After 10 years of buildup across 18 previous films, Marvel Studios has finally released Avengers: Infinity War, the movie where the Avengers finally confront Thanos. While this highly anticipated movie is a landmark event for the superhero genre, I was unable to see it until this weekend and had fortunately dodged just about every spoiler until now. With that said, Infinity War was well worth the wait, but with an unfortunately large caveat.
Immediately following the events of Thor: Ragnarok, Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his lieutenants are onboard Thor and Loki’s ship. While Thanos uses his attack on the ship to obtain one of the six Infinity Stones, Heimdall (Idris Elba) is able to send Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) back to Earth to warn others of Thanos’ arrival. On Earth, the Avengers subsequently become involved in the fight against Thanos in some form or another while, out in space, the Guardians of the Galaxy become wrapped up in the conflict after following an Asgardian distress signal.
The overall plot for Infinity War is actually pretty easy to follow in spite of the enormous cast. What helps is that the characters are actually split up in groups across multiple locations, which helps to keep the settings fresh and the encounters with Thanos and his minions unique. The execution is also a large contrast with Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). In Ultron, the story bogged itself down with an overly complex layering of individual plotlines and very slow pacing. In Infinity War, while there are various subplots, they’re all kept simple and to the point, which quickens the pace and allows them to more easily tie together in the end.
What also helps the pace is how Infinity War manages to incorporate humor without diminishing the tone of the story. Most of the humor comes from the various character interactions, especially when the Guardians of the Galaxy are onscreen. In the case of the Guardians it helps that they sound like how they did in their own movies, courtesy of James Gunn, who had written their dialogue despite being uncredited. Even outside of that, the movie knows exactly when to have a funny moment and when to take itself seriously, which allows the more powerful moments to stand out.
On that note, there is a rather large caveat that should be mentioned for anyone wishing to see this film. If you have not seen all 18 previous films in the MCU, you will undoubtedly become confused about one thing or another; it’s like having a test that’s inclusive to an entire school year. While Infinity War does try its best to be enjoyable in a vacuum, it features nearly every major character that has appeared in previous movies and, as a result, also involves plot threads that go as far back as Phase One. However, even if you have seen all 18 prior installments, there is a chance you will have forgotten something if you haven’t seen some of them in a while. Therefore, to get the best enjoyment out of Infinity War, it’s best to have seen all the other movies in the MCU, preferably as close together as possible.
Without spoiling much of anything, the acting from just about every character is very good. Of particular note is Josh Brolin’s performance as Thanos. Since he now has a lot more room to work with the character, he’s able to deliver an amazing, and occasionally emotional, performance that adds a lot more depth to what we had seen prior. Additionally, Thanos’ lieutenants all have distinct designs and performances, but good luck remembering their names (for the record, they are Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive).
Avengers: Infinity War is a great example of a movie that can actually live up to its hype. The story is rather easy to follow, Thanos is a highly memorable and surprisingly complex villain and the movie is able to balance its humor such that powerful moments retain their impact, as well as its characters such that they are easy to keep track of. On top of that, the visual effects are absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately, Infinity War will more than likely be confusing to those who either have not seen all of the previous MCU movies or are for some reason jumping into this one completely blind. I would highly recommend this for existing fans of Marvel Studios, as it really pays off for that audience, but everyone else has some serious movie watching in their future, if only to stave off confusion.
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