Not Thantastic

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2018)

It seems that the Marvel films are slowly descending into loud action set pieces without very original or daring plots. AIW is a good example of this trend.
Villain Thanos (probably a shorthand for the Greek Thanatos = Death because Thanos is the bringer of death) wants to collect 5 jewels that will allow him to snuff out half the galaxy's population so the other half can live better. Supposedly he's better than Hitler because he targets casualties at random, rather than a specific group. With all the energy expended on this quest, one wonders why his plan A was not simply to provide more resources for the galaxy, so all of its inhabitants can live better lives!
He is opposed by the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc. in a series of set pieces for each stone. The set pieces are OK little movies, but really nothing too inventive or exciting besides the usual action mayhem. Some of it is downright stupid, like the idea that opening your shield to let badass creatures in so they don't surround your shield is good war tactics; or Thanos' henchman deploying useless badass creatures in the first place when he has giant diggers to go underneath the shield anyway. And so on, and so forth.
In an effort to provide every Marvel character a few minutes of screen time, the writing is diffuse, the action generic and the whole thing too episodic. Now, if at least they were to stick with the ending (half the galaxy's population dead, Thanos wins, many Avengers turned to dust) there would be something tragic about the "Hitler wins" plot. But of course we all know they'll come back to life magically in the next installment, as hinted by Dr. Strange towards the end of the film. So therefore who cares if Gamora gets thrown to her Death. She'll be back soon enough.
It's a bit sad because Thanos is a pretty good villain as Marvel villains go, and he deserved a punchier, more coherent film.
Still, it's OK to watch once, and fans of the Marvel universe will of course find endless trivia in this movie, while those not familiar with MU will be slightly confused. It's a trend these days: theatrical releases becoming more like episodes in an old-fashioned 70s mini-series; and Netflix miniseries becoming better than theatrical releases. Ah well.