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Avengers: Infinity War Reviews

Avengers: Infinity War is the apex of franchise movie-making, bringing together a plethora of heroes from a number of different franchises to form the blockbuster of blockbusters.

Full Review | Feb 6, 2024

Avengers: Infinity War is a ground-breaking, unique movie within the genre.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jul 24, 2023

Who says all superhero films are predictable?

Full Review | Apr 20, 2023

People will have different opinions on the film depending on how invested they are in the characters in the movie. If you are knowledgeable of the characters and their stories thus far, this movie is flat-out incredible.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 16, 2023

It’s a thrilling, funny, emotional, rip-roaring crowd-pleaser that serves as a fitting culmination of their decade-long buildup.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2022

Infinity War is all about balance, in many different respects. Balance and tone, both of which, for a film with such ambition and size, are remarkable in how well they are executed.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 3, 2022

The audience is left drained, albeit thrilled, and as every great MCU title does, it leaves us hotly anticipating the next chapter.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 14, 2022

The grand Marvel Cinematic Universe team-up has been out for a few weeks now, and just about everyone from Ben Garland to Zsa Zsa the now-fired Buccaneers Parrot has probably seen this giganto box office muncher of epic proportions.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2022

Episode 7: Globalism

Full Review | Original Score: 80/100 | Aug 28, 2021

Thanks to the superb visual effects, the film is truly a work of art, even if it tries to pack in just a little too much, making some characters more like afterthoughts rather than integral to the plot.

Full Review | Aug 24, 2021

I'm torn on the big finale. This is either the gutsiest ending of any modern blockbuster, or a prelude to an emotional cop-out.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Aug 21, 2021

If you are remotely interested and if you remotely enjoyed the films of the MCU, this is a must watch. The Russo brothers have done it again.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Aug 14, 2021

It succeeded in doing exactly what it was likely designed to do: it made me want to watch more Marvel movies.

Full Review | Jul 16, 2021

An enormous action spectacle that never lets up.

Full Review | Original Score: 4 / 5 | Jun 24, 2021

Another mammoth slice of superhero mayhem...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 18, 2021

The dangling nature of the story will be frustrating to some. For fans, however, the movie should deliver in a big way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 4, 2021

No genuine or long-lasting amusement or engagement is possible, as the reverential treatment of completely preposterous events and processes is what predominates.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2021

The Russo brothers deliver an epic, brutal, and oftentimes scattered showdown with the Mad Titan Thanos.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 29, 2021

Avengers: Infinity War is full of entertaining little parts that somehow do not make a compelling whole. It is a phantasmagoria of stunning action sequences and beautifully poignant moments that nevertheless leaves one cold in the end.

Full Review | Jan 27, 2021

There's nothing new about Marvel's money-raking formula, but as each new chapter comes along, the serialized story becomes more and more unwieldy.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 5, 2020

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‘Avengers: Infinity War’: It’s Marvel’s Universe. We Just Live in It.

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By A.O. Scott

April 24, 2018

Considered on its own, as a single, nearly 2-hour-40-minute movie, “Avengers: Infinity War” makes very little sense, apart from the near convergence of its title and its running time. Early on, someone menacingly (and presciently) says, “You may think this is suffering. No: It’s salvation.” That’s a bit overstated either way. It’s puzzlement and irritation and also, yes, delight. But of course this film, the 19th installment in a series, was never meant to be viewed or judged in isolation. In that respect it shouldn’t really be thought of as a movie at all, at least in the ways people with jobs like mine are accustomed to using the word. Which poses a few difficulties, for me and also, I would argue, for you.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo , scrappy fraternal climbers up the 21st-century Hollywood ladder, “Infinity War” is a chunk of matter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a vast entity that long ago expanded beyond the usual boundaries of sequelization and brand extension. This synergistic expression of the corporate interests of Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Company — which now include 19 feature films and much else besides — has come to be less a creative or commercial undertaking than an immutable fact of life, like sex or the weather or capitalism itself.

Anatomy of a Scene | ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

The directors anthony and joe russo narrate a scene featuring robert downey jr., benedict cumberbatch, mark ruffalo, benedict wong and tom holland..

Hi, I’m Joe Russo. And I’m Anthony Russo. And we are the directors of “Avengers: Infinity War.” This scene takes place about 20 minutes into the film in Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum. And Tony Stark is looking at the burner phone that Steve Rogers gave to him, trying to decide whether or not he’s actually going to contact Steve about what’s occurring in the movie when he is interrupted by a sound. “Say, Doc. You wouldn’t happen to be moving your hair, would you?” “Not at the moment, no.” Part of the creative appeal of this movie was us bringing together disparate characters throughout the MCU and kind of smashing them together in a crisis situation. The intention was to create propulsive narrative, where the plot is driven by the villain, and he keeps interrupting the heroes because he’s one step ahead of them. This is one of those incidents. And this shot, you know, part of what we tried to bring to the MCU as filmmakers on a tonal level ever since our first film, “Captain America, Winter Soldier” is just a grounding and a real world patina over who these people are to try to bring out their humanity a little more in contrast to their powers. And this shot here is in that vein in the sense that it’s a very long shot. We stay in the perspective of these characters as they walk out into Greenwich Village and discover the scene of chaos unfolding. And we discover it as they discover it, and the scope of it as they discover it. It’s a way to increase tension as they walk down the sidewalk. What are they going to see? What is the audience going to see? And then here is probably the most asked about VFX shot in the movie is the hair standing up on Peter Parker’s arm. We’ve been asked hundreds of times how we got Tom Holland’s hair to stand up his arm. And it was a very gentle blowing on his ear actually did it. [laughs] It’s a CG shot. But this fulfilling the promise of “Infinity War” is that all of the characters are working together in this movie to try to stop Thanos, including Stan Lee. “What’s the matter with you kids? You never seen a spaceship before?” While this is a multi-perspective film, Thanos is the glue that binds all the characters together, as we watch Peter Parker swing off towards the incident in New York. [music]

That makes the franchise hard to criticize. You can’t really be for or against Marvel (in spite of the conspiracy theories of some DC fans ), and you can’t quite opt out of it either. They don’t call it a universe for nothing: Where else are we going to go? So we make our zigzagging ways, picking out our favorite planets and solar systems, accepting a baseline of tedious, standardized dead space that makes the brighter constellations seem disproportionately fresh and surprising. “Guardians of the Galaxy” was so funny and weird. Not like a superhero movie at all. Same with “Thor: Ragnarok.” Captain America is such a complicated guy. “Black Panther” gave audiences so much to root for and talk about.

