Incredibly Ambitious, but Not Overly Impressive

Rating: 6/10 (28 April 2018)

"Infinity War" set out to achieve what no other film has dared to do so far. While the effort was clearly visible, it unfortunately fell short.
-Analysis of Notable Work-
*Writing/Story: This film has quite a chore to complete by keeping an eye on so many characters. I admire the drive to tell a complex story, but there was a lack of depth and meaning in the storytelling. Despite the possibility of the world coming to an end, there did not seem to be any sense of urgency. The narrative told us there was urgency, but we did not feel it. Most characters were visited for a brief moment, but there was no real connection. We also did not have any need to fear Thanos. These are catastrophic mistakes when creating such a massive film.
*Directing: The ambition the Russo brothers had for this film is second to none, but their execution was disappointing. This film is simply too big to handle, especially when ideas are springing from two minds.
*Cinematography: This was one of the most disappointing aspects of the film. Trent Opaloch does not seem to put any meaning behind his camera work and lighting choices. Everything looks rather bland, and at times it is easy to tell that scenes were shot in a green screen sound stage. Many of the action sequences are so shaky that there is no possible way to tell who is hitting who. The rest of the film is shot with such uninspired obligation. It feels as if each scene was framed in such a way that the only purpose was to get the actors faces/bodies on screen so that we can fully see their conversations. There is no visual storytelling beyond that; no visual cues or powerful images. The art of cinematography is not an art form in this film. Marvel again seems to make the mistake that bright colors equals good cinematography. In reality, the color palette is a mess because there is a mash of vibrant colors that serve no purpose.
*Music/Sound Design: The music makes a small improvement from the previous films. There are a few powerful musical moments, but they are drowned out by the generic Avengers theme that is terribly overused. The sound design is one of the strengths of the film. We feel the crushing blows of fists landing hits and buildings being crushed. Unfortunately, we also have many typical sound effects that appear in too many action films. It would have been nice if Marvel designed a few of their own sounds and took more ownership of their Universe.
*Acting: The acting is nothing special. Other than a few weak performances, most of the actors do their jobs to keep the story running without drawing too much attention to themselves. We never get enveloped in any scene, but we are not completely taken out of one, either.
*Production Design/Special Effects: Like most Marvel films, the costume and set pieces tend to be pretty generic. There is nothing fancy about them. Sometimes they don't put in enough effort and it looks plastic or like it is part of a high school play, yet other times they try too hard and it ends up looking like a live-action version of fan art. Spider-Man and Iron Man look especially ridiculous in this outing. As far as location and sets go, once again, the big battle takes place in an open area with nothing visually interesting about it (much like the airport in "Civil War"). In regards to special effects and visual effects, the CGI is usually above average in Marvel films. However, it was completely overused in this film. Many of the characters were completely CGI when they should have been real actors in make-up. Marvel's reliance on CGI was definitely too heavy in this film. During battles, there were far too many laser-looking things flying around that it became distracting. Emphasizing many more practical effects would have done this film a lot of good.
*Conclusion: "Infinity War" fails to live up to the incredible promises it made, and ends up being more of a massive fight scene with generic dialogue scenes in between rather than being a compelling story with a climactic battle that serves purpose. It entertains, but delivers no real impact.