Movie Review: Avengers: Infinity War

Certificate 12A, 159 minutes

Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo

Avengers: Infinity War begins with a ship stating that they are an Asgardian refugee ship with few soldiers on board. They are under attack by a much larger craft. Inside the refugee ship, most of the people are dead. Heimdall (Idris Elba) is badly injured and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a captive. Thanos (Josh Brolin, Deadpool 2) and his children Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary), Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon), and Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw) have captured the ship and Ebony Maw is telling everyone that they are blessed by Thanos’ mercy.

Give Me the Tesseract!

Thanos is after the Tesseract and tells Loki (Tom Hiddleston, Kong: Skull Island, ) that he will kill Thor unless Loki tells him where it is. Thor believes the stone to have been destroyed, but it hasn’t; Loki stole it in Thor: Ragnarok. Loki makes out that he is willing to let Thor die, but he truly isn’t and ends up giving Thanos the Tesseract, and therefore the Space Stone. The second of the six Infinity Stones that Thanos now owns, and he adds it to his gauntlet. Despite attempts by the Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and Loki to stop Thanos, he is victorious. Heimdall summons the Bifrost to transport Banner to Earth, and gets killed for his trouble, Thanos himself kills Loki after the latter tries to kill him – and says that this time he won’t come back (Loki has proven difficult to permanently kill in the past) – and departs the ship, destroying it as he does.

In the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong) are discussing money when the Bifrost sends the Hulk crashing through the window and he reverts to Bruce Banner, saying that Thanos is coming. To which Doctor Strange says “Who?”

Thanos is Coming

Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) are also in New York. Pepper is not happy about the fact that Tony has something on his chest again when Doctor Strange appears through a portal and tells Tony he is needed, and the latter accompanies him back to the Sanctum. Doctor Strange explains about the Infinity Stones, and reveals that he has the Time Stone. Vision has the Mind Stone but Tony says Vision has dropped off the grid, but Captain America might know how to find him. Bruce, who has been away for some time, doesn’t know that, after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Stark and Steve are not exactly talking to each other.

An Unexpected Trip

Still, Tony is going to call Steve when an alien spaceship arrives, pretty much derailing the conversation. Two of Thanos’ children have come for the Time Stone and battle ensues. Without the Hulk – Bruce is apparently having issues – but with Spider-Man, as Peter Parker (Tom Holland, Spider-Man: Homecoming) had seen the spaceship arrive on his bus – which was being driven by Stan Lee – and had tagged along. The end result is that Doctor Strange, Spider-Man and Iron Man all end up taking an unexpected space journey – Iron Man and Spider-Man now have fancy new suits. Left behind, Bruce decides to call Steve.

We Need Help

Vision (Paul Bettany, Solo: A Star Wars Story) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are in Scotland when the other two of Thanos’ children turn up looking for the Mind Stone. Things are not going well until the arrival of Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans),  Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, Ghost in the Shell) and  Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie). The second set of children are driven off and, with Tony missing, Steve and the others decide to return home to the Avengers’ base, where James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) – damaged from the events of Civil War – is the only one present. So they need more help, namely from T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in Wakanda.

Thor’s Alive!

Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Teen Groot (Vin Diesel, The Fate of the Furious) – who appeared in one of the mid-credits scenes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and is a definite teenager with an attitude problem – are answering a distress call. In the hopes of making some money. The distress call was from the Asgardian ship and Thor, despite drifting around in space, is still alive. The result of this is that Thor, Rocket and Groot head off to get the former a new weapon (when they get there, it seemed odd that Rocket at the very least didn’t comment on just how big the dwarf they met was) and the others head off to look for Thanos.

Stopping Thanos?

The different groups are in different locations and are going to try and stop Thanos. If he gets all six Infinity Stones, he will be able to kill half the inhabitants of the universe. Something that he has been doing on a planet by planet basis until now but, according to Gamora, having all six will allow him to achieve this simply by snapping his fingers.

Reviewing Avengers: Infinity War

The film is available in 2D and 3D with the 3D version being the one watched. Given the CGI, space scenes and battles, 3D works well for a live action film. Infinity War is a visually spectacular film with some set-piece battles, one large, one small, and lots and lots of special effects.

So, it’s been building up to this since the first reveal of the Infinity Stones. Perhaps not dating quite as far back as Iron Man, but definitely the later films with Thor and the Avengers. There are a lot – a heck of a lot – of different characters in this film, so many it probably needed to be two and a half hours long just to fit them all in! Pretty much every character who has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films to date who is still alive appears (as does one who was thought to be dead). Ant-Man and Hawkeye are missing, as they are apparently under house arrest so that they can be with their families.

The film is quite a bit darker than most of the films in the MCU to date, although any film with Star-Lord and his compatriots (the Guardians are not the most serious bunch around), Spider-Man and Tony Stark in it was never going to be entirely grim, especially when they are all on the screen on the same time. Battle of the snarkers indeed. The darkness is lifted by quite a lot of humour. Including in some of the captions, which describe the various locations: “Wakanda”, “New York”, “Titan”… “Space”. Really, that last one was pretty obvious!

This Is Part One

Avengers: Infinity War is the first in a two-parter, with the second part to be shown next year. Given that, it seemed highly unlikely that the film was going to end with everything neatly tied up and happily with the heroes victorious and everything sorted out. And the ending is pretty much a cliff-hanger; there are still a lot of things to sort out. It will be continued in the next Avengers film – which is a year away!

The final credits are much more sombre than is usual and there is no mid-credits scene. There is a post-credits scene, whose events happen concurrently with the end of the film in other places, and there is a hint for another film in the series.

It’s Big

Infinity War was always going to be a big film. Given the sheer number of characters in it – and there are probably going to be even more in the next – it had to be big. Lots of big name actors and big-egoed characters, yet there are the odd moments of small, personal stuff, such as with Tony and Pepper and with Vision and Wanda, which helps add to character depth.

Thanos himself is interesting. He doesn’t want to kill half the people in the universe because he enjoys doing such, or for personal pleasure. Nor does he torture and hurt people who get in his way for that either. No, Thanos has what he considers the best of intentions – he wants to save the universe. Thanos believes that there are not enough resources to support the current population, and to stop people starving and suffering, the best way is to kill half of them. Thanos truly believes that he is doing is for the best. He doesn’t consider that there might be another way and he believes that only he has the will to do what must, in his mind, be done. Finally, Thanos steps out from his behind the scenes manipulation to take centre stage.

Avengers: Infinity War is a big, spectacular film and it will be hard waiting for the next film to come out.