It’s all led up to this. A culmination of 10 years and 18 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has brought us to “Avengers: Infinity War,” and it did not disappoint whatsoever.
For a two and a half hour movie, “Infinity War” never once felt like it was dragging. Every scene felt important and contributed to the overall story of the film. Many films in the superhero genre suffer with issues in length, but “Infinity War” never relented from the first scene to when the credits began to roll.
The main criticism for basically every movie in the MCU is that the villain is one-dimensional and totally uninteresting. “Infinity War” totally avoids this common pitfall, instead providing fans with the most compelling and intriguing villain in a long, long time.
Even though his goal is to wipe out half of the universe, this film still left me empathizing with Thanos at times despite his horrific actions. The character was fantastically written, as you really are able to see where he is coming from and what his motivations are throughout the film.
This emotional resonance can also be credited to Josh Brolin’s fantastic motion-capture performance as the mad titan. Going into this film, I did not believe for a second that I would care about Thanos’ perspective, but Brolin’s captivating and believable acting — even if he was playing an alien — changed that expectation completely.
This movie was a whole lot of fun to watch despite the serious tone throughout, and most of that can be attributed to the portrayal of the heroes and the groups that they formed. Character introductions felt natural, even during he high pressure situations the heroes found themselves in.
It was amazing to see characters like Iron Man and Doctor Strange interact for the first time in a combative manner, but grow together over the film to realize that they need to all work together to accomplish their shared goal of defeating Thanos. The idea of the “Avengers” films is to have all of our favorite heroes team up and interact, and “Infinity War” did a great job of fitting the characters into groups that were not there simply to appease the fans, but also to serve the intriguing story the directors were telling.
I was especially a fan of the way the Guardians of the Galaxy were used in the film, as they brought comic relief to the serious and emotional tone that “Infinity War” adopted. Nearly every scene the group was in had some moment that made me laugh out loud, but never took away from the weight of the story. Most of the characters had one or two good jokes, but also moments of sadness or despair that portrayed just how devastating Thanos’ actions were.
From the very first scene, we see that none of our heroes and favorite characters are safe, and it left me on the edge of my seat for the entirety of the movie. “Infinity War” had me cheering, laughing and crying all in the space of two and a half hours, and none of those emotions felt forced.
The only real issue I had with “Infinity War” was the lack of focus on some of the most beloved superheroes in the Marvel Universe. In particular, Captain America and Black Panther could have used significantly more screen time during the film. Despite the film’s two and a half hour runtime, this problem was expected given how many superheroes were involved in the story, along with introducing Thanos and his motivations. It would have been nice to see more from those two popular characters, but perhaps they will play a bigger role in next summer’s sequel, “Avengers 4.”
“Infinity War” exceeded all expectations with ease. Never have I felt more emotionally impacted by a Marvel movie than I did with this film. It made me care about characters that I had never thought to be important, and the ending in particular left me feeling devastated for every single hero involved.
Acting performances were amazing throughout and definitely contributed to the emotional impact of the film. Chris Hemsworth particularly stood out in a surprisingly vulnerable arc for the usually tough and guarded Thor.
If you have any interest whatsoever in superhero films or just want to see an emotional, compelling story, then “Infinity War” is simply a must-see movie. With spoilers running amok all over social media, it’s best to see the film as soon as possible. This movie is, in my opinion, the best installment in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and every minute of the two and a half hours is worth your time.