[ Read A.O. Scott’s spoiler-filled article about the ending of “Avengers: Infinity War.” ]

Those interesting, unusual specimens — what we used to think of, in simpler times, as “good movies” — aren’t exactly accidents. They are carefully planned exceptions that uphold a rule (meaning a regime as well as a norm) of passive acceptance disguised as enthusiasm. This universe is engineered for variety and inclusiveness, within certain strict parameters. Above all, the Disney-Marvel combination is a giant machine that manufactures maximum consent. The cosmos is theirs. The rest of us just live in it.

I’m not complaining, but rather pointing out how pointless, how silly it sounds when anyone bothers to venture a complaint. Who wants to be a hater? Still, it’s worth noting that the ascendance of Marvel (and of other, not quite as universal entities like it) has narrowed the parameters of criticism. I’m supposed to tell you, in this review, how much fun you’ll have at “Infinity War.” (Yes, you will have some. Will you have enough? Almost.) But I’ve probably already gone too far in trying to think about what it means. The Marvel movies and others of their kind often produce an illusion of profundity, a slick, murky overlay of allegorical suggestiveness. This provides grist for the kind of think pieces that spar with one another — “Infinity War” is liberal; no, it’s conservative; but don’t you see that it’s a protest against Trump; actually, it’s an attack on the tyranny of political correctness — until they catalyze the inevitable anti-intellectual backlash. It’s just a movie! Don’t spoil the fun!

And of course it is with respect to “spoilers” that the policing of discourse is most ruthlessly and effectively practiced. Reviewers who attend advance screenings take a vow of silence about plot details that will be widely known within a week and all but forgotten a week after that. Government secrets are guarded with less care, and requests from public officials to go off the record are addressed with more skepticism. But if I mention which superhero dies, or which one has an unexpected relationship with someone else — well, I wouldn’t dream of it. Not because I’m afraid of Disney executives. It’s the wrath of their obedient, weaponized minions I fear. In other words: you.

This is not a healthy situation. The reasonable concern that major plot elements not be divulged has spawned a phobic, hypersensitive taboo against public discussion of anything that happens onscreen. If, for example, I were to share that Thor (Chris Hemsworth) mistakes Rocket (Bradley Cooper), who is a raccoon, for a rabbit — whoops, you already hit “send,” didn’t you? The joke is repeated a half-dozen times, so it kind of ruins itself. And until the end, the whole thing is weirdly free of any but the most superficial, mechanical surprises.

The action is especially tedious and predictable. I mean both the scenes of fighting and flying and the overall rhythm of the first two hours or so. People talk for a while, sprinkling jokes and morsels of personality into the heavy dough of exposition. Then they fight in the usual way, by throwing giant objects (and one another) and shooting waves of color from their hands. The noisy, bloated spectacles of combat were surely the most expensive parts of the movie, but the money seems less like an imaginative tool than a substitute for genuine imagination.

There is so much to explain, but basically a large purple fellow named Thanos (Josh Brolin) wants, on vague Malthusian principles, to wipe out half the life in the universe. As you try to keep track of all the good guys massed against him, you may decide he has a point. But he’s not a bad villain. I mean, he’s very bad, but his malevolence is laced with melancholy, and there is a ghastly grandeur to his ambition.

To fulfill his evil plans, Thanos needs to collect six “infinity stones,” which in spite of their awesome power look a lot like what you would find in the craft kit you have been meaning to regift since your kid’s seventh birthday. Also, come on: Another quest for magic gewgaws? This one lumbers from Vormir to Knowhere to Titan, with terrestrial stops in New York, Scotland and Wakanda. Along the way, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) stage a Sherlock Holmes meta-duel and compare goatees. The hunky-Chris showdown — Hemsworth vs. Pratt (Peter Quill) vs. Evans (Captain America) — ends in a three-way tie. Zoe Saldana is heartbreaking as Gamora. If you end up wanting more Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) or Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) or War Machine (Don Cheadle), or whoever your favorite happens to be — well, that’s kind of the idea, isn’t it?

But where you end up may not be where you thought this was going. The final act, including the post-credits sting (to infinity and beyond, as it were) brings a chill, a darkness and a hush that represent something new in this universe. “Infinity War” is the first half of the final installment in the series, and it concludes with a premonition of finality. Its intimations of grief and terror feel shrewdly attuned to what is happening in the actual, unmarvelous world. But those emotions can also be folded back into the movies themselves. This universe is coming to an end. And then where will we be?

Avengers: Infinity War Rated PG-13. Rough talk and large-scale digital slaughter Running time: 2 hours 36 minutes.

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User reviews

Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Vin Diesel, Paul Bettany, Bradley Cooper, Chris Evans, Sean Gunn, Scarlett Johansson, Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Wong, Terry Notary, Anthony Mackie, Chris Hemsworth, Dave Bautista, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Letitia Wright, and Tom Holland in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War

To this day one of the most impossible films to pull off.

uzair-36867
Feb 7, 2021

EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER

andreascaloni
Feb 15, 2021

A superior avengers sequel

Feb 4, 2021

A film that pulled off the impossible.

Jan 19, 2021

Best movie of the MCU, incredible from start to finish.

Jan 23, 2021

Better than Endgame

Mar 13, 2021

Best Cliffhanger of all Time

Jul 26, 2021
Feb 22, 2020

Best movie ihave ever seen

himanshukumar-35677
Jul 12, 2021

An objective review of Avengers: Infinity War

May 11, 2018

Way better than endgame

michaelhowell12
Sep 1, 2019

Typical film of modern times

mstephens-98840
May 7, 2018

Somehow they pulled this off

Apr 25, 2018
muhammad-66903
Jan 6, 2021

It all led to this: superhero film at its best

Oct 24, 2021

How MCU should have always been like

Apr 20, 2021

Unlike anything ever done in the history of cinema

kjames-26542
Aug 13, 2018

avengers infinity war

Nov 28, 2020

Nothing special

Much better than end game.

ssatvaya-16480
Jun 18, 2021

Marvel needs to keep their characters true and watch sloppy writing.

