*This review will contain spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War
Ten years ago, an idea began which sought to create a massive cinematic universe capable of holding its audience...
And now, that journey begins to come to a real head.
Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has now spanned an entire decade. While the universe has its weaker films, Marvel has managed to create an intriguing, and self-sustaining storyline throughout all the entries. And now, we can all sit back and watch the sun rise over a grateful Earth as the Avengers, now joined with almost every hero in the MCU, defeat the Mad Titan once and for all, right?
Well, as those of you who have seen the film by now, this was definitely NOT what happened.
This is one of the first Superhero films I have actually seen where the good guys actually lose. While many expected this, we may not have anticipated the full scale of what would happen at the end of this film. While it is highly likely that the majority of the events will be undone in Avengers 4 next year, the film sells the emotion of the losses at hand in the MCU, and the sheer number that were lost.
One of the things that I appreciated was the change in Thanos's motivation to use the Gauntlet. In the comics, he does so to try to win the affection of Lady Death, which would have created some very confusing choices in the film. Instead, Thanos, who had tried to use the suggestion of wiping out half the life of his home world, Titan, witnessed his planet's demise from overpopulation. This is what motivates him to pursue the "balancing of the universe". I appreciated this change, as it provided some interesting ideology, and some reliability to the character, which makes for a better villain.
Arguably, my favorite scenes in this film were the two where Thanos used the full power of the Reality Stone. The editing and flow of those moments was incredible to see, and it truly showed the power of the second least-developed stone in the MCU, only being used in Thor: The Dark World, which was not the best film either.
However, I do have one major complaint with the closing moments of the film. Once the infamous snap occurs, the choices of who got erased was a little suspicious. We never saw anyone outside the major characters really fade until the post-credit scenes, and those who did fade seemed very convenient, as none of the core Avengers actually fade. Instead, we got some of the background characters out of the way for emotional effect, and several characters who already had sequels announced (Spidey and the Guardians). For me, this almost ruined these moments as I immediately recognized that there was no way that this snap was permanent, which cheapened the storytelling. That being said, the cast sold these moment very well, and the use of the end credits to almost read as an "in memoriam" was a strong way to try to sell the deaths.
Overall, this was a strong way to celebrate 10 incredible years with the MCU, and I continue to look forward the future entries and the adventures to come in the changed landscape of the world.
In that regard, thank you Thanos for changing the game, even if only temporarily.
Let me know your thoughts on Avengers: Infinity War in the comments. Which death had you emotional? How do you think Avengers 4 will alter/reverse these events?
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