Avengers: Infinity War
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Josh Brolin, Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
Rated: PG-13
You know that feeling of excitement and anticipation right before a new Avengers movie? You can’t wait to see Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, and The Hulk team up together to fight evil and save the world. I know that feeling well and I couldn’t wait to see the team reunited again...except it never happens in Infinity War.
Infinity War is about the super villain that all Marvel fans have been hearing about for years, Thanos. He’s on a quest to find all of the Infinity Stones (magical stones that will help him rule the universe). Throughout the universe, the Avengers team up with other Marvel heroes to stop him from his quest.
Right off the bat, the plot of this movie is very repetitive. Thanos wants an Infinity Stone. One of our heroes thinks they’re strong enough to stop the overgrown grape who’s halfway to becoming a raisin. So they attempt to beat him up. Oh no! It doesn’t work. Repeat. It’s fine to show me that one time, even two! I don’t wanna see it for the whole movie.
I’ve been looking forward to this movie since it was announced. However, I did have doubts. It's the first movie of two parts. It's never fun to see a major movie split in two. Also, it’s directed by Joe and Anthony Russo who made Captain America: Civil War, a film that was too disjointed for me. Apparently, disjointed is their preferred directing style because that’s the exact problem with Infinity War, Marvel’s biggest movie to date. Instead of getting all of our favorite characters together to face this huge threat, they’re all separated into different groups for most of the movie. Thor is with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Iron Man is with Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, and Captain America is with Black Widow, Falcon, and Black Panther. Sometimes those groups break up into even smaller sets. The movie constantly shifts from one group to the next, making it feel like you’re watching Avenger vignettes, not a cohesive film.
The only thing that keeps the the story together is Thanos’ quest, which takes up entirely too much time. At a certain point, this feels like Thanos: the movie. Not the Avengers. We have a problem when Captain America and Black Widow have very little to do, but I have to watch WWE Barney explain to me why genocide is “humane” for 3 hours.
There’s no way I can talk about every actor in this movie because there are so many, but my MVA (most valuable Avenger) is Thor. Chris Hemsworth is so fantastic as this character. He’s hilarious, yet again, in Infinity War and provides us with some truly epic moments.
Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Doctor Strange, and Star Lord provide the audience with several humorous moments throughout the movie to help ease the dramatic tension. Each has their own sense of humor that works so well for their characters.
My favorite Avenger, Captain America, deserved more screen time, but he was still great with what he was given. Chris Evans is perfect in this role. His entrance is one of the best moments in the movie. Not to mention, he's paired up with Black Widow and Falcon most of the time, giving me some Winter Soldier flashbacks. What a great trio.
I have to mention Zoe Saldana as Gamora and Elizabeth Olson as Scarlet Witch. They gave two very strong acting performances in the film. Both have very emotional character arcs and deliver in a major way.
Like any Marvel movie, there are some really good action sequences throughout. Without giving anything away, I was particularly impressed with Captain America's first fight scene, Thor's entrance to a fight, and all of Doctor Strange action sequences because the visual effects are so impressive.
Avengers: Infinity War is quite obviously the first of two chapters. It leaves the audience hanging in a major way. Once you get past its cliffhanger and look at the details, you see a disjointed and repetitive film that's much more focused on its villain than the Avengers we've come to see.
My Rating: 6/10