Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Alrighty, super fans, it’s been ten long years in the making, but it’s finally here, Avengers: Infinty War (2018). Ten years? Yeah, it hit me the other day that the start of the whole “MCU” (Marvel Cinematic Universe) kicked off with Iron Man back in 2008, and over that time we’ve seen some great movies. Now, we’re currently in Phase three of the MCU and have three more movies to go before the third phase is over, which are Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Captain Marvel (2019) and Avengers: Untitled (2019). As far as the MCU goes, it’s been a great ride so far. I’ve been really impressed with how they’ve built this huge world of entertainment and it doesn’t matter if you’ve read the comics before. For me, a comic fan, yeah I get a bit more enjoyment because I’m watching scenes or catching references from the comics. However, they’ve managed to bring in a whole new audience and introduce them to the comic world without them feeling lost. It’s been a somewhat slow ride over the years as we were introduced to everyone and getting backstories, but it’s totally been worth it because it all lead up to Avengers: Infinity War. Over the ten years we, as fans, have shared in the heartaches and heartbreaks as we’ve grown to love our favorite characters, but none of that compares to the level of what we got in Avengers: Infinity War. Believe it or not, Avengers: Infinity War is the nineteenth film to come out of the MCU and they still have a bunch more titles on the books to be released.

Avengers: Infinity War is an action/adventure/fantasy with a hundred and sixty-minute runtime and is rated PG-13 for violence and language. It was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The movie is based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. So, what’s the war all about? Well, as you know, we, the fans, have been looking for the Infinity stones as every movie has come out, but we’re not the only ones looking for them. A man named Thanos has been searching for and collecting them from all over the galaxy. If Thanos can find all of the Infinity stones and place them in the gauntlet, he can become the most powerful individual in the galaxy. So, it’s up to the Avengers and all their new friends to save the day. Problem is if you remember, the Avengers broke up and half the team is on the run for the government. So, if our superheroes want to save the wor… universe, they’ll have to put their differences aside and once again answer the call… Avengers, assemble!

After watching Avengers: Infinity War, the first thing I thought was… “Holy crap, I can’t believe what I just saw!” I knew it was going to be an absolute wild n’ crazy ride, but I didn’t think it would be that wild. Infinity War has moved to the top of the pile of the MCU movies to punch you in the face visually and yank on your heartstrings emotionally and I’m not the only one saying that. I’ve seen a lot of media posts from people expressing how emotional Infinity War left them. Thing is, we (fans) all knew that things were coming to an end (storywise) and contracts were expiring. So, most likely, we would lose some familiar faces during this movie and I was prepared for it… or at least I thought I was. The story was so well written and covers a lot of stuff before everything is said and done.

The playthrough was grand. However, I have to admit, I was a bit worried about how big the cast was. I figured, due to time, everyone was going to be packed into scenes with just a few lines and feel crowded. Happily, it was the exact opposite. Infinity War pulled together almost all the faces from the previous films and nothing about the movie felt crowded or forced at all. It has a smooth flow and everything fit in naturally. I knew Thanos would turn out to be a cool villain, but I had no idea he would end up this cool. Between his dialogue and Brolin’s performance, I think Thanos was one of my favorite parts of the movie. Yeah, he’s the bad guy, but he thinks it’s for the greater good and after you see what he’s willing to go through to achieve his goal, you start to feel for him. I liked how they brought everyone (the MCU characters) together in the story and I absolutely loved watching everyone interactive with one another. Overall, I thought they used every second of the film to its full potential and it never got boring.

Some of the cast is Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Avengers), Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger), Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin), Don Cheadle (Crash), Benedict Curmberbatch (Doctor Strange), Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Karen Gillan (Doctor Who), Tom Hiddleston (The Night Manager), Paul Bettany (A Knight’s Tale), Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla), Anthony Mackie (Hurt Locker), Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Solider), Chris Pratt (Jurassic World), Pom Klementieff (Old Boy), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Vin Diesel (The Fast and the Furious), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Peaky Blinders), Michael James Shaw (Limitless), Carrie Coon (Gone Girl), Terry Notary (Kong: Skull Island) and Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men).

We all knew Infinity War was going to be standing room only when it came to the cast line up. We got returning faces and even some new ones. As far as the returning cast goes, I thought they continued to bring their A game and once again light up the big screen with some awesome characters. The cast chemistry continues to shines in this one. Now for the new cast, first off, Brolin absolutely killed it as Thanos! With a constant calm deminer and the way he delivered his lines, to me, Brolin has made Thanos the best villain in the MCU, so far. Yeah, they did a great job writing Thanos, but a lot of the work goes to the actor to bring that character to life and Brolin did just that. I thought it was cool to see Thanos’s crew the “Black Order”, (played by Notary, Coon, Shaw, and Vaughan-Lawlor) but they’re really only used for the fight scenes and have a few lines here and there.

As far as the effects go, the budget for this one was like $300 million. First off, wow! Secondly, it was money well spent. Everything in the movie looked amazing! Be it the CGI work, costumes, fight scenes or locations, it was top shelf visually. One of the many things that stood out was Iron Man’s latest suit, I really dug the new design and features. It’s Stark’s coolest suit yet, so congrats to the team that pulled that off.

Side note, the fourth Avengers movie, Avengers: Untitled, is scheduled to be released on May 3rd, 2019 and will have the Russo brothers returning to direct along with both Markus and McFeely writing the screenplay.

Summary : Overall, if you haven't seen Avengers: Infinity War yet, why not!? Plus, it's totally worth the money to catch it on the big screen.

It's rated PG-13 for violence and language.


Rating


Average

4