10 years in the making. The most ambitious crossover event in film history. Incredibly bold and audacious, the studio has finally overcome its overarching issues prevailing in all its previous 18 films: lack of stakes and remarkable, compelling villain with clear and understandable motives. They succeeded with the long-teased arrival of Thanos, the Mad Titan in Avengers: Infinity War.
More than just a power-hungry, egotistical megalomaniac who devoted himself to Death (cosmic entity) in the comics, his portrayal in the film is far more singularly focused and allow us to empathize his reasoning for wanting to wipe out half of all living entities in existence. His intention is to bring peace, harmony and restore balance to the universe, even at a huge sacrificial cost. As he puts it, the universe is finite, resources are finite, when life flourished to the point beyond control, you need to reset it to restore the balance. The Mad Titan is in every way the overpowering villain for which audience have been waiting for nearly a decade. His very presence is dominating, bringing dread and terror to the hearts of many heroes whom we know and loved.
Finally, we get to see how powerful it can be when someone managed to assemble all the 6 infinity stones, with each stone grants the wielder unimaginable power that represents a different aspect of the universe (Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Time and Mind). It establishes real, high stakes and sends a very clear message that no one is safe in this film. The Russo brothers successfully deliver a heart-pounding, jaw-dropping film experience that never before seen on a big screen, with fantastic character interactions and devastating surprises. The film handles various characters diligently and honorably. The juxtaposition of both humour and dark moments were handled well this time, effectively delivering a somber yet entertaining piece of work.
Most critics heavily criticizes the overabundance of characters, lamenting that this essentially causing many characters lack depth and development. Well, what needed to be said is that it's been a decade with 18 films released throughout the years, the audience should know almost all of these characters by now. Granted, there's a minor misstep: The Children of Thanos – his four henchman - Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, a.k.a the Black Order in the comics..due to a
lack of time to develop them into anything worthwhile. They're basically portrayed as mere CGI aliens who are effective side-villains for the Avengers to fight against, but it's forgivable considering that the main focus is actually the big boss himself.
Despite a runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes, Infinity War has actually raises the bar for ensemble film storytelling in terms of pacing. Everything happens accordingly and how it should be, even it might feel a little too fast at times. Overall, it's Marvel's best film to date. It has the best villain character development in the franchise, with high punishing stakes and making us believing in it. This exceptional achievement will definitely leaves fans and general audience fully satisfied and
desperate for more, questioning how the studio going to end the chapter in Part 2 next year.
Rating comparisons
with other Marvel Cinematic Universe films:
Iron Man
|
2008
|
8/10
|
The Incredible Hulk
|
2008
|
7/10
|
Iron Man 2
|
2010
|
7/10
|
Thor
|
2011
|
7/10
|
Captain America: The First Avenger
|
2011
|
8/10
|
The Avengers
|
2012
|
9/10
|
Iron Man 3
|
2013
|
8.5/10
|
Thor: The Dark World
|
2013
|
8/10
|
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
|
2014
|
8.5/10
|
Guardians of the Galaxy
|
2014
|
7.5/10
|
Avengers: Age of Ultron
|
2015
|
8/10
|
Ant-Man
|
2015
|
7.5/10
|
Captain America: Civil War
|
2016
|
7.5/10
|
Doctor Strange
|
2016
|
8/10
|
Guardians of the Galaxy 2
|
2017
|
7/10
|
Spider-Man: Homecoming
|
2017
|
7/10
|
Thor: Ragnarok
|
2017
|
7/10
|
Black Panther
|
2018
|
7.5/10
|
Avengers: Infinity War
|
2018
|
9.5/10
|
Note: There's an after-credit scene,
so please wait until the end.