May 12, 2018

10th movie in a row from Marvel with the same plot and gimmicks

email-94961
May 6, 2018

Still the best

RogerGlassFilm
Jul 28, 2021

Better than End Game

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‘avengers: infinity war’: film review.

'Avengers: Infinity War,' Marvel's biggest, most star-studded film yet, brings together characters from all of its franchises, including 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Black Panther.'

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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“We’re in the endgame now,” Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange intones in the final stretch of the indisputably epic Avengers: Infinity War — and, more than in any other comics-derived superhero concoction one could mention, there’s a whiff of something resembling tragedy in a franchise that, for millions of fans, seems to play a role similar to what mythology did for the Greeks.

This grand, bursting-at-the-seams wrap-up to one crowded realm of the Marvel superhero universe starts out as three parts jokes, two parts dramatic juggling act and one part deterministic action, an equation that’s been completely reversed by the time of the film’s startling climax. “Huge” is the operative word here — for budget, scope and size of the global audience.

Release date: Apr 27, 2018

Back in Hollywood’s big studio heyday, the grandest company of them all, MGM, boasted of having “more stars than there are in heaven.” Marvel could arguably make that argument today, and it’s crammed almost all of them into this one densely packed superhero orgy, the first half of which is basically dedicated to finding a semi-coherent way of shuffling them into the same dramatic deck. How are ultra-egotists like Dr. Strange, Robert Downey Jr. ‘s Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Chris Evans ‘ Steve Rogers, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and even Chadwick Boseman’s more even-keeled Black Panther going to like having to share the heroic spotlight with one another, while also allowing some derring-do and dazzling deeds to be performed by at least another dozen characters with unusual talents?

The sharp-witted answer delivered by writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors Anthony and Joe Russo, under the supervision of Marvel Films maestro Kevin Feige , is to acknowledge the traffic jam of egos and play it for laughs. The effect is both scatter-shot and precise, knowing and witty enough to be initially disarming and ultimately ingratiating. With more limited screen time than they’re used to and even more limited elbow room, the actors and characters (in what at least some knew would be their swan songs in these costumes) snap off one-liners and sharp remarks with an extra edge of sarcastic disdain. They don’t exactly send up their heroic characters, but there is more of a subtle commentary underneath it all (not so subtle in the case of Mark Ruffalo’s and Evans’ roles) about the frustrations of having two different personas in life.

Even early on, however, one makes note of tragic forebodings that Dr. Strange articulates. For all the activity generated by the superheroes, the fellow driving the action here is the heretofore glimpsed but never central Thanos (Josh Brolin ), a brooding tree trunk of a man whose stated goal is to achieve universal dominance by acquiring all six Infinity Stones. Each of these variously colored gems confers distinct powers. As he acquires them, he becomes increasingly unbeatable, but along with his determination and brute force he brings a philosophical intelligence.

Thanos has thoroughly thought through his ambition, as well as the moral and emotional toll it will take to achieve it, and Brolin’s calm, considered reading of the character bestows this conquering beast with an unexpectedly resonant emotional dimension, making him much more than a thick stick figure of a supervillain .

The imposing and unquestionable danger Thanos represents, and the way it increases exponentially with each stone he acquires, becomes quite serious after a while. So what begins as a lark — with the vast assortment of comic book characters trotting out their costumes; middle-aged Bruce Banner humorously being so out of practice that he can no longer transform himself into the Hulk; Tony Stark bantering once again with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts; Holland’s Peter Parker looking so childish even he seems to wonder what he’s doing in this company; Dave Bautista stealing every scene he’s in; Scarlett Johansson and Don Cheadle being given absolutely nothing fresh or original to do; Evans trying to leave his Captain America persona behind him — transforms into something genuinely threatening and grim, something, in fact, that has to be taken seriously: the prospect that evil can win.

With so many ingredients to stir into this overflowing pot, you have to hand it to the two experienced teams of Marvel collaborators who had a feel for how to pull this magnum opus off. Markus and McFeely wrote all three Captain America entries and have a deft, jokey, sometimes glib touch that spreads the humor around and prevents this long film from ever getting stodgy. The Brothers Russo directed the last two Captain America features and have a breezy approach that prevents the action here from sagging in any serious way.

And the scale of that action is astonishing. Some of it is set in space or in different realms, while other scenes take place in New York and elsewhere on Earth. When the intergalactic conflict winds up in Wakanda, Black Panther’s African homeland, it provides a bit of a start: Wait, we were just there a few months ago, and here we are again already for another giant battle?

Another major dramatic thread concerns the hitherto secondary figure of Vision (Paul Bettany), who crucially possesses the final stone sought by Thanos and hies to Scotland with Elizabeth Olsen ‘s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch before being tracked down.

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Entertainment

Avengers: Infinity War is wildly fun until it leaves you hanging

Spoiler-free review: Marvel's latest team-up, the best Avengers movie yet, melds hilarious and tragic moments into a streamlined diary of mad titan Thanos.

I was having infinite fun watching Avengers: Infinity War -- until it ended.

The film is the Marvel Cinematic Universe 's biggest superhero soap opera yet. And despite an ending that left me fuming at the screen, and a breakneck pace that shortchanges many characters, it's still the best Avengers movie yet .

One minute it's heart-wrenching, the next it's laugh-out-loud funny. You're watching Spider-Man (Tom Holland) swing through New York to help Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Then you're zipping to outer space as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) forges a new alliance with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Fortunately, giant captions help you keep track of the multiple characters' whereabouts, whether they're battling on behalf of the universe in Wakanda or Scotland.

With so many players and planets, there's plenty of potential for things to go awry. But the streamlined story makes the approximately 2.5-hour movie fly by. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have incorporated elements of each of the films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe while keeping one character in focus the entire time.

Diary of mad titan Thanos

That character is Thanos (Josh Brolin), and as long promised , he takes center stage in his quest to collect six Infinity Stones that will let him wipe out half the universe.

