Avengers: Infinity War – Movie Review

Celebrating its’ ten-year anniversary is the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).  Back in 2008 Marvel Studios brought “Iron Man” to the big screen and over the past decade, that character was joined by the likes of Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Nick Fury, Antman, Falcon, Doctor Strange, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, and Black Panther.  The Russo Brothers have been given the daunting task of cramming every single MCU character, including the Guardians of the Galaxy into 150-minute feature.  What they pulled-off is remarkable.  With an overwhelming number of heroes and locations, almost every aspect of “Avengers: Infinity War” feels like its’ given ample time.  Even the big baddie, Thanos is given enough screen time that allows the audience to learn who he really is.

One of the tricks to writing a review for a film like “Avengers: Infinity War” is to avoid spoiling story elements for the audience.  The problem here is that almost anything I can say about the story could be seen-as-a spoiler to a reader.  I am going to keep this review short and sweet.  Thanos is one of the biggest villains in the Marvel comics, but not having read the Infinity Gauntlet comic, I knew very little about him.  What surprised me was his emotional arc.  Josh Brolin helps make Thanos a full character and not just a token bad guy.

Credit goes to writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely for bringing all these characters together in a way that makes sense, rather than just throwing them on screen together just for the sake of doing so.  We are taken to multiple locations, some of them will be familiar and others will be new.  The Russo’s do a bang-up job balancing the multiple conflicts in various parts of the galaxy.  Again, there is just so much going on here, it would have been easy to overwhelm the audience in less capable hands.

“Infinity War” does deliver a handful of emotional gut-punches that will leave the audience gasping and that is one of the greatest aspects of the film. There is a true sense of despair, something that the previous MCU films lacked.

Sure, there are going to be quite a few Marvel fans that will be unhappy with how certain things play out, but that is common when a popular comic book storyline is brought to the big screen.  Not everyone is going to be pleased.  “Infinity War” is not a perfect film, but for a comic book spectacle filled with appealing characters and a solid villain it delivers the goods.

By: Marc Ferman