Goes down (too) easy.

Rating: 6/10 (29 April 2018)

High on battle scenes and low on actual substance, "Infinity War" is the culmination of ten years' hype. And that kind of buildup is embodied in the CGI; this is a visual feast (or marvel, if you will). I mean, this thing bursts with color.
But it's also fairly empty. I mean, hey, that's a *lot* of characters to stuff into a movie, but it feels like one huge chessboard, whisking away certain faces to accommodate others. In that sense, this Marvel galaxy is fractured, and the movie feels choked with characters as a result.
If I have a problem with this movie, it's this: the stakes are never real. Size notwithstanding, Thanos is especially weak here (given his buildup in the Guardians movies), and I didn't walk away thinking that (most) of the deaths are permanent. It's almost antiseptic in that regard; c'mon, they just fade away? Everyone's comparing this to "The Empire Strikes Back", but that's only because it's a downer. And only mildly.
I don't mean to harp on the movie. It lives up to the demands of orchestrating a boatload of properties while delivering the high production values. And it's a solid Summertime distraction. And that's about it.
6/10