Unlike Marvel villains who often lack character depth (think Helmut Zemo from Captain America: Civil War or Malekith from Thor: The Dark World ), Thanos gets plenty of screen time to show what makes him feel triumph and what makes him feel pain. He's still a genocidal maniac, but he suffers desperate consequences for his deadly goals. And I do mean deadly. Some of his actions are violent and grotesque enough that parents should take caution before bringing children elementary school age or younger to the film.

'Avengers: Infinity War' is going to blow your mind

Because of the galactic focus on Thanos, the movie feels much more like a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 than a follow-up to more grounded films like Captain America: Civil War or Avengers: Age of Ultron . This makes sense. Early on in 2014's original Guardians of the Galaxy , several characters quickly name Thanos as someone they want to betray or destroy. Those grudges haven't faded, and Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) close but complicated history as Thanos' favorite adopted daughter gets fully explored.

Guardians meet Avengers

As trailers have already revealed, Thor (post-Ragnarok) fits in with the Guardians as tightly as the Infinity Gauntlet on Thanos. If Thor isn't given a fourth movie to headline, I'd be thrilled to watch Chris Hemsworth's God of Thunder instead bicker with Chris Pratt's Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 .

That's not to say the earthbound heroes don't have their moments. The love story between Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch and Paul Bettany's Vision has now fully blossomed as they fight to protect the Mind Stone that makes Vision as alive as a sentient robot-host on HBO's Westworld .

You'll cheer as Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) fight in Wakanda alongside Black Panther T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Okoye (Danai Gurira). And War Machine (Don Cheadle) is so over the Sokovia Accords that broke the Avengers apart in Civil War.

But many other Earth stories feel sidelined.

After being teased at the end of Black Panther, Bucky Barnes' (Sebastian Stan) return feels glossed over. The Sokovia Accords and most of the beef between the Avengers highlighted in the Russos' Civil War film are rapidly undone to get the Thanos fight started. And based on a few off-the-cuff references to time that conflict with earlier films , I'm now convinced nobody in the Marvel universe truly knows how much time has passed since the first Avengers movie.

Avengers assemble

What to watch before you see Infinity War
Avengers: Infinity War: Everything you need to know
How to stream every Marvel movie available
Avengers: Infinity War has too many Avengers. Just admit it

Everything I just described involves having some familiarity with previous Marvel movies, and while this one is a breezy watch, some viewers may be lost right at the start without having seen previous Marvel outings, especially both Guardians movies, Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok . (Our quick catch-up guide can help.)

New characters include Thanos' Black Order, but none rise beyond the level of henchmen helping to obtain the Infinity Stones. Peter Dinklage's mystery character, who I won't spoil, is an absolute treat. And other cameos will happily surprise Marvel movie fans.

Avengers: Infinity War feels a lot like a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Infinity War also outdoes itself in the special-effects department, depicting battles that highlight Wakanda's technological capabilities, Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange's control of their magical powers and the might of Thanos -- often all in one sequence. Other backdrops look so obviously CGI-ed that reports Tom Holland acted in scenes by himself , with other actors added in later, make a lot of sense.

An abrupt end

We'll be analyzing the numerous plot lines for months, but the way Infinity War ends easily feels too much like a television show's cliffhanger season finale that baits you to come back next year to find out how it all resolves. Unless Avengers 4 has a heck of a subtitle, this movie should have kept its "part 1" label. As a result, audiences might leave the theater feeling cheated, and frankly having a hard time believing the film's stakes. (The movie also only features one post-credits scene, which deepened my conflicted feelings about the ending. We discuss and dissect what that post-credits scene means here ).

Until the ending hits, Avengers: Infinity War features all the cool superhero fight scenes you've come to expect, smartass quips between superheroes and super beings like Doctor Strange and Tony Stark, and with chances to see so many Marvel characters mingle among each other for the first time. It's absolutely worth the ride, but get ready to be left hanging.

Want to practice your Spanish. Check out CNET en Español's review of Avengers: Infinity War .

Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters worldwide on April 27.

You'll cheer when the Avengers fight alongside the Black Panther and Wakanda's forces.

How to watch every MCU property in the perfect order : From Marvel films to the shows on Netflix, here's the best order to experience the MCU.

Meet the Black Panther, ruler of Wakanda : CNET Magazine interviewed Chadwick Boseman and learned just how he came up with that accent.

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Avengers: Infinity War gives the fans what they want … and a few things they might not: EW review

For the Marvel faithful, there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing. While some ticket buyers will no doubt look at the bloated 2-hour-29-minute run time of the new, all-hands-on-deck marathon Avengers: Infinity War and sigh, wondering if they’re about to watch a movie or a cricket match, diehards will be only too happy to purchase a bigger trough of popcorn and settle in for the long haul thinking that Christmas has come early. After months of unavoidable pre-release hype, not to mention rabid social-media guessing games about which superhero (or superheroes) may end up biting the dust in this chapter, D-day is finally upon us. And no, I won’t be offering any spoilers because, frankly, y’all scare me.

Let’s be clear, Infinity War is a movie for the fans. Especially those who’ve spent any time wondering what it would be like to witness Chris Hemsworth’s Thor wisecracking with Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, or tagging along with some of the Avengers as they hightail it to Wakanda (the arrival there got a rousing wave of applause at my screening). It’s the Marvel equivalent of watching the old “We Are the World” video (Hey, it’s Bob Dylan singing between to Cyndi Lauper and Huey Lewis!). And for the most part, this super-sized mash-up works better than you’d expect. There are occasional tonal disparities when you get a smart-aleck character firing off quips next to a stoically straight-faced one like Chris Evans’ Captain America. Even in the real world, if you put a large enough group of people in a room together, all of the different personalities aren’t necessarily going to mesh. Comic book heroes, they’re just like us!

And it is a large group. With at least 25 marquee characters crammed into the same story, you can feel the directors Anthony and Joe Russo ( Captain America: Civil War ) struggle at times to keep so many balls in the air. It’s a bit like 10 pounds of movie jammed into a five-pound bag. Some, like Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Anthony Mackie’s Falcon get so little to do, you wonder why they even bothered to show up. Marvel is sitting on such an embarrassment of riches with its deep bench of characters, that some don’t have much more to do than act as glorified extras. But restraint hasn’t ever exactly been part of the studio’s M.O. Too many of the characters seem to be fighting over too little to do. But that’s what happens when you’re making movies on a canvas this vast.

