The epicness of Avengers: Infinity War

AVENGERS: Infinity War is the culmination of ten years and 18 movies in the global cinematic juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and almost guaranteed to be a film of epic proportions. But does the film live up the levels of unprecedented hype? Thankfully for the millions of fans around the world, from the casual to the diehard, Infinity War fulfills its ridiculously high hype expectations. Now let us proceed to a spoiler-free review, which I must tell you is no mean feat.

Infinity War sees the titular Avengers including Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) teaming up with other MCU heroes like Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the cosmic motley crew the Guardians of the Galaxy led by Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana), battling purple-skinned genocidal space titan Thanos (the voice of Josh Brolin) and his fearsome Black Order. Thanos is seeking to collect the ancient and powerful Infinity Stones to place in his Infinity Guantlet for an evil plan of universe-shaking proportions.

The film is directed by the Russo brothers Joe and Anthony, who have previously directed the two Captain America films The Winter Soldier and Civil War, both among the best of the MCU. In those films the Russos showed their talent for managing multiple characters in complex stories and they were the perfect choice for Infinity War with its pantheon of heroes and multi-faceted plot. In Infinity War each of the heroes get their moment, though there is a narrative focus on a central group which is inevitable with such a large roster. I was a bit surprised, though, by some of the characters who had relatively smaller roles, but it was not to the detriment of the films.

In terms of performances everyone brings their “A” game (no pun intended) though after so many films some of them could probably have played their superhero counterparts in their sleep. Brolin, who voiced Thanos briefly in the original Guardians of the Galaxy, delivers a muted, thoughtful performance with an undercurrent of gravitas. He is no scenery-chewing villain like Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull in the original Captain America, but a calm, cool and collected big bad. He delivers lines about death and destruction like he is chatting about the news over coffee, which strangely makes him even more menacing. I was somewhat concerned about his computer generated image (CGI) look in the trailers, and those fears were unfortunately confirmed in the final product. He just looked too plastic, and a combination of prosthetic makeup and CGI may have been a better choice. But Brolin still delivers a powerhouse performance and is the most dynamic MCU villain after Tom Hiddleston’s Loki (when he still in full villain mode).

And speaking of visuals you can clearly see where a big chunk of the estimated $400 million budget went. The film goes from earth to various planets and space vessels, and the viewer is treated to a series of delightful settings. The plethora of action sequences were simply mind-blowing and deserve to be seen in the biggest cinema screen possible. To call the battle scenes “breathtaking” is not an understatement.

When the heroes were not confronting alien baddies there was a lot of humour and interesting interactions with a number of characters meeting each other for the first time. The roguish Guardians of the Galaxy are known for their comedic antics and they do deliver the most laughs in Infinity War. On a more serious note some of the main spoilers floating around are about the deaths of characters and, while I will not name names, I will say that the deaths varied from surprising to touching to soul crushing. The film can be quite the emotional roller coaster and for your next viewing experience you may want to watch a light romantic comedy.

The various plotlines and intersecting stories of the film feels like the cinematic equivalent of binge reading a series of Avengers comics. The film is well paced and enjoyable throughout, but can be a lot to take in for the casual viewer and does assume a lot of knowledge about previous MCU films. Infinity War may not the best of the MCU, for me that honour remains with the flawless Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but it is definitely in the top five. And in terms of superhero films it is the biggest and most epic spectacle ever put to film and I would recommend multiple viewings just to soak it all in.

Four Infinity Stones out of Five.