Posted by Strap yourself in, Avengers Infinity War is the film Marvel have been building up to ever since Iron Man in 2008. The climatic wet dream of nerds everywhere is finally upon us and the purple headed demigod Thanos is on a slightly unhinged, if worryingly logical, mission to ‘save’ life in the universe. In order to complete his deadly act of ‘mercy’, the big chinned wonder must collect all six chaos emeralds (sorry, infinity stones) and attach them to his golden power glove (sorry, infinity gauntlet).
Despite the rather silly and simplistic nature of the plot, this is the darkest Marvel film yet. Right from the off things get brutal, as Thanos and Thor and his clan have a showdown. This is the superhero film with consequences that Marvel have long threatened you with. In amidst the dark, Christopher Nolan era Batman level seriousness directors Anthony and Joe Russo have found room for the MCU’s trademark joviality and humour.
This injection of humour is largely down to the The Guardians of the Galaxy meeting Thor, with Starlord’s and the Asgardian god of thunder clash of egos. As well as the interplay between the similarly cranky Iron Man, Dr Strange and the wise cracking young’un Spiderman. With a cast this large this is certainly not a film for the newcomer, but in Thanos they finally have a good villain that isn’t Loki – take a bow Josh Brolin.
It is impressive that directors Anthony and Joe Russo managed to cram this many superheroes together and come out with a cohesive film. They are all grouped together, Guardians with Thor, Dr Strange with Iron Man and Spiderman, Vision and Wanda and Cap and so forth, with things coming to head at the end for the final showdowns. Showdowns which gives the film a similar climactic feel to Lord of the Rings Return of the King and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. This tension and sense of finality is more than added to by the superb soundtrack by the one and only Alan Silvestri.
My qualms are minor, the main one being two characters absence. Even though it is quickly explained away, Ant Man and Hawkeyes exclusion is perplexing. With the universe at stake surely they would make at least a guest appearance, but I’m sure that will be explained in Infinity War part two and the new Ant Man picture. Also I have this horrible, hopefully unfounded, feeling that the ending will be undone in part two, rendering the events of this film a bit null and void.
7.5/10 – Those minor qualms aside, Infinity War is a thoroughly entertaining spectacle with a rich vein of darkness and brutality at its core. Newcomers or casual fans might be baffled at the huge, Expendables 3 like, cast size but fans will certainly love it.
Lofty Music and Film 