Everything Fans Could Have Hoped For.

Rating: 10/10 (15 March 2019)

It's all been building to this. Every movie, every new hero, every cosmic artifact and alien civilization. It's all been leading to the big showdown. And it is magnificent. The battles, the team-ups, the twists and turns, every moment of it is spectacular. This is what we've been waiting for.
Infinity War wastes no time getting started. Beginning right where Ragnarok ended, it hits the ground running and never stops. The fights and the deaths start in the first scene, and momentum builds and builds from there as Thanos's plans are set into motion and the heroes rally to stop them. From New York to Wakanda to the edges of the universe the action is almost nonstop, pausing just long enough to let us catch our breath. The numerous brawls and battles are fast paced, beautifully staged and photographed, and varied enough to never get tiresome. Black Panther's climactic battle in Wakanda was awesome. Infinity War's is at least ten times better.
This is also a movie brimming with character. And characters. Virtually every hero and anti-hero Marvel has introduced up to this point. No time is spent on introductions because know them already. If you don't then you have some serious catching up to do before you watch this. Chris Pratt is still as shameless, vain, and hilarious as ever as Star Lord. Tom Holland is still spouting movie references and trying to impress everyone as Spider-Man. And teen Groot is your average moody teenager, only with superpowers and a three-word vocabulary.
And with all of them thrown together there are some awesome team ups. Iron Man and Doctor Strange. Spider-Man and Star Lord. Thor and Rocket Racoon! Even with so many characters in play every one of them gets their chance to shine, both in battle and with the lines they deliver. The chemistry between them all is remarkable considering that many of them have never appeared on screen together before.
Of course great heroes need great villains to fight, and Infinity War delivers. Though most viewers have never heard of them, Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf and especially the Ebony Maw make an immediate impression with their sense of menace and deadly skills. But nothing compares to Thanos himself. He's not just Marvel's most dangerous villain, he's their best. He is incredibly powerful, undeniably brilliant, and absolutely mad. Not raving lunatic or spontaneously violent mad. His madness is cold, calculating, and filled with certainty that every ounce of death and suffering he inflicts serves a higher purpose. With his power and single-minded determination, he is an absolute force of nature and watching him in battle in simply incredible.
For those who worried that Marvel was getting too goofy, fear not. The tone here is as far as you can get from Ragnarok and still be in the Marvel universe.
The humor is still here, and it still works. There are lines that will have you laughing out loud. And thank goodness, because otherwise all the death and destruction would get DC level brooding. Infinity War is a movie that knows the value of a little comic relief, but it really knows how to be serious- even somber- when it needs to be. It can be a real emotional roller coaster, so buckle up and don't get too attached to anyone.
Now I'll admit that the story is mainly there to string together the big superhero fights. That said it's pretty good, with multiple converging plot threads and a fair number of twists and turns, some of which are downright jaw dropping. Peter Dinklage's mystery appearance is better than anything we could have hoped for, but there are much more shocking reveals as characters and plot threads that were seemingly forgotten years ago reemerge.
And the ending... well not everyone will be pleased, but it took guts, and it's one hell of a cliffhanger. Part two may only be a year off, but the wait is going to feel infinite.