Review: Avengers: Infinity War

Warning: this review was written largely by the seat of the authors pants with no plan to speak of, as such, there may be spoilers at some point, but I'll try to restrict them as much as possible

At the time of writing this review it is May 3rd 2018, the 10-year anniversary of the release of Iron Man, and by extension, the 10-year anniversary of the formation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I can't help but wonder why they didn't wait to release Infinity War today, it just seems like it would be more appropriate,, but oh well, a minor detail. I struggle to think how to open this review as this isn't just a regular summer blockbuster, this is the lead-in to the climax of what, for many, will be the entire story of the MCU, a project that has changed the landscape of big-budget film-marketing, probably forever, I say it will be the entire story for many because I honestly don't see many but the die-hards sticking around, at least consistently, after Avengers 4. I like these as much as anyone but a climax is a climax, and I doubt I'll clamor to see what happens after the end of a 10-year series, I'll keep up of course, but I don't think I'll scramble to see the new line of movies as soon as they're out the way I've been doing...unless of course it's part of my job to do so...

 *cough*someonehiremetoreviewstufforyou *cough* 

excuse me. Anyway, this is the conclusion to the story every film so far has been building up to. So, how does it handle?

The movie sets the tone right away with a real ball-breaker of a pre-title-card sequence, letting you feel the stakes for this one right off the bat. The movie wastes no time in establishing our villain as the biggest threat our heroes have ever faced. Thanos has been knocking around in the MCU turning up in the odd scene and teaser here and there for a while now, so I expected them to save the first time we see him actually do something for at least the mid-point. Nope....nope...he's right in there getting his hands dirty from the word "go".

another surprise involving Thanos is just how much care seems to have gone into his character, Marvel movies typically have a "forgettable villain" problem, and sometimes even the memorable ones can be pretty one-note, but Infinity War really is Thanos's movie, he's a fully realised and fleshed-out character who truly believes he's doing the right thing. I'd almost say it treats him as more of a protagonist than the heroes, but then with so many heroes, it can be difficult to zero in on a protagonist. 

That said the balancing act of utilizing so many characters and locations is pulled off very well, there's even some room for worldbuilding here and there. On the side of the heroes, the MVP status has to go to Robert Downey Jr in my opinion, Tony Stark/Iron Man is the original hero of the MCU and has gone through the most development as a character, and you see so much of it on display here, if there was one specific protagonist for the heroes in this one I'd say it would have to be him. 

That said, this is still very much an Avengers movie, and it knows what you came to see. There are fun cameos and unusual character interactions aplenty, Thor's interactions with the Guardians of the Galaxy, particularly Rocket and Groot got a fair few chuckles out of me. There isn't as much time for character interaction as I might have liked, as there is a lot that this movie has to get done, and even then it's definitely a "part 1" movie. For once I believe that the story they wanted to tell here actually needed two parts to tell it. But this part culminates in one of the most satisfying collections of cameo-spots in a battle scene I've ever witnessed, there are a couple of people who don't show up but apart from them, most everyone's there doing their thing.

Then there's the ending, which I'm sure you've at least heard by now, is really heavy for a Marvel movie, like I said, there are real stakes here, and they're more keenly felt than in any other entry in the series I think.

In summary, I don't think you can really appraise an Avengers film traditionally, particularly one as long into a series as this one, if you're not at least familiar with the lore you're going to be lost here, but with the amount of story that has happened I can't really name that as a criticism, you wouldn't start a TV show with the series finale and expect to understand it, you shouldn't do the same here.

But taken as the climax to a long-running series, or at least the first part of it Infinity War is a definite must-see for Marvel fans, even if you leave the theatre going "ow"