Avengers:
Infinity War, the culmination of a master plan of
Marvel comic film adaptations begun ten years ago, is a remarkable achievement;
no movie has ever been so ambitious with epic, parallel storylines and major characters since The Longest Day and It’s a
Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but neither film had the benefit of complex story
threads from multiple films. Under the
guidance of Marvel’s ‘keeper of the flame’, producer Kevin Feige, directors Joe
and Anthony Russo (who proved Captain
America: Civil War was no fluke) and scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen
McFeely have fashioned a very entertaining, crowd pleaser with game changing implications for the future.
The
evil Thanos (Josh Brolin) is on a quest
to gather six Infinity Stones to annihilate life in the universe. As the Avengers and other heroes assemble
across the globe and throughout the galaxy, Thanos becomes more powerful with
each stone and becomes virtually invincible.
This film is one
huge experiment cross matching heroes, and part of the fun is watching them
interact with each other for the first time and their action scenes that achieve comic book
nirvana. The film deftly balances humor (with some really funny dialogue) with heroic
and emotional moments of sacrifice, while retaining the persona of each familiar
character; each has a moment to shine (at a brisk 2 hours 40 minutes)! An all-star roster of Marvel heroes features The
Avengers’ Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America
(Chris Evans), The Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), The Guardians of the Galaxy,
and many more. This is essentially Thanos’
story; he is ruthless, but by adding layers to his background, he becomes one
of the most compelling villains in Marvel films.
The stakes are
incredibly high as the film takes on Shakespearean tragedy (The Empire Strikes Back comes to mind)
and changes trajectory to set up the next Avengers film for a potentially grand
finale and a more crowded field! (Yes,
Stan Lee has his cameo, and the end credits scene is significant.) While there
might be a couple films in the Marvel canon that may be as good, this one is a
pleasure to watch again and again. Don’t spoil any surprises for anyone!
**** of
**** stars
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