Avengers: The Empire Strikes Back !!!

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2018)

"Avengers: Infinity War" is finally here after 10 years in the making and despite its huge scale and insane amount of characters it manages to pull it off. Let's get down to it by breaking down the things the movie nailed and some of the problems it had. Obviously, SPOILERS ahead so make sure to check out the movie first before reading this review.
#1: Perfectly Balancing all the Characters.
The movie, as said above has an insane amount of characters and despite that it separates them in such a smart and natural way managing to balance both its characters and the story it was trying to tell. Everything is perfect when it comes to how the characters were split from Heimdall sending Hulk on Earth to warn the rest of the Avengers about the incoming threat to Ironman and Spiderman teaming up with Dr. Strange to Captain America rescuing Wanda and Vision ultimately uniting with the rest of the team in Wakanda. And despite the fact we didn't get a Steve/Tony reunion it is understandable considering how many things the movie had to do and it also increases the drama since Cap promised that if they are to lose they will do it together (back in "Avengers: Age of Ultron") and the fact they lost apart makes it all the more devastating.
#2: The Action.
It's Infinity War so one thing it should have is epic battle scenes...and it did. From the beginning of the movie where Thanos battles the Hulk (kicking the Green Goliath's ass in the process) to the final battles on Titan and Wakanda during both of which the Mad Titan reigns supreme. Sometimes the comic relief element does make things feel a bit out of place but the action and all the battles delivered by the movie were great and there were some pretty epic moments like Thor's entrance in Wakanda, Ironman going up against Thanos alone, Thanos vs all the Avengers at the end etc. that make up for the occasional jokes.
#3: The Darkness.
One of the things this movie did is that it took a quite different approach in comparison with most MCU films. It's a dark movie that occasionally has comic relief elements (mostly when Guardians appear on screen) but overall it's a pretty depressing journey of characters doing their best in order to protect their loved ones from Thanos who feels like an unstopable force of nature. Some characters end up dying in the process laying the foundations for emotional scenes with great score delivered by Alan Silvestri who did a very good job with this movie. Especially the scene in which Thanos kills Gamora the soundtrack ascends the scene into one of the movie's greatest ones. The opening scene of the film is also Marvelous. Watching Thanos beating the crap out of Hulk and killing Loki by chocking him in front of Thor was shocking and works perfectly for setting up Thanos and what's to come.
#4: Thanos.
Pretty much from the beginning of the movie we get the picture about what we're in for. Thanos beats Hulk and kills Loki in such a brutal way while his Black Order brutally eliminates the Asgardians on board the ship. He is to be feared and no character feels safe when around Thanos. He was vicious and so determined in accomplishing his goal. I also loved the fact they didn't use the Mistress Death concept to justify his search for the infinity stones. His motivation is that life must balance and that overpopulation across the universe brings chaos in the universal scale considering how resources are exhausting and how beings tend to exploit nature for their own personal gain. Eliminating half the universe by collecting all stones is what Thanos believes is the right thing to do. He strongly believes in his mission and he would stop at nothing to complete it. Even at sacrificing the one thing he ever truly loved in the process. The moment when he had to sacrifice Gamora to obtain the Soul stone was epic and showed us that Thanos is a villain with feelings who feels his mission outways his own emotional world. A villain that pictures himself as the hero of the story who's not afraid to sacrifice a great deal to do what he thinks is the right thing. Thanos was indeed the main character in Infinity War and I did feel for him a lot. One of the greatest comic-book villains that have appeared on the big screen.
#5: The Snappening.
Despite the fact it was a bit predictable and we could all see it coming the ending of the movie was shocking especially considering this is the MCU we're talking about. The movie decides to end with a cliffhanger most fans (including myself) saw coming. Thanos completing the infinity gauntlet and snapping his fingers wiping out half the universe including half of the Avengers and nearly all the Guardians leaving just the original Avengers with War Machine, Rocket and Nebula alive. A pretty shocking cliffhanger that makes the movie feel like a part 1 despite the Russos' attempts of making Infinity War standalone. Nonetheless the movie ended with the Avengers failing and despite we know some of the characters that were killed off during "The Snappening" will return, we expect the ones that are left to go the extra mile and sacrifice a great deal in order to undo the damage the Mad Titan caused. So I suppose that if some of them return in Avengers 4 it will require the ones that are left to pay the price. Plus, the reason I loved this ending is because it works perfectly with the main narrative of the movie...Thanos. I didn't care about most of the MCU's characters being (temporarily) killed but I did care about Thanos accomplishing his mission eventually smilling in our faces with a bitter sweet feeling that his crusade (despite being complete) did cost him everything. A great ending that leaves you wanting more.
These were pretty much the things I loved about "Avengers: Infinity War" but a movie that big certainly has a lot of things that could go wrong. No matter how good the experience was the movie had some problems that couldn't let me sleep during the night after I first watched it. So let's count them down shall we?
#1: The Shifting Tone.
One of the things the Russos said they'd do with this movie is that they would shift the tone according to the characters we're following in each scene which was intriguing. Yet in my opinion it failed. The occasional jokes the movie had were refreshing and some of them funny (Stark's ego V Strange's ego) but when it comes to the Guardians the scenes are so ridiculous in terms of dialogue that they don't match with the seriousness of the scenes and the consequences they bring. The humor felt out of place most of the time and the screen time wasted on jokes could have been used for great character development scenes with descent dialogue instead of one liners about Thor's muscles and Peter Quill's fat. I believe the characters should have been adjusted according to the overall tone of the movie instead of the movie being compromised for the sake of humor (mostly derived by the Guardians).
#2: Thanos' Backstory.
Thanos is a pretty interesting villain with many pros as I discussed above but there were things about the Mad Titan that didn't please me a lot. One of the cons is the fact we are not aware of his past apart from one line he says. I would really like to find out more about his backstory which I found lackluster in the film. Similarly to "Man of Steel" which perfectly sets up and explores General Zod's backstory right from the get go I would have LOVED to witness even a 2-minute flashback featuring Thanos as a politician in his homeworld proposing his idea to the rest of his planet's leaders or at least more information and details about his origins. Despite that he was a pretty interesting and compeling villain which makes me surpriced Infinity War is an MCU movie since they have a major problem in crafting a good villain and Thanos was beyond good.
#3: Character Development.
Another problem the movie had was the lack of character development. Of course some characters were fleshed out pretty good like Thanos, Gamora, Scarlet Witch with Vision and Tony Stark who was a great leading figure thought-out the story but the film didn't further develop characters like Captain America whose involvement and character arc were incredibly minimal. It's understandable that the character development couldn't be big enough for all the characters considering how many of them are in this movie and how many things are taking place at the same time. Plus, we've all spent nearly 10 years following them and we already know who they are and where they come from but a better arc for Cap and for some other important characters is something we did not get from this movie and it bothered me a lot. The movie puts character development before action and although that's not entirely a bad thing the balance between the two is pretty bad.
So that's it for "Avengers: Infinity War". A good comic-book movie with many jaw-dropping moments, great action and heartbreak after watching the MCU coming to an end. One of the most important things Infinity War does is making its antagonist its protagonist and it's a very special and unique feat since Thanos is an incredibly well written villain and character. Besides, how many comic-book movies do you know where the villain gets to shine as the main character bringing moral complexity to the story to the point you actually root for him even a little bit (well...apart from "The Dark Knight")? Of course the movie could have been better without the problems above but since this is the part 1 I'll be waiting for Avengers 4 in order to view Infinity War as a two parted story and enjoy the full experience.
GOOD: 7.5/10