Avengers: Infinity War review

Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
Running time: 149 minutes


(minor spoilers in the review!!)

Ten years after Iron Man was released to begin the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and having been teased since the first Avengers movie six years ago, Thanos, the ultimate Marvel villain is finally coming for the rest of the Infinity stones.

And this was to my surprise, a Thanos movie, despite The Avengers having their names in the title, and being the main draw for the audience. Thanos is the star of the show. Although he is full on computer animated, his presence is menacing and he is the most foreboding of the MCU villains that we've seen up to this point.

The movie begins where Thor Ragnarok ended, with Thor and the Asgardians having escaped the destruction of Asgard, are now seeking refuge in space. It is here that Thanos and his henchman 'The Black Order' begin their pursuit of each of the infinity stones, with the aim of wiping out half of the population of the universe.

Everything strings together with one set-piece after another, with so many characters no one really gets much of any development. With the story more or less a culmination of other stories winding together, anyone not familiar with the previous movies in the MCU will probably be a little lost.

But it's still a joy to see the characters interact with one another, whether it's Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), or Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Rocket Raccoon. For me, Thor was the best of the superheroes, which surprised me considering that he was in my opinion one of the weakest characters before the events of Ragnarok.

With such a high budget, the visuals are stunning but much like the movie itself, it feels like it has taken all of the best elements of the previous movies and cobbled them together. So the production design doesn't really standout. But it's all pretty looking nevertheless.

If there are any other minor negatives with the movie, it's that the action scenes vary in quality. It works best when it's minimal and contained, but towards the end we are treated to a superfluous battle scene that takes place on Wakanda, it involves the usual cannon fodder for the heroes to kill. As entertaining as it is, it just feels weightless and tension free. The comedy is a mixed bag, none of it is particularly funny or even particularly offensive, it just feels shoehorned in on a number of occasions.

With a satisfying cliffhanger of an ending, and the next Avengers movie coming next year, Infinity War is very much a first part to this phase of this cinematic universe. Anyone who has watched these movies from the beginning should certainly buy a ticket, anyone else might not entirely go along with the flow of events happening onscreen, so it would be best to catch up if you haven't already. Overall I had a good time, despite being a bit long I never once looked at my watch, and it was entertaining for the majority of its run time. But on the whole it's slightly above the middle pack in the MCU movie list.

Verdict: 3.75/5