Review of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) by Dylan C — 24 Dec 2018

The culmination of the world building of the events from previous films sets up this massive epic. A massive powerful villain forces a huge ensemble of superheroes to team up to fight this new threat. His power is immediately felt when we discover how he was able to so easily destroy half of a world and his justification is even more disturbing but grounded in reality. There is a very real concern Earth is overpopulated and the resources will not be enough to sustain the world's population. That is neither here or there as we have found creative solutions to expand the food supply.

Thanos envisions himself as the solution to those problems. His view is he can be a hero by destroying half of the population in a world and the survivors will be able to enjoy the resources because they will not be taxed beyond their limits. He sees the suffering the people mentioning starving children and disease as part of the effects of an overpopulated world. The problem is Thanos only sees the solution to this issue as destroying a population instead of examining a realm of possibilities.

However, his thought process is one of the most interesting and compelling reasons for a villain to exist. Most times, their purpose is unclear and they are just kind of there especially in a Marvel movie. Typically, the villain is not up to task and presented as all powerful but not really believable in this manner. Thanos is given much more time to develop and we are all the better for it with the most compelling bad guy in this universe. Josh Brolin infuses the role with genuine pathos and you actually do care about this character.

There is a poetic beauty about the way he speaks and he is so philosophical where his crazy ideas almost sound reasonable. Of course, there is no reason for his destruction and he does not consider how the devastation affects a population. His character plays well as one you would expect a whole team of superheroes would struggle to take down. He has the perfect combination of smarts, strength, and knowledge combining to make him an unstoppable force. This is largely Thanos' journey to gain the Infinity stones so he can carry out his vision of a different world.

We experience heartbreak and a lot less joking around typical from this company. The refreshing part is the filmmakers give weight to this story and do not rely solely on humor dispensed a mile a minute. This is one of the more serious movies in the shared universe to date deciding to allow the audience to breathe in the full repercussions of Thanos' decisions. This will fully be explored in the next film. I am interested to see how they address Thanos.

Pacing is the only real problem where the movie takes a while to find its feet. The first hour is largely dedicated to showing each of the superheroes in their state of personal sacrifice embodying the hero qualities we all love. The fighting scenes they engage in are spectacular but the film gets bogged down early on reminding us the vastness of the Thanos threat. This early part of the movie could be pared down to streamline the narrative. The intelligence of the audience could be trusted a little more to see the very real threat coming to this world.

Once the film gets going, there is hardly a moment to catch your breath and you are waiting with anticipation to see what will unfold. There is a sense of finality with this film perhaps being one of the last films of this phase. There is a lack of joy in this picture but it allows this massive ensemble to stand out from the other cutesy films. A real villain with a complexity rarely explored makes me want to see more of Thanos. An emotional depth and appropriate screen time to each character combines to build a very satisfying picture. Emotional payoff is given in spades here and I am truly excited to see what is in store for the next film.