Here is my totally spoiler-free Infinity War review:
Want more? Keep reading.
Infinity War certainly feels like a culmination of all the Marvel movies that came beforehand. We revisit several familiar locations, the amount of characters present is frankly staggering, and the two and a half hour run time is jam-packed with action.
This is also a very dark movie. From the outset we see several of the core MCU characters get killed, and gruesomely. If you are thinking about taking younger kids, please exercise caution. This is an older PG-13 in my opinion.
Despite the dark shift in tone, we still get many comical moments and references that have become a hallmark of Marvel movies. Levity is peppered throughout and serves to help balance out some of the more somber moments.
I do have one really petty niggle though, and it is truly petty… Where is the of awesome soundtrack? Oh there is still the typical orchestral fare that one expects in any big-budget film, don’t you worry. But there is only ONE retro song, and that is when the Guardians of the Galaxy team is introduced, and no other songs. That’s it. So sue me for getting used to having rocking songs in my movies, but I expect it from Marvel now! They can’t be out of mix tapes already…
You might want to catch up on the last few Marvel movies if you haven’t done so already, particularly Thor Ragnarok and Black Panther for certain scenes and references to make sense. Or you could go back and re-watch all 18 movies if you are really that desperate to avoid the day star for a whole 36 hours.
To sum up in a really generic way, Infinity War is an emotional roller coaster of a movie and I highly recommend it.
I will now move into a very general plot summary followed by some major spoilers and my final thoughts, so if you want to avoid all spoiler territory, consider this the end of my review.
You have been warned.
Infinity War follows our many heroes as they try to thwart Thanos’s plan to gather the infinity stones, 6 all-powerful relics that were created during the big bang that when used together grants infinite power as well as control over time and reality. Thanos wants to use these magical macguffins to enact mass genocide and wipe out half of the universe (as you do).
Infinity War picks up where Ragnarok left off, with Thanos’s ship about to attack the remaining Asgardian refugees. Through a final desperate act (I won’t say from who), a warning is sent to Dr. Stephen Strange and Tony Stark about Thanos’s imminent arrival and his quest to obtain the stones. Thus our heroes must (somehow) congregate from across the vastness of space to confront Thanos and save the universe.
From this point on, Thanos is like an avalanche of destruction as we see him barrel on towards the remaining infinity stones. We have seen almost all of them in the MCU up to this point with the exception of the soul stone, which I will get to later.
I can see why the directors referred to Infinity War as Thanos’s movie, as he is kind of the main character in this absurdly vast ensemble of characters. Real thought has gone into his personality and motivations, making him one of, if not the best marvel villain to date. Thanos stoically and determinedly marches towards annihilation, truly believing that HE will bring balance to the universe, making heavy personal sacrifices to achieve his goals.
So much happens in this movie that scenes and settings go by in rapid succession. When you have 18 movies worth of characters to bring together, there will be some things that you just have to gloss over. Hawkeye doesn’t make an appearance at all (only being brought up in a quick mention), and the romance between Vision and Scarlet Witch feels sort-of slap dash. I think had we spent more time on the fall-out of Civil War and the relationships between these characters that some of the losses would have had more impact.
Among our heroes there is an attempt to tie together past plot-lines, such as from Civil War, but they just don’t have as much weight or drama as one would expect. Again, they just didn’t have the time. A potential reunion between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark is hinted at, and then never brought up again for the rest of the movie.
There is SO MUCH DEATH in this movie right from the get-go. Mostly, the deaths are regulated to not-quite main characters and background people for the first half of the movie. The first main character death doesn’t happen until right before the third showdown with Thanos in what is probably the oddest plot point of the movie.
I am firmly going into major spoiler territory now, so avert your eyes now.
The location of the soul stone had NOT been revealed in previous installments of the MCU that I can remember. It looks like at one point Gamora tells Nebula that she found a map to the soul stone and had destroyed it so that Thanos couldn’t get his hands on it. I don’t remember that being a scene in Guardians of the Galaxy (either movie), but that’s what we’re told in Infinity War.
Thanos kidnaps Gamora to find the location, and we get some backstory on why he chose to adopt Gamora and how he decided that half the universe had to die. So far so standard.
He gets the information he wants from Gamora and the two travel to a desolate planet in the middle of nowhere. There they run into the character I was LEAST EXPECTING (I am not going to spoil this for you guys, but this came out of WAY left field) guarding the soul stone. Said unexpected person tells them some mystic mumbo-jumbo about having to pass a test like it’s the freaking sword in the stone.
Again, this is a massive culmination of 18 movies, and there will have to be some creative license taken to move the plot along at a decent pace. There was foundation laid for just about every other plot point of the movie EXCEPT for this, and it feels out of place because of it.
All the zooming around the universe, all the battle scenes, all the senseless death comes together in a final battle that was reminiscent of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. It’s an epic pitched battle between armies, the steaks are higher than the stratosphere, and we get some kick-ass action from all of our heroes…. and then they lose.
As we are reeling from the gut-punch and watch with horror as so many of our beloved heroes fade away… the movie ends with Thanos. Calmly, happily, savoring his victory.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie. There is a ton happening (how could there not be), and this is a great first half. There is one post credits scene (which is surprising considering how much else has been crammed in). There is a lot to tie up in the second half and I look forward to seeing how our heroes will get their revenge on Thanos.
And what a hell of a cliffhanger. Infinity war is a roller-coaster that will leave you suspended upside down at the apex of the ride for a whole year. But you’ll wait it out because you know the rest of the ride will be worth it.
