Avengers: Infinity War has maybe been the most hyped superhero movie of all time. It’s billed as a sequel to one of the best superhero movies ever, juggles over 20 main characters and follows up on 19 previous movies. Nothing like this has ever been attempted in the history of cinema. And yet, somehow it works. Somehow, Avengers Infinity War is one of Marvel’s best movies.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the movie follows a relatively simple plot. Thanos (Josh Brolin), the villain of the movie, is an alien attempting to acquire magical artifacts called infinity stones so he can erase half of all life in the universe. Heroes from the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and everyone in between sets out to stop him before he can complete his quest. While there is more to the story, that’s about the crux of it. Thank goodness the plot has been streamlined, because this movie might have crumbled if it had any more to it.
Infinity War has nearly every character that has ever appeared in a Marvel movie. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) teams up with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Starlord (Chris Pratt), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff). And that’s only one of the super-teams in this movie. There is still the rest of the Avengers, led by Captain America (Chris Evans), and thousands of other characters that pop up in this movie. While the Russo brothers do an admirable job where they can, this movie has too many characters for its own good.
But strangely, character interactions are also where Infinity War shines. Marvel has spent well over a decade crafting fun, witty and hilarious personalities to populate their universe. With multiple characters being developed for over the course of their movies, credited writers Stephen Mcfeely and Christopher Markus are really able to let loose and have fun. Since we know each character so well, we don’t need to learn about them all over again. This allows the writers to focus on both the massive stakes that this conflict brings while also not letting it get in the way of comedy. Every character bounces off each other perfectly. The highlight of the movie was every time that the two characters with the biggest egos, Iron Man and Doctor Strange, sniped at each other. In nearly every scene you’ll be laughing out loud at least once. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for character development.
While this movie is branded with the Avengers title, the bulk of the screen time goes to its villain. As the directors have said multiple times, this really is Thanos’ movie. He get the most development, and rightly so. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building him up as a threat since 2012, so it makes sense that most of the movie would be devoted to his character arc. The most important aspect of Infinity War was making Thanos’ motivations real after eight years of build up, and it was handled perfectly. Yes, he is a homicidal maniac who wants to wipe out half the population at the universe. Yes, he’s a giant, purple CGI creature that you could never fathom in real life. But you can understand him, even if you won’t ever agree with his actions. Saying any more would get into spoiler territory, and anyone who watches this movie should go in knowing as little as possible. But fans should know they nailed his characterization.
While Avengers: Infinity War is a blast to watch (especially during it’s amazing action scenes), it still has its flaws. It’s only part one of a two part story. It doesn’t exactly ease the audience in. It’s overstuffed. At nearly two and a half hours, it can be a little long. But that won’t prevent fans from enjoying Infinity War. Going in, this movie was burdened with so many expectations. Like every movie, it’s not perfect. But in the end, it lives up to the hype.
Taken as a singular movie, Avengers: Infinity War would not hold up. But Marvel made a promise to its fans that this movie would begin to cap off a story that began a decade ago. If you take Infinity War as the culmination of 10 years of world building, character development and stellar action scenes, it’s easily one of the Marvel’s greatest achievements.
