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Review: Avengers Infinity War
They actually did it. An MCU movie actually made things count. Avengers: Infinity War may not be a perfect movie in the strictest sense, but it’s just about exactly what you could hope for in this case. This was being built up to for ten years, and unlike the slightly disappointing Age of Ultron, this at least lives up to the hype.
Infinity War has what every good MCU movie has at its core: a fun and humorous feel – for much of the time. But at other times, it gets dark. There’s a hopeless feeling during some of the most pivotal scenes. The very first scene sets this new tone perfectly. Without giving anything away, Thanos does something that shows the audience that he means business and he’s not to be messed with. That’s what gives this movie such a different feel from all of these other movies. We’re never scared of what a villain might do to the heroes, but here, we really are.
One of my worries going in was that there would be way too many characters and that it would feel bloated. But I never got that feeling while watching the movie. We’ve spent enough time with each of these characters in their own movies and in other Avengers movies that all we want to do is see them interact with new characters – specifically with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Each and every one of these interactions are well done. Nothing feels forced. At times, it feels like a filler episode of The Walking Dead that’s actually well done. We’re able to see characters interact that normally wouldn’t and it’s awesome.
Sometimes in MCU movies, the humor can take such a prominent role that it overshadows the actual emotional depth that should be there. But this movie strikes an excellent balance here. There are plenty of laughs. But in the most serious scenes, the emotion is allowed to play out. I actually felt scared for each and every one of the Avengers and Guardians at one point or another. That’s never happened before. Thanos does some things that show how serious he is and he follows through on the seriousness. The darker tone and the stakes that I so desperately wanted are there. But you know what they say: be careful what you wish for…
The action and the score are also more memorable than a lot of these movies. Alan Silvestri, who scored the first Avengers, was brought back to do this score. And the music doesn’t just seem like generic action movie music. It’s exciting and memorable. As for the action, we get to see the Avengers using their powers more than we normally do. It’s not all punching and kicking when you’re dealing with and evil titan, his children, and their army.
But for being an evil titan, Thanos is really fleshed out. Since there are so many Avengers that we know so much about, you could probably say Thanos is the main character. He’s the one that we spend the most time with overall and the one whose psyche we dive into most deeply. We learn his motivations and they’re actually believable. He has an understandable reason past, “I want to take over the world.” Because of this, I would put him behind only Black Panther's Killmonger as the best MCU villain.
There’s really so much to like about Avengers: Infinity War. It delivers on its promises and it’s brutally heartbreaking at points. We are taken places we’ve never been taken before in this Marvel Universe. I’d love to go back.