Exceeds Expectations and Delivers on the hype

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2018)

Over these 10 years, apart from a few exceptions Marvel Studios has delivered film after film that have been beyond amazing with lovable characters and some smart writing . When I look back on the kind of comic book movies we got in childhood then this film would seem completely impossible . Yet the Russo brothers pulled off the best they could , nobody other studio has ever tried something like this. A lot of people have complained about character development but the thing is we've already had 19 films that focused on our heroes' character arcs. The only character we didn't know anything about is Thanos so the movie mostly focused on him . An argument can be made that such popcorn flicks are for every casual viewer out there and you can't expect everyone to watch 10 years of movies , but that would basically be similar to being excited about Season 8 of Game of Thrones without having seen the first 7 of them . MCU does follow a serial format when it comes to crossovers and this can be considered the first half of the series finale.
Thanos is probably the most interesting villain I've seen in a long time. It's even difficult to call him a villain. He thinks of himself as a savior. It's a smart choice to change his motivation from what it was in the comics . A literal personality of Death would've seemed weird at this point . He doesn't wipe out half the universe for the sake of it like most generic villains. For him it's a far more intimate reason , having watched his home planet destroyed because of over population we understand where he comes from even though we know that this is the wrong way of taking action. Despite being incredibly harsh and cruel he isn't devoid of feeling, he does seem to love his favorite daughter, Gamora.And when forced to choose between the soul stone or Gamora, Thanos' indecision and anguish is laid bare for all to see even Gamora herself is shocked Thanos actually really cares for her.And as the movie ends, we get a glimpse of Thanos looking all pensive , staring at the sunset, likely thinking about Gamora. Even though he appears to be at peace now that his plan has worked, it's a hollow triumph as he's all alone without the daughter he loved. It was definitely the most heart breaking of all the many deaths in this film , and even though this relationship wasn't explored in the previous Guardian films ..... Enough screen time is allotted and Josh Brolin and Zoe Saldana make this work.
On a film with such high stakes the jokes are delightful and tension puncturing (in a good way). I'm no expert on action,but I liked what I saw and I do have my favourites even though it was a little dizzying. The course of action taken by characters never seem out of character (yes even Peter Quill). The CGI doesn't seem all that bad to me like what I feared before for Thanos.The digital artists have done a great job making him feel real even in close up shots.The only thing hard to notice was Banner's head sticking out of the Hulk Buster . That wasn't done well and it just felt like a bad Photoshop job. Steve Rogers was criminally under used. There's really nothing to complain about the acting .... Tom Holland, RDJ, Chris Hemsworth and Pratt deserve a special nod apart from Josh Brolin again . From Goonies to Milk to Infinity War now , that dude never disappoints.
The universal stakes really hit home on a visceral level than any other movie before. Having read the "Infinity Gauntlet" before and knowing about half the population dying it would seem that you're prepared but watching these character we've known for quite some time now disintegrating into thin air really makes you feel emotional. Since the original team-up is still alive and most of the characters upon whom the future has been built are dead rather disintegrated by the snap . It's fair to assume that they'll be back but that doesn't make it feel worthless to me at all. Captain America who lost his friend a third time , Vision having to die twice that too in the hands of the woman he loves , Spiderman who at the end of the day is just a small kid , watching him being afraid of dying .....it really hits home very hard . Plot wise whatever the reception is right now I think it'll warm up more in future when the sequel comes out . Because of ending on such a note everyone's heart is really begging for a closure. But as a set up to what's about to happen next and making us prepared for higher stakes this film does it's job efficiently. Eagerly looking forward to catching it again this weekend. Not my favourite MCU film till date but it certainly ranks in Top 5.