Impressive Climax to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2018)

That a movie like this is possible these days is a real feat in and of itself. Years of films and series content have built a rich cinematic universe spanning multiple independent threads and subplots, each with its own style and feel and tone, and full of rich characters both big and small. The character development alone makes this capstone film a culmination not just of a closely knit and well-maintained continuity, but evolution and deepening of the heros playing their parts. I would have thought something like this would be doomed to failure, being too big, too ambitious, too broad in scope and grand in vision to work. But, they did it.
Somehow it doesn't disapoint. The same actors reprising the same roles, all this time later, and those roles have not only blossomed in their own rights, but the dynamics between them as well. And now we are treated to new dynamics and chemistries. Seeing the likes of Star Lord on the same screen as Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark was a particular treat, as was seeing the special kind of comedy that Thor and Drax both add to the screen, side by side. There was a lot of opportunity here for personality clashes and disharmony, but for the most part that doesn't happen.
There's also plenty of spectacle, given the huge amount of special effects and epic visuals, but the most adrenaline-prompting aspect of the film is the mere prospect of the contest we're finally witnessing. Seeing vastly powerful characters built up over all this time finally coming face-to-face with a villain who not only carries the sheer might, but the screen presence to truly match and best them. It's dark, but not as dark as the Dark Knight, nor anywhere near as cynical or gritty as Watchmen. It blends action, comedy, and all those carefully built inside jokes, relationships, and character quirks with a sweeping plot based on perhaps the best comic storyline of all time. It manages to be easy watching, but epic and deep, simultaneously. The Thanos we get on screen is the ultimate nihilist, and yet his character brings as much stark humanity as it does merciless destruction.
And the punches don't get pulled. We see beloved characters fall, break, and fail, and it's breathtaking because these are characters that if you've plowed your way through the MCU films have so much history and past behind them, and into which we've invested so much of our attention and consideration, if not affection.