Avengers: Infinity War Review

If people aren’t calling your ideas insane, then perhaps your ideas aren’t good enough.

What began as an optimistic idea in 2008 with the first Iron Man movie, has now changed how comic book movies are made and judged in the future. Hollywood snobs hate to admit this, but Avengers: Infinity War is part 1 of an extremely well written saga that has been successfully built up for a decade. The beginning of a superb payoff for fans who have seen the 18 movies prior to this film. Blessed with almost all established characters from previous movies, Infinity War is able to focus more on the plot than the fear of audiences not understanding the personalities of the important players.

The film begins right where Thor: Ragnarok ends. Unfortunately for some, they meet their end as well. We were told this movie had real stakes; that wasn’t a lie. Thanos (armed with the Power Infinity Stone) is the antagonist with a presences that speaks volumes. He is on a dark crusade for the five other Infinity Stones. Space, Reality, Soul, Time, and Mind. He believes the universe is over populated; having all six Stones will allow him to wipe out half the galaxy. What makes Thanos an interesting villain is he’s not one dimensional. This Mad Titan truly believes he’s doing the right thing and the movie shows his point of view to the point where you will wonder if this is a Thanos movie. IW does an excellent job showing you he isn’t completely heartless. He has a dark sense of honor that easily puts him on the Mount Rushmore of comic book villains.

The interactions between the protagonists were some of my favorite parts of Infinity War. Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) verbal back and forth with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) ran away with the award in this category. I was looking forward to these two egocentric characters butting heads; I wasn’t disappointed. Heroes from other movies weren’t watered down when meeting other characters for the first time. I have seen every movie in the MCU, ergo I was entertained by each hero bringing what made them tick from previous films. This was important, especially for Star-Lord’s role in the movie. Simply put, Infinity War proves the MCU has people who get the characters. It’s a shame the people responsible for the new Star Wars trilogy (The Last Jedi is trash) can’t boast the same claim.

When I found out the run time of Avengers: Infinity War was around 2 hours and 40 minutes, I feared there would be a great deal of bloat. Those fears dissipated the longer the movie went on. The side plots never killed the vibe; they also showed how serious the threat of Thanos was. There’s plenty of action, whit, humor (maybe a little too much), and tugs at your heartstrings to keep you entertained from beginning to end. The special effects, especially during the two epic battles during the end had me on the edge of my seat. My only knocks against some of the battle scenes is sometimes humor wasn’t needed. I laughed but I felt it lighten the dark tone when the situation needed to stay that way. Also, it seemed as if Thanos was holding back (playing around), especially during his fight on Titan. Even though he never said it, he probably should have for the viewers considering how powerful he became at that point. It’s minor gripes that didn’t ruin my experience, I just would’ve liked to have seen Infinity War be as dark and twisted as possible.

Thanos’ four henchman, known as the Black Order succeed in making the plight of the Avengers more entertaining, but at the same time made me wish I had seen or heard about them in previous films. My other nitpick is the MCU movie side still refuses to even mention what happens on their TV shows. I use to wish we’d see The Defenders, or Agents of Shield interacting with characters such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Dr. Strange. As time went on, all I wanted was just a MCU movie to simply acknowledge non-movie characters. Maybe we’ll get that in Avengers 4, but I doubt it.

Avengers: Infinity War is augmented by two things; a twisted and intriguing antagonist and a smorgasbord of established characters who become more interesting as they interact with each other. Comic book films aren’t going away anytime soon (sorry James Cameron), especially with the anticipation of the conclusion of this story in Avengers 4. I was caught off guard by some of the deaths and enjoyed how it made me care. Infinity War has an Empire Strikes Back like vibe. It’s well written, superbly acted, and blessed with amazing visuals. There’s one end credit scene which helps setup the next Avengers film in 2019. Without spoiling too much, it’s nice to see this character return.

The hype is real. Avengers: Infinity War is an action packed emotional ride that never seems to drag on. For the fans who have been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the past 10 years, you could easily call it the greatest comic book movie ever. I went in with unreasonably high expectations that were almost met. The fact that Infinity War miraculously gives every protagonist at least one moment to shine is a huge reason why it’s shattering box office records. The tone that was set early on made me wonder who would make it out alive. You know a movie is dark when you hear loud gasps and “Oh my God”s in the theater when the shit hits the fan. If you’re familiar with the Infinity War source material, then you know a lot of the deaths aren’t permanent. Since the story isn’t an exact copy of the comic, I’m interested in seeing how this arc will conclude. The cliffhanger ending hits hard and then leaves you in shock. My favorite part was seeing children crying in the theater. I REGRET NOTHING!!! The bar has been raised and I pity all comic book films that must follow this masterpiece.