Infinity War kicks off with the evil Thanos (a CG Josh Brolin, kind of recognizable behind an oversized granite chin, Hulkian muscles, and Booberry-hued skin) terrorizing Asgardians Loki, Heimdall, and Thor, looking for one of the precious infinity stones. With some creepy-cool henchmen, he’s destroying worlds and taking names in his attempt to collect all six and become all-powerful. Ahh, the infinity stones — arguably the most sought-after and now-famous MacGuffins in Hollywood history. To some, a new batch of infinity-stone nonsense will seem like tired reheated leftovers; for others, they’re the stuff that dreams are made of — as riveting as Sam Spade’s Maltese Falcon or Indiana Jones’ Ark of the Covenant. I’m pretty agnostic. I do wish these films would find something else to obsess over, though.

Either way, Thanos is well on his way to getting his giant mitts on the full set and with it, total omnipotence. So it’s off to Earth and various intergalactic planets with names like Knowhere and Nidavellir to snag the others, setting off an apocalyptic doomsday crisis that can only be stopped by the Avengers and the Guardians and basically every other being who’s ever graced the pages of a comic book. But, of course, that means putting aside some old grudges and hurt feelings. If you’ll recall from Captain America: Civil War (which I’d argue was a better movie than this one, thanks in part to the great Leipzig airport battle royal), our heroes may agree on the saving the world, but tensions exist. They need to be smoothed over, stat.

But there are… issues . Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner is been having a hard time of it lately turning into the Hulk, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange has to adjust to Robert Downey Jr.’s rat-a-tat wiseassery (he does pretty well, at one point calling Tony Stark a “douchebag,” which frankly seems a little more crass than his effete airs would suggest), Paul Bettany’s Vision and Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch need to come out of their romantic hiding in Scotland to face evil yet again, Peter Parker needs to grow up under Stark’s fatherly wing, and the Guardians posse (including a distracted, now-teenage Groot) need to find a way to integrate into the established hierarchy like exchange students on the first day at a new school. The good news is, they do and nicely. It’s a lot to keep track of, to be sure. But this movie operates on such a simplistic mythic lizard-brain level, that it’s not too hard to reason things out even if you’re coming into the proceedings cold.

Everything I’ve just said is just a skimming of the Infinity War surface. I won’t go any deeper with regard to the plot. The problem is that with so many characters to shoehorn in and so many realms of the galaxy to put out various fires in, the heroic horde is broken into four or five smaller subgroups that we keep cutting back and forth to. And some, naturally, are more entertaining to sit through than others. And some just seem to vanish for long stretches until you find yourself wondering when the hell are we going back to Wakanda or wherever? It ends up feeling a bit too disjointed – like we’re flipping the channels between four different movies instead of watching one cohesive one.

What saves Infinity War from being just another bloated supergroup tour – and what will end up being the thing that blows fans’ minds to dust – is the film’s final stretch. Let’s be clear, when it comes to hand-over-fist cash cows like the Marvel films, any time a character is put into any sort of serious jeopardy, you immediately have to raise an eyebrow and roll your eyes a bit. All of these characters are such lucrative intellectual properties no studio, no matter how daring, is going to put them into too much jeopardy. You don’t have to think back very far to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (DC not Marvel, I know, I know) when it looked like Superman was done for at the end only to see his casket vibrating because…well, you can’t possibly kill off Superman. He’s freakin’ Superman! At least, not when so many executives’ annual bonuses are riding on the next installment. Still, there is something thrilling about watching just how much fun the Russos and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are having messing with the fans here. Even if, in the end, that little subversive act of freaking them out only lasts until the next sequel. B

Avengers: Infinity War Review

27 Apr 2018

NaN minutes

Avengers: Infinity War

Marvel has raised the pressure for itself on Infinity War , widely touting it as the endgame of three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and promising earth-shattering – or at least, judging by the trailer, moon-shattering – consequences to this two-part story, which will finish with next year’s untitled Avengers 4 . It would be hard for any film to live up to the level of sky-high hype that has resulted, and to satisfy the fans of every single one of these characters. Miraculously, this smashes right through your expectations and delivers shock after shock.

The film opens without the traditional Marvel fanfare, instead throwing itself into full-throated operatic drama. The opening minutes are designed to jolt you out of any complacency you may have felt about Thanos’ effectiveness, or the threat posed even by his minions in the Black Order. Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon) and the rest make themselves instantly hissable. They may look like Lord Of The Rings rejects, and they boast little in the way of redeeming qualities, but that’s all to the good. They are big, they are powerful enough to test the Avengers independent of their boss, and that’s about all we need to know.

Brace for noble self-sacrifice, senseless tragedy and straight-up murder.

Thanos, meanwhile, gets monologuing from minute one, and it’s to Josh Brolin ’s credit that he is never less than compelling, whether speaking or letting his actions speak for him. Thanos is mad, and the solution he sees to the galaxy’s ills both evil and ineffective, but he has a thought process that (sort of) makes sense, and his commitment to his cause is so absolute that it is almost admirable. Almost.

Standing against him is a team that is physically fractured, scattered across the galaxy between the remnants of the Avengers, the refugee Asgardians and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The plot’s machinations result in unlikely combinations of Avengers meeting, bickering and, usually, working together semi-effectively. The addition of the Guardians of the Galaxy happens smoothly – which is to say that there is fighting, flirting, bonding over heavy weaponry and the steady erosion of Peter Quill’s ( Chris Pratt ) ego. Speaking of egos, the titanic clash between Iron Man ( Robert Downey Jr ) and Dr Strange ( Benedict Cumberbatch ) is a delight, especially given spice by the addition of the naïve, entirely good Peter Parker ( Tom Holland ). The combinations of heroes working together feels both inevitable and unexpected, and the sheer charisma of the cast means that whatever scene or planet we cut to, there’s someone there to care about.

Everyone is tested. Hulk ( Mark Ruffalo ) comes up against obstacles he can’t smash, and Steve Rogers ( Chris Evans ) — relatively underused — has to reckon with his own personal worst-case scenario. Thanos’ genius is to repeatedly use our heroes’ mutual ties against them. Thanos is willing to sacrifice half the universe to achieve his ends, but he knows that others are not so determined. Over and over again, the film tries to force one character to make concessions to save a life, and over and over again they try to live up to Vision’s claim that “We don’t trade lives, Captain”. They may not, but Joe and Anthony Russo, evil genius screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, and producer Kevin Feige, have no such mercy.

