Avengers: Infinity War - Review

I have now been lucky enough (or sad enough, depending on your outlook) to have seen Avengers: Infinity War, 3 times, since its release. I love the Marvel movies and the comic book/superhero movie genre as as whole, so I thought why not do a blog post giving my thoughts and feelings about the movie. Warning: There may be spoilers ahead...

This movie has been one of the most anticipated films recent history, for me anyway. Starting with the first Iron Man film back in 2008, which made me want to be a superhero, as well as a genius billionaire. This film is the culmination of 10 years of story telling from Marvel studios. 

In case you've been living under a rock and haven't seen any of the previous movies leading up to or trailers for Infinity War, Thanos, the big bad guy that has been lurking in the shadows for the past 10 years of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), is finally ready to execute his plan of assembling all 6 infinity stones, making him the most powerful being in the universe. In order to achieve this goal he'll need to get past the Avengers, "Earth's mightiest hero's" (which may or may not include Kevin Bacon), as well as the Guardians of the Galaxy. There you go, all caught up, but I mean come on, if you need me to tell you any of that then should you be reading this review? 

I want to go over a few major take away's from the movie.

Thanos
Finally a villain that is actually powerful, scary and relatable to the fans. The Russo brothers who directed this movie clearly chose to put a lot of effort into developing Thanos' back story in order for the audience to sympathise with him or at the very least understand his motives. One of the major flaws in previous Marvel movies is that there has been maybe only 1 villain who has been a hit with fans, Loki and he's not very useful anymore...

​There have been a whole host of terrible villains and it was clear that Thanos would not be added to that list after seeing the first scene in Infinity War. He is awesome (Gamora and half the Avengers won't agree but hey, what do they know?). It is almost Thanos' movie as we follow his perspective while he assembles the stones, while showing, both great power and emotional depth (I mean misplaced emotions but emotions all the same). It must be said that Josh Brolin's performance as Thanos and the CGI/motion-capture of Brolin's performance is brilliant. With Thanos being set to return in Avengers 4 next year I'm intrigued to see what more his character has to offer after having assembled all of the stones and wiping out half the Universe by the end of this movie. ​

Use of Characters
The movie has a long run time of just over 2 and a half hours, however, it is necessary when you sit back and look at just how many characters and story threads there are in this movie. I feel that Marvel did a great job of keeping the pace quick, while not brushing over characters and jumping between scenes too often. But you have to keep in mind while seeing this film that if you have a particular favourite character, you may not see them for a good 20 minutes while other Universe shattering events are occurring on screen. A few characters that I felt were underused were Captain America and Black Panther. If you've just come for these two hunks you may be a little disappointed with their screen time. 

A good performance from Chris Evans as Captain America

Stand out's
Despite some characters not getting too much of an on screen influence there were some stand out performances. I am a massive Iron Man fan so accuse me of bias all you like, Robert Downey Jr. always steals every scene that he's in. He was fantastic again in Infinity War and it is hard to imagine the MCU without him, although I was forced to do just that during one gasp-inducing scene. Thank God he didn't die. I have already spoken about the strength of Josh Brolin's performance as Thanos.

​Chris Hemsworth as Thor is fast becoming one of my favourite parts of the MCU. In recent films with his new humorous personality and God-like power upgrade, he is a massive on screen presence. He manages to walk the line between humour and serious emotion in Infinity War very well, giving a strong performance. Finally, although I think Peter Quill A.K.A Starlord is an absolute idiot for ruining the plan on Titan and perhaps is one of the most annoying heroes in this movie, I have to give credit to Chris Pratt for nailing most of the comedic moments in this movie, helping to alleviate tension after some of the movies more intense scenes, much like Hemsworth, Pratt shows a really good emotional range in this with anger and sadness after the loss of Gamora. There are good performances all round to be totally honest.

Shock and Awe
Over the past 10 years it might be fair to accuse Marvel of being a little conservative with their heroes. There has never been that much of a threat to any of our favourite characters. Not only this but on a few occasions there have been fake-out deaths. I'm looking at you Loki. This movie puts all of that to bed. The stakes are real, there are consequences in Infinity War with Thanos killing off Loki within the first 10 minutes and by the end of the movie turning half of our favourite heroes to dust with the snap of his fingers. Although, Marvel have kind of shot themselves in the foot by previously announcing upcoming movies for some characters that were killed in this movie, namely Spider-man and Black Panther. Despite this there is a real element of shock and confusion at the end of the movie that the villain actually won and I like that. 

A Perfect Film?
This film wasn't perfect, no. I can think of two issues and to be honest they don't dampen my view of the film in the slightest. The first a biggest issue for me was the Black Order, Thanos's children. They were clearly meant to be extremely powerful beings capable of crippling most planets alone but they were taken down far too quickly not been given the time to show their true power and taken down too easily, not even by the most powerful avengers. Cull Obsidian was taken down by a bumbling Mark Ruffalo in the Hulk buster for god sake. Ebony Maw (Squidward) was the only exception where I thought his powers were incredibly strong and he was also given the chance to show them off. The second flaw is one I have already mentioned and it's one that I can understand. The absence of your favourite characters for long parts of the movie. This was not a problem for me as I enjoyed every scene and all the character interactions, but I can imagine this being a problem for more casual fans. 

Verdict
AMAZING - 9.5/10

I have seen the movie 3 times now and I think that lets you know what I think about this movie. It was everything I was hoping for and more and I walked out of the cinema both in shock and well and truly fulfilled. I can't wait for the story to carry on with Avengers 4 next year. 


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