Promotional Poster for Avengers: Infinity War, Copyright Marvel Studios (fair use for review)
Avengers: Infinity War was directed by Anothy and Joe Russo and produced by Kevin Feige
It’s been the year of Disney and its franchises. Though I have yet to see the controversial Last Jedi, I have seen the last couple of Marvel releases. Since Infinity Wars was, unlike Last Jedi, getting lots of love from the fans, I decided to see it. It’s a frenetically paced carnival ride, and though it keeps the viewers mesmerized, it doesn’t give them time to process what’s happening.
I wished I’d seen the previous Avengers movie, because I didn’t realize that practically all the Marvel heroes are in this one, including my favorites, the Guardians of the Galaxy. I hate to admit it, but there were even a few I wasn’t familiar with. To go against all these heroes, you need one hell of a villain, in this case, the alien giant Thanos, played by Josh Brolin with a huge CGI chin. As you might expect from a guy whose name means death, he’s a big fan of genocide. Like the crazed cultists in Dan Brown’s Inferno, he believes there are too many people, not just on Earth, but everywhere. He’s gotten tired of thinning the herd planet by planet and has adopted a more efficient strategy. He aims to collect the six Infinity Stones (sounds like the plot of a video game, doesn’t it?) so that he can gain the ability to kill billions with a wave of his hand.
As unlikely as it seems, more than one of these stones are stashed away on Earth, so the fate of the galaxy (or is it the universe?) rests on the shoulders of the Avengers. The heroes appear in quick succession, and if you don’t already know who most of them are, you’ll be profoundly confused. At the start of the movie, a few of the well-known bad guys such as Loki have teamed up with Thanos. The battle starts immediately and hardly lets up throughout the movie.
The Guardians play a central role since Thanos happens to be Gamora’s (Zoe Saldana) “step father.” She was orphaned by his random 50% genocide of her world, and since Thanos liked her fighting spirit, he became her big bad daddy. Don’t worry, they didn’t forget her cyborg sister Nebula, who plays an important part in this film. Speaking of big parts, famed “little person” Peter Dinklage makes a brief appearance as the Norse dwarf Eitri.
Long-time favorites Spiderman, Thor, and Ironman are here, as well as the latest celebrity hero Black Panther. If you’re even a little bit of of comics fan, you’ve heard the rumor that somebody’s going to be killed off in this film. I’m not one to spoil the fun, so I won’t confirm or deny that rumor. Suffice it to say that I was quite surprised at the ending – though in retrospect, I should have been expecting something kind of crazy.
I definitely enjoyed Infinity War, even though it was, like J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, a bit too fast-paced for my taste. For that reason I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys the Marvel universe even a little bit. I’m looking forward to seeing how Marvel Studios will follow this one up.