Good film, not as good as recent Marvel films

Rating: 9/10 (4 June 2018)

Let's start this review by saying Infinity War is a good movie. The problem is it's just not a great movie. It feels like all the Marvel movies lately have been at that great level, and in the case of Black Panther, in that rare spot above great. Yes, there is a definite dip in quality in this movie, but it feels like a much greater dip due to how amazing the studio has been lately. As for why this movie wasn't as good as the rest, well my main problem is that it ends up feeling a bit overstuffed. There are way too many characters to keep track of, and you end up losing track of them. It ends up feeling like you're waiting for your favorite character to show up, and every second they are off screen, you are not as interested in the film. Also, I feel the end does have a major problem. Not what happens and the decisions that were made but the fact that it is simply unsatisfying. This is the movie we've waited for 2 years to see, the movie with all of these actors, all this hype. Not to mention, we have to wait another year for the next movie, with the way this film ends, one can't help feeling it could have delivered a slightly more complete-feeling film. However, there is still a lot of good stuff in this movie. For one, the as-promised dark-drama theme of this movie is ever-present and makes the movie feel like no other Marvel film. You probably are skeptical this kind of genre would work for a Marvel film, but as soon as you hear the voiceover in the opening credits, you know that despite whatever you feel about your Marvel films, the Russo Brothers have done a damn good job making a dark one. Also a lot of the characters hold a lot of value. The best by a clear mile in my opinion is Thor. He has come from being the goofy, hard-to-take-serious hero to being the hardened, hell-bent god that he is made out to be. Thor, in this movie, is one of the most badass superheroes ever, if not the most. Also, Thanos, despite being the villain is a clear highlight of this film. First we had Killmonger, now Thanos, it seems the MCU villain effect is wearing off. Josh Brolin gives an excellent CGI performance kin to Andy Serkis' Caesar or Gollum, not to mention the character development for him is incredible. An especially high point is his relationship with Gamora, which is beyond what we could have hoped. It is extremely emotionally strong. Those two are the definite highlights in term of characters, but there are plenty other great characters. Doctor Strange has several mystical-action scenes, some better than what we saw in his title film. Teen Groot surprisingly has a strong character arc. The only character I disliked was Star-Lord who not only makes out-of-character decisions but feels like he is either mad or confused the entire movie and fails to show much else. His character arc also feels pointless as it fails to resolve any conflicts with the character. All in all, Infinity War delivers a strong sequel, it just has a few flaws, which is not something I can say for the previous 6 MCU films.