order. Whilst they didn't have a lot of character to them they still had some very good moments. The standout being Ebony Maw who was charming and creepy at the same time.
Team Iron Man
Whilst I'm not Team Iron Man I did really enjoy them in this film.Consisting of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). I really enjoyed the team dynamic here. The Iron Man/Spider-Man relationship is still really good and feels like it's evolving with every film, and the Iron Man/Doctor Strange interactions were really interesting, as they're both two inflated egos trying to work together. But what really surprised me was how much this film got me to care for Tony Stark. In the previous films, he's just been really annoying. But in this, he has some serious emotional moments, and it's fascinating to see how far he's come since his first film back in 2008.
Team Cap
Team Cap consists of Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and War-Machine (Don Cheadle). I was a little disappointed with Team Cap this time around. Mainly because the film doesn't really give them much to do. Doesn't really dive into what they've been doing since Captain America: Civil War (2016, Joe & Anthony Russo) and that really bothered me. Because Captain America is a fan-favourite and he's not really that focused on. So I was a little let down in that regard. Although I did quite like the Vision/Scarlet Witch romance. I think that was handled very well.
Thor
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in this film has some really good scenes. I did enjoy his interactions with the Guardians Of The Galaxy a lot. Particularly with Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper). Hemsworth himself does a very good job. Able to balance the humour side of things along with the emotional parts as well. Also looking back to how far Thor has come as a character since his first film back in 2011. Also, Thor has the best mic drop moment in the third act which was fantastic! I loved it so much, even though it contradicted the lesson he learned in Thor: Ragnarok (2017, Taika Watiti). So if you're a Thor fan, you will definitely enjoy this film!
Guardians Of The Galaxy
I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Guardians in this film. Some of their moments are really good and really entertaining, but there are other parts where they're basically their own worst enemy. Up to the point where compared to the broken Avengers, they are semi-incompetent. My standouts from this team were Rocket, Gamora and, unbelievably, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) who is given a lot more to do in this film and makes a lot more use of her power than she did in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017, James Gunn).
Action
The action in this film is incredible. The Russo Brothers have proven that they are exceptional at crafting good fight sequences and this film is no exception! From the choreography to the editing it's very well done. The standouts are mainly the fight between Team Cap and The Dark Order in Edinburgh, the fight on Titan and battle of Wakanda.
Finale and Consequences
I'm not going to get too much into this because it's full of spoilers. But all I will say is that the finale is a massive shock and leaves you startled! I'm really happy to see that a Marvel film was willing to have such a finale, mainly because of the family-friendly brand they've built. My only concern is that the consequences of said finale won't truly stick. Because it ends n such a way that you can almost see how everything will go back to it was before the film even began. Which I am concerned about because Marvel films don't really tend to have consequences, and when they do they're only temporary.
Finale Cont. Story Structure
This paragraph may contain things that some readers might consider spoilers, depending on how little you want to know about this film before seeing it. So, I would suggest skipping over it if you want to go into the film completely blank.
As I said earlier, this is more of a rollercoaster experience than it is an actual film. This is mainly because it doesn't really have much of a story structure to it. This is mainly down to the film having to cover a lot of ground. But it still doesn't really feel like a film. It feels more like half a film. Now, whilst many have done the "To Be Continued" act. Such as Back To The Future 2 (1989, Robert Zemeckis) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003, The Wachowski Sisters), I really don't like it. Whilst I get the story needs to be spanned to two films, I really believe that character arcs and plot points need to be wrapped up in one film. I did enjoy the film, and the finale did leave me petrified, but the "To Be Continued" element of it annoyed me.
Conclusion
This is a very intense experience. It's great to see the characters interacting, the action is amazing and Thanos is just incredible! It got me to care about characters that I didn't really care about and delivers some serious emotional punches. However, I do have an issue with the story structure and how it ends. But doesn't overall ruin the experience.
So that's my review of \Avengers: Infinity War. What did you think of the film? Was there anything I missed out? Do you agree or disagree with anything I've said? Please leave a comment. And, if you liked this review, then you can follow this blog for more content. Thank you for reading. :)
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