Avengers: Infinity War Review
/Avengers: Infinity War is the knot tying together all of the storylines from the Marvel cinematic universe. The Avengers and The Guardians of the Galaxy, along with Spiderman, Doctor Strange, Loki, and The Black Panther have united to save not only Earth, but the universe from the villainous mad titan, Thanos.
Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios
The first and most outstanding beg for praise the film offers is its unique perspective. Unlike every other Marvel movie, the focal point is the villain, Thanos. Too often, the villains of not only Marvel movies, but all movies are only given screen-time at the end of the film when they face their demise. Infinity War flips this notion on its head by not only showing the audience the film from the perspective of the superheroes on their quest to stop Thanos, but also Thanos on his quest to destroy half of the living universe. What also sets Thanos apart from other villains is his surprisingly diplomatic nature. Throughout his encounters with the superheroes, Thanos’ prerogative is only to do as much damage as he must, using the power of his deadly infinity stones sparingly. While his ultimate goal is to destroy half of the universe’ population, he doesn’t exhibit the traits of the typical sadistic villains like Killmonger from Black Panther or Ultron from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Their only concern was with causing the greatest amount of pain possible to those they sought vengeance against.
Marvel’s character definition and delineation, since their birth with the first Iron Man movie, has been consistently superb, and Infinity War is no exception. Despite only having a run time of two hours and forty minutes, all featured characters exhibited their classic defining traits. The audience saw Tony “Iron Man” Stark’s classic witty sarcasm, Spiderman’s timid yet brave nature, Hulk’s unprecedented rage, and Thor’s godly power. Not only does Marvel successfully incorporate the bouquet of Characters in full, but also in unison. The superheroes’ personalities mesh beautifully and realistically. The lack of character development is completely forgiven by the fact that Marvel accomplished this in preceding films. It is clearly implied that all prior character-development in each of the characters’ past films leads up to Infinity War as their final test or trial. The only exception to my forgiveness in this regard is Thanos. Thanos is well defined and given razor-sharp delineation, but his character development or at least, an explanation for his origin is desperately needed. Although we see that he’s more than a heartless mad titan through flashbacks, the reason for his nature and philosophy isn’t explained to a proper degree. Given that his worldview plays a crucial role to the plot, I would expect far more clarity with regards to how it came about.
To dedicated Marvel fans and those who’ve seen any of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Thanos’ power is obvious. However, anyone who isn’t familiar with Thanos would likely underestimate his threat to the universe, assuming he’ll inevitably be overcome by the heroes as all villains are. Infinity War wastes no time in demonstrating to the audience that Thanos is clearly an exception to the rule. The plot following the exhilarating introductory scene moves at a desirable pace, but lacks diversity. Without a doubt, Infinity War satisfies its audience at the surface level with its seemingly endless yet visually impressive fight scenes and action, but somewhat fails to satisfy the audience’s deeper need for emotional elicitation. The only scene with an evocative dimension is a flashback depicting Thanos’ relationship with his young adopted daughter, Gamora. Aside from this, the conflict in the film’s plot remains strictly physical.
As every Marvel movie does, the cinematography and use of CGI in Infinity War raises the expectations for their competition. All CGIs looked flawless not only while still, but in battle as well. Far too often, when a film featuring CGI is paused or slowed down at certain points, failure in the CGI implementation becomes clear. The sharp-eyed audience member might catch a break in the animation. On the other hand, Infinity War’s CGI animation proves robust, even when colliding with non-CGI film elements such as live actors or props. Furthermore, Marvel uses subtle yet effective camera-shot angles to the film’s advantage. Thanos is consistently shot from a low angle looking up, whereas the heroes are shot from a high angle looking down. Such camera work subliminally suggests Thanos is in a position of dominance over the heroes. Otherwise, Thanos’ appearance is visually unintimidating; certainly no more intimidating than Hulk.
Marvel’s Infinity War is refreshing, thrilling, beautiful, and tragic all at once. But most importantly, it’s the final stroke to the masterpiece Marvel has been painting since 2008. Whether you’re a seasoned Marvel movie aficionado or just want to experience the most anticipated movie of 2018, you’ll be well justified in giving Avengers: Infinity War a few hours of your time.
Sam Gagnon
Sam's niche analytical style of writing spans across a plethora of passions. He's debunked high protein myths, offered us an objective deconstruction of the success of eSports, and has written several elegant reviews of best-selling movies. Sam now looks forward to offering his insights to the things that make us shiver.
