Plot Summary: The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

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Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writers: Christopher Markus (screenplay by), Stephen McFeely (screenplay by)

Runtime: 2hr 29min

Main Cast:

• Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark / Iron Man
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk
• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America
• Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
• Don Cheadle as James Rhodes / War Machine
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange
• Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man
• Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa / Black Panther
• Zoe Saldana as Gamora
• Karen Gillan as Nebula
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Paul Bettany as Vision
• Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlett Witch
• Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon

Review by: Mia

Ten years in the making, Avengers: Infinity War is arguably the most highly anticipated action film in Superhero film history. Every Marvel release that we have been gifted with since 2008 has built up to this two-part telling of the rise of Thanos and his regime. In April 2018, we finally meet the man behind Loki's invasion of Earth, Gamora's fierce background in combat and assassination, and the death of billions within the known universe.

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For me, I was eager to see the villain who could influence heroes from across the universe finally up against the dozen or so heroes I’d grown fond of. I wanted to know how formidable he really was and whether Marvel would stick to canon or create a rendition of this battle that was totally new. How would Thanos manage to collect all six infinity stones and where would he even find them all?

It turns out that all Thanos has to do is outmaneuver our lovable heroes to accomplish his goal of collecting the pieces to his superweapon. If he can withstand the power of all six stones and harness it to accomplish his will, he’ll not only be the most powerful being in the universe, but also the most successful genocidal maniac in all of history.

The film begins where Thor: Ragnarok leaves off. Thor’s ship of Asgardian refugees faces off with Thanos’ forces and experience firsthand the slaughter he is known for. In order to save the life of his brother, Loki swears fealty to Thanos and provides to him the Tesseract, Thanos’ second Infinity Stone. Thanos decrees that the beginning of his culling has arrived and sends his children out into the universe to collect the stones on Earth while he collects the others in other parts of the galaxy.

In the fight to survive Thanos, Hulk is sent back to Earth to warn the others through the Bifrost and Bruce Banner finds himself sent directly with the Time Stone and Doctor Strange. He warns him of the slaughter headed for Earth and together they find Tony Stark to bring together the rest of the Avengers for the coming War.

Stark is his true sarcastic self but understands that their only chance at survival is to hide away the stones they have in their ownership and bring the Avengers together. Before this can happen, Thanos’ children arrive to battle Strange and retrieve his stone. At the same time, Vision is targeted and ambushed for his stone on the other side of the world.

The two battles on Earth bring out the Avengers who have been in hiding since their Civil War, but their efforts are barely enough to protect the Stones from being delivered to Thanos, who is across the universe collecting both the Reality and Soul Stones himself. Also out there in the universe is The Guardians, who stumble across the remains of the Asgardian refugee ship and realize that Thanos has begun his mission to cull the population of the universe.

The defense of stones eventually leads part of the Avengers out into space where they must band together with The Guardians to steal back the Stones retrieved by Thanos and create a weapon powerful enough to defeat him if they can’t. From beginning to end, the audience is thrust into desperate action and interesting team-ups that determine the fate of the universe. All the while, you are painfully aware that this is only Part One of the story. Whatever happens, this will most certainly end on a tragic note that the second part of the story will have to pick up from.

Right from the beginning, the lives of beloved characters are at stake. Thanos and his children have no issue cutting down anyone who stands in the way of his mission. We watch as Avengers and Guardians fight for their lives and desperately fight for the lives of the universe Thanos believes is overpopulated and on the brink of ruin. Thanos’ mission is a noble one. He believes himself a martyr and a savior, willing to make the hard choices no other in power will admit improves the lives of survivors: kill half the population of the universe to create more sustainable worlds for those who remain. How? With all six stones harnessed into his gauntlet, he can simply command it with the snap of his fingers.

Even without the gauntlet, Thanos is formidable, but with the retrieval of each stone, it becomes that much more impossible for the heroes to prevail. He warps reality to make attacks useless, he throws entire moons to subdue relentless attacks, and he kills any hero who stands in his way of collecting his next prize. That’s right, heroes die. Not just one, but multiple heroes are lost in this War against the end of the universe as they know it.

What I Liked:

Avengers: Infinity War accomplishes the very difficult task of juggling a dozen main characters and a dozen more supporting characters while piecing together ten years worth of build up to this point. While Marvel is primarily an action film, we all know many of the characters for their comedic relief and sarcasm. This film remains true to that element of each character, allowing the chemistry between multiple smartass personalities to carry dark moments of the film. We get the battle of wit and ego from Stark and Strange. We get the clashing of awkwardness and silliness from Thor and Quinn. We get Spider-man’s cheeky commentary and Black Widow’s exhausted mumblings. All of them together uplift the spirits of the audience through tragedy, death, defeat, and desperation.

I appreciated most how much time the film takes to humanize our intimidating villain, Thanos. Sure he’s a homicidal maniac, but homicidal maniacs aren’t all both that way. We learn how Thanos came to have his ambitions and who he came to love in his exploration (and slaughter) of the universe. None of it is enough to allow you to root for him, but it’s certainly enough to make his battles against his enemies poetic and righteous. I personally love a villain with good monologues and genuine pain.

The battle scenes of this film are above par. They stand up against the films that predate this one, both cinematically and visually. While Civil War gave us amazing angles and combat choreography, Infinity War gives us brutal combat where a loss means death for our heroes. When in the past we’ve seen one on one fights, Infinity War is a true battle between armies. Wakanda becomes the battleground that will determine the fate of the universe. Thanos’ army is there to retrieve the Mind Stone from Vision while Thanos himself battles several Avengers and Guardians on his own home planet for the Time Stone. Avengers die, Guardians die, and Thanos grows only more powerful with each battle.

What I Didn’t Like:

While the film does an amazing job of juggling a couple dozen characters on screen, I do believe the pacing of emotional developments for the characters suffers as a result. It’s completely plausible that that characters will experience enough to break them but continue moving in their desperation to save the universe. I certainly felt overwhelmed with them every step of the film. Still, we end up with scenes where each character gets a line or two before the audience is snatched out of the moment to catch up on what’s going on a few thousand light-years away with the rest of the heroes and then we’re bounced right back. You amazingly are able to keep up with this whiplash effect, probably well prepared for it after the dozen movies that tested it out before this one, but ultimately it’s still a lot to take in while desperately trying to determine who lives and who dies and…

Well… Avengers die. I don’t want to spoil the film as usual with my review, but it’s hard to say how the heroes will recover from the losses they experience in Part One. Some of their heaviest hitters are killed by Thanos in his acquisition of the stones. Without these heroes, how will the others regain the upper hand? Marvel leaves you hopeless and helpless, waiting for Part Two to piece together what will become of the Marvel Universe. I honestly wished that they’d managed to squeeze the X-Men in before arriving at this point because there’s barely anyone left to save the day.

Images Courtesy of IMDB