Special effects are not enough

Rating: 5/10 (5 May 2018)

My goal here is not to get you not to see the movie. You're going to see it anyway. It's just to help you manage your expectations.
Do you remember the first scene in the first 'Toy Story' movie when, as part of an internal dialogue, Woody's owner says 'I brought my attack dog with a built-in force field. Well I brought my Dinosaur, who eats force-field dogs?' Well, that's the level of writing in Infinity Wars. Only they mean it. Super powers have gotten to the point that anything can be anything else. The, by now, run-of-the-mill avengers powers are simply no match for for Thanos and his buddies. And yet, the avengers find completely unexplained ways to defeat some of the minions. Nothing. Makes. Sense. Even within the context of the movie. Things just happen. Some good, and some bad. Everything is at apocalyptic scale. Huge set-pieces are inter-spliced with other huge set-pieces, and all of it really to no avail. Any interaction between characters is simply short-hand. When everything is at such a large scale, you don't give a rat's ass who lives and who dies. Or what happens. If you just want a catalog of special effects, this movie is for you. If you still have an appetite for story, character development, and chemistry, lower your expectations.