Brace, then, for noble self-sacrifice, senseless tragedy and straight-up murder. The good news is that it’s also really, really funny. Tony Stark is briefly reduced to speechlessness. Thor gives an account of his family history that is accurate and also hilarious. Groot ( Vin Diesel ), Rocket ( Bradley Cooper ) and Drax ( Dave Bautista ) continue to leave a trail of much-needed laughs, without ever quite distracting from the danger they all face.

The film dances nimbly across the cosmos from one group to the next, turning the screws on each group, shattering them and pulling them back together in new combinations. With all these different strands, you might expect to see the gears move to keep this intricate plot humming, as in Age Of Ultron and Civil War . But this time the Russos achieve the impossible. Not only did they bring all these disparate characters and stories together, but they made it look effortless. And the ending laughs in the face of carbonite when it comes to raising the stakes for next time. “It’s not overselling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake,” says one character, early on in Infinity War . If the universe he meant was the Marvel one, there’s no need to worry. We couldn’t tear ourselves away now if we wanted to.

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Avengers: infinity war review - marvel delivers a culminating film.

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Chitty chitty bang bang remake takes a huge step forward in new development update, jim carrey explains why playing two characters in sonic the hedgehog 3 was "very difficult" for him, avengers: infinity war delivers an exciting culmination of the mcu, though it's overstuffed and suffers from certain typical marvel movie problems..

Avengers: Infinity War sets out to accomplish a feat never previously attempted in Hollywood: bring together all the heroes of a sprawling superhero universe in a cohesive narrative while delivering an event that justifies 10 years and 18 movies worth of build up. There is an unprecedented amount of hype surrounding the latest installment in Marvel Studios' Marvel Cinematic Universe, but an unprecedented level of expectations as well. The question of Avengers: Infinity War was whether Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige and directors Anthony and Joe Russo could meet or exceed those expectations. Avengers: Infinity War delivers an exciting culmination of the MCU, though it's overstuffed and suffers from certain typical Marvel movie problems.

In Avengers: Infinity War , screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely set about the difficult task of including all the major superheroes of the franchise by splitting them into teams. As Thanos (Josh Brolin), the Mad Titan with ambitions of killing half the universe in order to bring balance, searches for the Infinity Stones that will complete his Infinity Gauntlet, all the heroes work to prevent him from achieving his goal. For Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), that means protecting the Time Stone, even as he butts heads with Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), though they have help from Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland). Meanwhile, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) comes across the Guardians of the Galaxy - Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) - and they work together on their own plans to stop Thanos.

Back on earth, those left of the Avengers rally around Vision (Paul Bettany) in order to protect the Mind Stone, with everyone converging on Wakanda to receive the help of T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Shuri (Letitia Wright), the Dora Milaje lead by Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Jabari army led by M'Baku (Winston Duke). In a stand against Thanos and his Black Order, Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), War Machine (Don Cheadle), and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) battle the Titan's hoards of Outriders. But even with all the might of the Avengers, it's unclear if it will be enough to defeat Thanos.

The task of balancing so many characters, in addition to developing Thanos beyond his brief appearances in previous films, is nearly impossible. With so many characters set to share the screen in Avengers: Infinity War , there are bound to be those who unfortunately fall by the wayside in order for others to have complete narrative arcs in the film. Markus and McFeely focus predominantly on certain heroes based on which characters serve the story of Thanos' villainy the most. And for the Mad Titan's part, Infinity War offers a valiant effort to develop his character so as not to fall into the underdeveloped Marvel villain trap. However, with so much else going on and so many other characters sharing the screen, Thanos still fails to be a fully developed and sympathetic antagonist. As for the rest of the ensemble cast, the writers made sure even those who don't receive their own full narrative arcs, their presence is felt - either through standout lines of dialogue or cool action beats.

While Avengers: Infinity War attempts to balance so many characters and give them compelling narratives, very few of the emotional beats stick their landing. This is partly due to the movie being crammed full with too much going on for the pacing to allow much time to process any major emotional development before moving on. Further, with Infinity War jumping around between different storylines involving different groupings of characters, the shift in location and tone can be jarring. In fact, there is a moment that's meant to be particularly poignant and emotional, with big sweeping music to mark its significance, but it's followed shortly by a change of scenery and a joke that undercuts any emotional response the movie was aiming to achieve. Since viewers aren't given time to process certain developments in Infinity War before moving on to the next story beat, it's difficult to feel the weight of those moments.

The other reason certain emotional beats don't work is due to a lack of character development. If viewers don't feel connected to a character because of a lack of development, it's difficult to have a response to emotional beats in their story arc. However, Avengers: Infinity War does benefit from the character development achieved in previous films, assuming viewers know about previously established relationships between characters and building off those relationships. That said, when a number of major emotional moments in Infinity War are based entirely on character development established in previous movies, it sometimes comes off as cheap and unearned. This is especially the case when Infinity War has to move on to another story or character beat in order to keep up the film's brisk pace and wrap up in a reasonable amount of time.

With all that said, there is still plenty to enjoy about Avengers: Infinity War and fans who have stuck with the MCU for 10 years will find that it's another solid entry in the franchise. Of course, Infinity War suffers from many of the typical Marvel movie problems, with a villain that isn't quite as well developed as he could be (especially in contrast to Black Panther's Killmonger) as well as CGI that is, at times, genuinely bad. But, the latest Avengers movie balances out these lackluster aspects with certain really cool action beats - placed amid larger action set pieces that aren't really groundbreaking - and plenty of humor so as to create an overall fun experience.

For the most part, the Russo brothers and Marvel Studios delivered on their promise to bring the disparate corners of film franchise together for a battle against Thanos, all while staying true to the characters who made the MCU so popular. Coming back to the question of whether Avengers: Infinity War lives up to the hype and anticipation, the movie doesn't exceed expectations even though it does meet those expectations. What happens when a movie that many are hoping to exceed expectations only manages to meet those expectations - even if those expectations mark a massive achievement for a Hollywood franchise? Well, in the case of Avengers: Infinity War , we get a solidly entertaining event film that still may leave viewers wanting more, even if they're unsure what more the writers and directors could have done. Thankfully, Marvel Studios, the Russos, and Markus and McFeely will be back next year with Avengers 4 to bring the first three phases of the MCU truly to completion.

Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in U.S. theaters nationwide. It runs 149 minutes and is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references.

Want to talk about Infinity War without spoiling the Avengers movie for others? Head on over to our Avengers: Infinity War spoilers discussion .

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War is the third Avengers movie in the game-changing Marvel Cinematic Universe. This film is positioned as the beginning of the culmination of everything that has transpired in the franchise to date. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who previously helmed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War , have assembled the largest ensemble in a superhero film to date. Nearly every living character in the MCU is included as the Avengers join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to take down Thanos in a battle that has massive repercussions for the future of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. A sequel, Avengers: Endgame , was released in 2019 and marked the end of the Infinity Saga.

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Avengers: Infinity War is stunning, hilarious, and heartbreaking

Directors joe and anthony russo create a superhero movie where nobody is safe.

By Bryan Bishop

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The most definitive overarching issue with the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been the lack of stakes. Over the course of the saga’s previous 18 movies, MCU heroes have faced numerous world-ending threats, eking out victories by the skin of their teeth, only to have their worlds essentially return to normal in time for the next installment. The approach worked early, on a film-by-film basis, but when viewed as part of a 10-year narrative, it’s tended to weaken the broader franchise. There can be no drama without true risk, and in the MCU, audiences have learned that none of their favorites are ever really in harm’s way.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo seem acutely aware of this issue with their latest entry, the massive, multi-film team-up Avengers: Infinity War . The long-awaited face-off between the Avengers and Thanos (Josh Brolin), the MCU’s ultimate big bad, is massively entertaining, deftly incorporating dozens of characters across multiple storylines with a kinetic flair. Its devotion to banter and one-liners makes it one of the funniest movies in the studio’s history, but it’s also a film where very bad things happen to good people. After years of movies where even the most mediocre heroes appeared to be invulnerable and indomitable, it’s an arresting jolt — and exactly the film the franchise needed.

After years of teasing Thanos’ upcoming arrival, Avengers: Infinity War wastes no time with stage-setting. It opens with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) on the ship last seen at the end of Thor: Ragnarok , facing off against the big purple villain. Thanos is after a powerful crystal called an Infinity Stone, and he suspects Loki has one in the Tesseract — the glowing cube that served as a key plot device six years ago in The Avengers .

There are six Infinity Stones , the film explains: powerful crystals that originated in the Big Bang, and that represent aspects of existence and have related elemental powers. Some are spread across the universe, but half of them are on Earth, where they’ve played significant roles in past MCU movies. Thanos is trying to collect all of them, slotting them into a massive golden glove. If he acquires them all, he says, he’ll have the power to wipe out half the universe with a snap of his fingers.

It pays off years of emotional investment in ways that are often heart-wrenching.

The film tracks Thanos’ quest as he moves from stone to stone, while various superhero factions attempt to stop him. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) are attacked by several of Thanos’ henchman, who are eager to get the green Time Stone that Strange protects within the mystic Eye of Agamotto. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), who have gone into hiding to nurture their burgeoning romantic relationship, are attacked by minions seeking the Mind Stone that’s integrated within Vision’s brain. Along the way, the Guardians of the Galaxy team up with various heroes, a bearded Captain America (Chris Evans) comes out of hiding, and Black Panther’s home of Wakanda becomes ground zero for a central conflict. Nearly every character in the MCU is roped into the war, with Thanos swiftly establishing himself as an unprecedented threat on multiple fronts.

With so many characters in play, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely ( Captain America: Civil War ) are faced with a remarkable challenge: giving every character a place in the story, without letting anyone other than Thanos dominate the larger narrative. The story crosscuts between four or five major story threads, much like Game of Thrones , Westworld , and other complicated serial narratives. It’s a testament to Markus and McFeely’s work that the film never feels crowded, even though it’s juggling such a massive number of movie stars. In fact, the film is able to give many characters their own meaningful story arcs throughout the film, with Tony Stark, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and the Vision / Scarlet Witch love story given particular focus. The result is a film that often feels surprisingly earnest and emotional. It pays off the emotional investment movie audiences have been making in these characters for years, sometimes in genuinely heart-wrenching ways.

The most outlandish-looking Marvel villain is also its most complex and layered one

Even with all of that, this film belongs to Josh Brolin’s Thanos. The prospect of a giant purple computer-generated bad guy has prompted some skepticism , but in context, the character is wonderfully effective. The visual effects undeniably capture the nuances of Brolin’s facial tics and mannerisms, allowing the actor to shine through all the CGI wizardry. It’s a good thing that it works so well, because Thanos is not the cardboard cutout villain that some previous Marvel bad guys have been. His master plan involves destroying half the universe, but in his own mind, his motivations are noble. He thinks he’s the hero of his story, and while nobody is going to agree with his tactics, his backstory does give his overall reasoning a perverse sort of logic. At several key moments in the film, Thanos nearly becomes a sympathetic character — even while he is doing truly horrific, unforgivable things. The biggest surprise of all may be that the most outlandish-looking Marvel villain is also its most complex and layered one, which simply wouldn’t be possible without the film’s synthesis of script, direction, performance, and visual effects.

The film’s sparkling sense of humor balances the weight of Thanos’ actions. Marvel’s films have always had a flair for comedy, but Infinity War turns the dial up further, maximizing the levity found in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy . Pitting Star-Lord’s hyper-insecurity against Thor’s arrogant hyper-masculinity provides for some of the funniest moments in the entire MCU.

Doctor Strange and Tony Stark also play as comedic foils for each other, sparring over what might as well be the title for Most Arrogant Superhero On Earth. In a film that mixes so many different elements, it would be easy for many of these characters’ essential traits to fall by the wayside. But the Russo brothers don’t just preserve the characters’ innate sensibility. They’re actually able to incorporate the filmmaking sensibilities of the different franchises into their own tapestry. Sequences with Star-Lord, Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel) feel like they’re from one of James Gunn’s Guardians films; Thor seems like he’s walked right off the set of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok . The movie is a Marvel mixtape, combining the very best of everything that’s come before, but recontextualizing the individual parts to tell its own unique story.

