To Infinity and Wait

Rating: 7/10 (29 April 2018)

As long as the stone is not a kidney stone, Purple Homer Simpson's Gotta Catch 'Em All!
I had a couple of concerns before going into this feature and thankfully: I was wrong on both of them. Number one: I was dreading an hour plus long battle like at the end of Lord of the Rings 2-3, Matrix 3 and any Transformers movie. Personally, anything longer than 20 minutes of on-screen battles bore me. If I'm at home watching them, I will literally pull out my phone and play games while the battle rages on. This did not happen here. Thank you so much. I really didn't want to take a break and leave the theatre during a far-too-long battle scene.
And number two: I was concerned about the aforementioned Purple Homer Simpson. In the brief moments we've seen him before, he looked incredibly corny and fake and I never once believed he would be as all-powerful as they built him up to be. BUT, he ended up being the best character of the entire 16,090 characters they chose for this Part 3a. He was deep, interesting and the CGI wasn't that bad.
Now, the rest of the characters...were spot on from the same characters we grew with and loved for the past decade. Not a single actor stepped out of bounds and they owned their scenes.
So, yeah, you simply cannot go into Avengers 3a without seeing, well, all of the previous 18 films. Most specifically, Thor: Ragnarok, the Guardians of the Galaxy films and Captain America: Civil War. But to sum up this mercifully simple plot, a big baddie is attempting to collect all the stones that originated the universe so he can play God with his warped sense of mercy. Our heroes, or "Avengers," are spread out and thin across the universe, but do have a common goal of preventing Purple Homer Simpson from achieving his collection.
I already knew this before going in, but if you didn't, you should prepare yourself for a Lord of the Rings 1-2 conclusion and an Empire Strikes Back storm before the calm. And also, for only 2nd or 3rd time in the ENTIRE MCU library, the post-credit scene is absolutely necessary to see. The other 15 or so times, I say just skip the post-credit scenes and wait to see them on the net. This one, yes, you really should see.
The movie got some many things right and a few minor errors. What went right: they chopped down the humor. In most Marvel movies, the humor seems to be 80% of the script leaving a small percentage for Superhero'ing action. I did find myself laughing out loud here a few times, but thankfully, it was just a few sprinkled jokes. I was there to see a Superhero movie and not another comedy.
Also, as stated, the characters were spot on and the action scenes were intense, fresh and wholeheartedly used every bit of the Avenger in those scenes to their absolute potential. Further, aside from some major pacing and editing choices (MAN, some scenes seemed to end and the camera just kept on rolling for upwards of 5 seconds on more than a dozen scenes,) the movie never felt too long and certainly not 2½ hours.
I can't give away my other huge gripe with this movie (other than the pacing/editing) without spoilers, but suffice to say, the third act, specifically the final moments really irked me. And no, not the abrupt ending - again, this was basically the ending to the first two Lord of the Rings movies. I hope, like I stated above, I am wrong on how I see the ending to this when I observe how Part 3b is handled. If I am wrong, then the stars I gave this movie will suddenly rise.
Avengers Part 3a doesn't hold a candle to Avengers 1, but it does blow Part 2 out of the water. Still, you definitely need Part 2 to have any of Part 3a. Infinity War is definitely recommended, but I'd probably wait until the day Part 3b comes out and make sure you see, um, all of the previous 18 films prior, as well.
***
Final thoughts: Since this movie is really just a first half of an overall chapter, I'd probably have to wait until Part 3b comes out before completely forming an opinion on where this ranks. That said, right now, I know it absolutely ranks high in the (so-far) 19 MCU films.