Avengers: Vanishers

Rating: 8/10 (9 June 2018)

"Avengers: Infinity War" does what no movie has done before: incorporate 40+ superhero characters into one epic showdown against a god-like villain. This idea may have seemed too daunting 10 years ago, but with the talent present and the previous success of the MCU to at least make a decent movie, "Avengers: Infinity War" delivers, and stands as one of the best MCU movies to date.
The Russo Brothers prove to be the best directing force the MCU has to offer. They made Captain America good with "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and brought the franchise to its high point with "Captain America: Civil War." They don't disappoint here and do a great job of integrating all three phases of the MCU. They deftly balance screen time allowing a lot of the characters time to shine. Though they definitely could've trimmed time with the more boring characters like Vision, Scarlett Witch, Gamora and Nebula. The Russo Brothers forte is with the character interplay. The superhero interactions are the highlight of the movie as their banter is very comical, eliciting nerdgasms galore. The Guardians are the funniest and arguable the best characters in the MCU. The cartoonish action takes a back seat to the abundant humor and witty interplay. The action scenes are mostly enjoyable and inventive especially with Doctor Strange's wizard portals. It's very exciting to see the Avengers use pop-culture references to solve their problems (i.e. Aliens). The problem is that there is still some cheesiness with the action (characters having small talk during huge fights, characters smashing into each other mindlessly). The aesthetic of the characters' costumes and the CGI battle scenes give off a cartoonish vibe. One would have to let their inner nerd carry them away for maximum enjoyment of the action.
*Spoilers*
"Avengers: Infinity War" finally introduces the storyline of Thanos as a power player. Thanos isn't your typical I-want-to-rule-the-world bad guy. He presents himself as a reluctant father-figure willing to make the tough choice: to kill half of existence so the other half can live with their dwindling resources. Thanos does not see himself as a bad guy but as a liberator willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Of course the Avengers don't see it that way. What results from the Avengers' and Thanos' showdown is something Marvel has not done before, nor anyone would think they had the balls to do.
Many of the common complaints regarding MCU is that the heroes are impenetrable and no matter how cool they make the action sequences look, there is still that lingering stigma that no one will die. This leaves the action to be without real stakes or compelling drama. But "Infinity War" changes it up here and has Thanos succeed in killing half the Avengers team off (a microcosm for humanity). This resulted in a shocking and totally unexpected move. But.... one problem. Some of the character deaths are probably gonna be permanent like Loki and Vision but people who died from vanishing are likely to come back in the next film after the Avengers figure out how to undo everything Thanos did. Even if certain characters stay dead, it's not like a whole lot of them will be missed (only Drax and the Guardians would be missed if they died). MCU has more films planned like another Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Doctor Strange sequels (all of said characters died in "Infinity War"). This all means MCU doesn't have the balls to kill off characters that will churn out more money. They may have fooled us for a little while but we know their tricks. Hopefully they prove me wrong in Part II.
"Avengers: Infinity War" is the best Avengers movie and one of the best MCU movies to date. It's thoroughly watchable, funny, entertaining, and even has a few tricks up its sleeve. It's a movie too big to miss. To have this many iconic superheroes, big time stars, and outlandish cast of characters in one movie is a cinematic experience you cannot miss. Be sure to keep your expectations in check because this movie is still a Marvel movie at the end of the day. It is not as good as the IMDb rating of 8.7, which makes it a top 20 movie of all time. No way!