The massive scale of the undertaking does have periodic downsides. The action sequences are mostly effective, but at times, there are so many characters being flung around like CG rag dolls that it can be hard to gauge what is happening to whom, in which order. And while every character does get a laugh, a heroic choice, or some other moment to shine, fans will no doubt be frustrated if their particular favorite hero isn’t foregrounded as much as other characters are. That’s simply the nature of the beast, however — it was inevitably going to happen with a project of this size. The fact that those concerns are fleeting, however, is a testament to what a massive storytelling achievement Infinity War is.

Audiences will be aghast at just how far The Avengers have fallen

The film can’t spread around its camera time in equal measure, but it does give all the characters an equal shot at despair. A decade of films have led up to Thanos, and Avengers: Infinity War delivers on that threat with a film that upends the entire fabric of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No character is safe from the far-reaching implications of his actions, and it’s impressive to see just how dark Marvel is willing to go for this story. Even the biggest fan favorites are truly vulnerable, and the movie reinforces that idea — relentlessly, at times — as it sprints toward its final stunning moments. By the time the credits roll, audiences will no doubt be aghast at just how far the Avengers have fallen.

One problem, though, is that Infinity War leans so excessively toward darkness that it’s impossible to believe the studio won’t take back many of the things that happen onscreen. This is still the Disney-run Marvel universe, after all, and the popularity of some of its flagship characters all but guarantees that, no matter what happens during Avengers: Infinity War , much of it won’t be permanent. (In fact, in its final act, the film seems to tip its hand toward a Hail Mary solution that’s likely to come into play in the still-untitled Infinity War sequel .) But that’s the most minor of complaints. This is a comic book universe, after all, and the fact that Infinity War is able to embrace this darkness in the first place is a wonder. The only real crime is that audiences will have to wait until 2019 to see the conclusion.

Avengers: Infinity War opens on April 27th.

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'Avengers: Infinity War' Review: This Is One Half Of A Larger Story, For Better And Worse

The best thing about Avengers: Infinity War is, in many ways, the best thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole: an incredibly charming and almost overqualified ensemble cast. Though a few of the actors in the nearly 20 films of the MCU haven't worked out so well, many of the performers are key to making the heroes of this fantastical series fresh and exciting. Whenever the sometimes-unwieldy, epic-length Infinity War works, it's largely thanks to the actors, not the action sequences or the effects or anything else. The cast makes this movie, not the other way around.

For those unfamiliar with the larger story arcs of the MCU, the setup is simple enough: a cruelly single-minded alien named Thanos wants to wipe out half of humanity by acquiring and utilizing six all-powerful Infinity Stones. Only a grab bag of superheroes — most of whom are meeting each other for the first time in this new film — can stop him. Most of the original Avengers (including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk) are all present, along with newer good guys like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther.

For roughly the first half of Infinity War , directors Anthony and Joe Russo are at their best simply letting Robert Downey, Jr. , Chris Pratt , Chris Evans , Chris Hemsworth (so many Chrises), Benedict Cumberbatch , Chadwick Boseman , and the rest bounce off one another with their inherent charisma. The variety of ways in which the heroes pair off is unexpected and mostly enjoyable (and not worth spoiling here). Whatever problems this movie has lie separate from almost all of the performances. All except the big one: Josh Brolin as Thanos.

Brolin, to be fair, is fine as the literal Big Bad. For the first time, an MCU movie attempts to flesh out this character hell-bent on galactic genocide; unfortunately, Brolin's firm motion-capture performance can't hide the feeling that even now, Thanos is a dull, one-dimensional baddie. He exists to be hissed at by the audience — there's a specific scene that tries to humanize him even as he does something unforgivable on a person-to-titan scale that fails to have it both ways. Thanos' cruelty is ill-formed on the big screen, as has been the case with too many MCU villains.

Thus, while the massive fight sequences in the latter half of Infinity War may approach a suitably epic scale, they suffer from the same problems that plague a lot of these films. The dynamic and exciting heroes are facing an endless slew of basically shapeless aliens straight out of a video game. The stakes are high enough, but the threat of Thanos, even after all the buildup, never feels that threatening. But that speaks to the other unavoidable problem: whatever it ends up being called, there will be another Avengers movie next May, as Marvel follows in the footsteps of the Harry Potter franchise and splits one story into two films, with a cliffhanger that concludes this one.

The end of this movie — which won't be spoiled here — aims for a pretty big surprise, but there's a nagging sense that all (or almost all) will be well early into this film's second part next spring. So whatever gasp-inducing moments there may be in the closing minutes feel like they're just waiting to be undone, as if the first Guardians of the Galaxy ended right after Groot sacrificed itself for the group and the second part starting fresh with a new Groot coming back to life.

But even still, Infinity War has its moments, even as the film jumps from city to city, and planet to planet. (Thor's journey takes him the farthest through the cosmos, but there's a lot of action split up throughout the universe for Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Gamora, and others.) Whether it's to the credit of the Russos, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely , or the cast, it's a welcome surprise that most of the distinctive personalities in this film remain consistent with how they appeared in their own stories.

For example, James Gunn is only credited as an executive producer, but Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, and Groot all sound like his version of the Guardians, just as Black Panther and Spider-Man feel similar to how they did in their respective films. ( Tom Holland , who's not in nearly enough of this movie, is this film's stealth MVP.) The character work is solid enough to almost make up for the fact that the action never equals the thrilling airport battle in Captain America: Civil War. The final series of setpieces have a few moments that are fairly remarkable, both designed to garner applause and basically deserving of receiving such a reaction.

Yet it is a little hard to talk about Avengers: Infinity War in full, if only because we've only seen the first half of this story. The Marvel Cinematic Universe began 10 years ago — this film's studio logo nods to that anniversary, too — and was built on the notion of an interconnected world full of heroes with shocking new powers. But a number of those films felt like stand-alone pictures, especially the recent run culminating with Ryan Coogler's Black Panther . Infinity War , by design, feels like one half of a completed puzzle, with the other pieces strewn about waiting to be put together. Maybe once it's whole, the puzzle will be wholly satisfying. For now, Infinity War suggests that Marvel is able to wrangle together a massive, charming cast, but not quite create a story that deserves their presence.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10

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