Worth The Six Year Long Wait

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2018)

Avengers Infinity War is the long awaited confrontation of the entire MCU, built up since phase one. Ever since the first Avengers this film has been hyped up; six years of hype. Is it worth it? For the most part yes, in my opinion. I will say this is by far the best Avengers movie. This probably now in my top favorite MCU along with Civil War and Winter Soldier, which the Russo Brothers directed all three. I will say, Civil War is still probably my favorite MCU movie, but Infinity War is close. It's either number two or three.
The general plot is simple. Thanos is on a crusade to obtain the infinity stones so he can destroy half the life in the universe. Now it's up to the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy to stop him. That's the simplified plot.
There's so much this movie does right. First of all is the size of it. This is a huge movie, which it should be since it's based off a huge story arc. This movie felt like a comic book event story come to life, which no other comic book movie has done before. The effects are on point. The action is on point, particularly the big fight in Wakanda. Everyone gives a solid to a great performance, especially Josh Brolin as Thanos. The music was good as well. It perfectly served the film.
The film does a great job balancing characters too. Having to balance a cast of this size, from all these other movies, is a daunting task, but the Russo Brothers managed to pull it off for the most part. There were a couple characters I wish had more time, but mostly the characters were all well utilized.
Thanos is the easily the best villain in the MCU. Before it was Loki and Zemo, but Thanos blows them out of the water. He is easily the most powerful villain in this universe thus far. The sense of danger is always present with him. This guy has a body count; a high body count. He's not your typical one-dimensional villain either. He's an actual character with some depth, like Loki and Zemo.
The ending is also quite ballsy for Marvel. Given that MCU films up until now have been fun and have played things fairly safe, with the possible exception of Civil War, I was surprised they ended like this. I'm equally shocked Disney approved it. If this ending actually sticks going forward; if it's permanent I will commend Disney and Marvel for having balls of steel, but it won't be. We all know this ending will be undone in future movies.
However, even Marvel knows they can't just undo the ending and call it a day. What would be the point then? People would say it's a major copout, and would render this film irrelevant. There has to be more. I'm curious to see how Marvel will handle this down the line. I honestly don't know where this is all going, which I guess is a compliment to the film.
I do have grievances with the film. In the grand scheme these are minor complaints, but they bug nonetheless. First is the lack of Hawkeye and Ant Man. They do mention both of them, but neither appears in the film, which is a disappointment. I know Ant Man and the Wasp is coming out, but I would still like them to be here since this is supposed to be the movie to united all the heroes from the MCU so far. They were both in Civil War, so they should've been here.
The Hulk doesn't appear much either, which was really surprising for me. He has a cool moment at the very beginning, but then never appears again. There are some scenes of him in the final battle, but they're not in the movie. That sucks, because the Hulk is one of my favorites. He did more in Thor Ragnarok.
On that subject, this film does make the ending of Ragnarok irrelevant. I don't love Ragnarok, but I do like it, so it was slightly disheartening that Infinity War essentially made that film irrelevant. Also, Thor's power level was kid of all over the place in this film. This guy was able to survive in space with no air and without freezing. I didn't know he could do that. He also took the force of a dying star and lived. The man has some insane plot armor on him in this film.
Thor's entire subplot in this film felt a bit pointless. If there was a slightly boring and filler-like bit in this film it would be Thor's quest. It ultimately didn't amount to much.
There were a few plot contrivances too; one involving Star Lord and his group. I can't get into that without spoilers. Another is an issue that always comes up in any story when you introduce a villain like this. When you have a villain this powerful, where he's essentially God, there shouldn't be a fight. Thanos should destroy everybody with no struggle and the movie would be over in ten minutes. But they have to nerf him a bit to give the heroes a fighting chance. That's really a nitpick, but it just bugs me a little.
Overall, despite my issues, Infinity War is an amazing ride. It's one of my favorite MCU films to date now. My problems are really minor, and mostly my personal grievances. The film was very much worth the hype.