"I Hope They Remember You..."

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2018)

In my opinion, it's my favorite superhero movie ever. Not because everybody was kung fu fighting, but because this movie means something. The Russo Brothers proved yet again that they can handle multiple characters in a movie and ups the ante by having almost 30 main characters, villain included.
Speaking of villains, we know that Marvel had a bit of a problem with villains and their characterization. I mean, Obadiah Stane was fine in the first Iron Man movie, but subsequent villains since then were either undermined or fell flat on their face, except for Red Skull, Loki, Winter Soldier (antagonist, not villain), Alexander Pierce, Ego, Vulture, the Grandmaster, Hela and Erik "Killmonger" Stevens. I'm very pleased to say Thanos is probably the most tragic out of all of them and easily the best since Killmonger. He's probably the best character in the whole movie, and that's no faint praise for a film featuring just about every MCU hero, yet get good to stellar characterization. You know he's a maniac, and yet you feel his pain and understand his motives (thank God they didn't stick with him wanting to impress a lady. That would've been stupid.) and his rationale.
His world, Titan, wound up destroyed due to overpopulation, and even after he was declared mad after suggesting killing half the population, you can clearly see he wanted to save it. He wants to do that to the universe to avoid the same fate, so of course he needs to be stopped. Yet, the heroes fail. They failed. Thanos is a god now, even though it cost him "everything".
This film is indeed humorous, but overall it is emotional, which is a rarity for the MCU films that aren't directed by the Russos. But even this film is more emotional than Winter Soldier, Civil War and Black Panther combined. The Russos seem to have a perk for consequential endings, which is fine by me. But if there's one thing I've learned from this, it's a serious case of 'never trust a trailer', because i wasn't expecting that ending. Like, at all.
I mean, there was a lot of action in this movie, of course, but this movie focused more on the characters and the story rather than the action, and I'm so glad it did, because this time, I felt way more invested in the Avengers and Guardians more than ever before. This movie is proof that 10 years of buildup in the MCU was absolutely worth the payoff. I really haven't been this excited ever since I saw The Empire Strikes Back and that was 11 years ago. But at the same time, I really don't know what's gonna happen as of now. Marvel has made some pretty bold moves before, but the ending of Infinity War HAS to be the boldest.
2017 saw the deaths of Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Odin in Thor: Ragnarok. But 2018 is not off to a good start in the MCU, as Killmonger, Klaue and Zuri all died in Black Panther, but here, the majority of the heroes die. Lemme say that again, there were almost 30 characters at the beginning of this movie. At the end of it, only 8 are left, and they are Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Rhodey, Thor, Okoye, Tony Stark and Nebula. And as of the casualties, which include Loki, Heimdall, Gamora, Vision (twice), Black Panther, Bucky, Wanda, Falcon, Groot, Mantis, Drax, Star-Lord, Doctor Strange and the most heartbreaking death on this list, Spider-Man.
As if that wasn't enough, the end credits sequence shows that Maria Hill and Nick Fury are among those casualties. The worst part of it when the deaths start after the snap? There's no music. At all. In relation to how I felt, as soon as the damage was done, Rhodes asks a mourning Steve Rogers what just happened. Rogers figures it out and says what most of the audience members were probably thinking: "Oh, God..."
I never thought that this film would ever kill that many characters, let alone a teenage Peter Parker, but they did, and I feel like this was our horrible reward for wanting the iconic snap so much.
Overall, this is a very serious film that does have occasional moments of levity, but is far more consequential than any other MCU film and it succeeds at it's emotional storytelling, even if it does has a devastating ending. That being said, I can see some flaws within, like the characters and the runtime, but it's completely understandable. I noticed them too, but they're issues I've encountered multiple times in the MCU, and at this point, I've just come to accept it. When it all comes down to it in the end, which would you rather have to remember a film by: it's successes or it's failures? It's a concept that many have employed before and I'm no stranger to it.
With superb storytelling and emotional stakes far beyond your usual Marvel movie and an ending that is sure to break many fans' hearts, Avengers: Infinity War is everything I wanted it to be and way more. It is by far my favorite superhero film ever and it truly is legendary. It's a definite 10/10 for me. If you are a Marvel/Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, a comic book/comic book movie fan or a superhero fan in general, I highly recommend this film. You won't regret it.