Ever since the first successful Marvel movie came out in 2008, Marvel Studios have consistently released grand and lucrative films one after the other, all of which have garnered them recognition, appreciation, and acknowledgment from people all over the world . So, after 10 years of building up the Marvel Cinematic Universe, adding unique characters to their ever-growing roster of superheroes, as well as establishing their personalities, quirks, and powers – what was all this leading up to? The answer is: Infinity War; Marvel’s biggest and boldest cinematic outing to date. 10 years of gradual build-up in Marvel movies led to this – but was it worth it?
The plot of Infinity War is easy enough to grasp: a massive purple hunk from outer space called Thanos comes to earth, in a quest to gain ownership of all the infinity stones and use them for mass destruction – specifically, the destruction of 50% of the world’s population. To combat their biggest threat yet, the Avengers, along with their new allies and a few fellow superheroes, must team up to defeat him, but it won’t be easy.
In my opinion, what this movie does best is managing to have an abundance of characters without being confusing or hard to follow. Each character has their own over-arching sub-plot, and the Marvel team makes some interesting choices by having certain characters team up with people they’ve never met before, and thereby showing compelling character interaction, but never having it be too soap opera-y like it was in previous Marvel titles. Each character had their own time to shine, although it is noticeable that some receive less space in the movie than others. However, this is largely forgivable, since there are a lot of characters that had to be in it, and that it is a two-part film. Therefore, I must give a lot of props to Marvel for handling this large cast in a stimulating and enjoyable experience. Seeing these people bounce off each other and figuring out what’s going on was one of the more entertaining parts of the whole thing, and there were some pretty funny moments that came from these interactions. Of course, there were many surprising deaths, but none of them made me feel like that character’s life was “cut short” in any way. In a way, it felt fulfilling, since they’ve already had their stories told in their own films.
What surprised me the most about Infinity War was how Thanos was portrayed. Up until now, nobody really knew much about him, (except for the comic book readers, but I digress) except for the fact that he was a sort of imposing and villainous figure in the MCU. Going into this movie, I expected him to be your standard villain who wants to destroy the world and all that jazz, but I ended up coming out pleasantly surprised by how his character was handled. He’s more than just ‘some villain’ – this movie goes to great lengths, not only to show us how much power he holds over the Avengers and the world, but his justifications for doing so – and his reasons for doing so are never tarnished. What makes him so terrifying is the fact that he never lets anyone stand in his way, or convince him he’s wrong. His raison d’être is one of the more compelling in the MCU, because, while at first it seems reasonable, it’s pure insanity – but Thanos isn’t about to let anyone tell him how wrong he is. As someone who thinks that most of Marvel’s villains are cookie-cutter boring and unmemorable, Thanos gave me hope that the MCU could actually have thought-provoking villains like him in future films, and I’d love to see how his character is further developed in part 2.
Last, but not least, the movie was visually entertaining as well. Usually most Marvel fight scenes look like a child smashing his toy figurines together, but here you get a sense that perhaps these superheroes are not invincible and that their battle is dangerous, mostly thanks to Thanos’ character as mentioned above, and because of the first five minutes of the movie, which certainly does give watchers a good idea of what’s about to come. Overall, the fight sequences are very well-choreographed, and might perhaps be some of the best in all of Marvel cinematic history. While not as aesthetically appealing as, say, Guardians of the Galaxy, there are several striking shots and color schemes, especially for the scenes that take place in outer space. I was worried that something this grand-scale would forget how to look good, but thankfully it was consistent and nothing looked too jarring or out-of-place.
In conclusion, Marvel’s biggest and boldest superhero movie probably sounds really stupid in theory, but they pulled it off – and pulled it off well. All in all, it’s a great and intensely watchable film, filled with everything one could ask for: action, drama, intensity, humor, and even sadness. I can safely say that I am looking forward to watching the next part of Marvel’s most ambitious and supersized crossover yet.
Final score: 9/10
The Art Archive 