terrific movie except for the "ending"

Rating: 8/10 (24 August 2018)

Infinity War does a truly amazing job of stuffing as many superheroes into a single movie as possible and keeping track of most of them. Sure, some get lost in the shuffle, little more than cameos, but a remarkable number are given emotional depth, which makes it light years ahead of the overrated first Avengers movie, in which the characters were little more than cardboard cutouts designed to support the action.
The movie is witty, likable, and engaging, establishing huge odds and placing it's full bet on crazy, leave-no-man-behind heroism. It goes on a little long, and towards the end the action becomes a little bombastic, but overall it's tremendous fun.
The movie also, like The Empire Strikes back, ends in the middle. I really hate that. I also feel it telegraphs the next movie. I mean, you really can't engage in such wholesale slaughter without the assumption that in spite of all odds something will be done, and this blunts the emotional impact of the whole thing.
Is the resolution to this movie really so elaborate that it requires it's own movie? Couldn't the bloat and some of the nonsensical plot extenders (like a blindingly stupid and unlikely moment from Starlord) have been removed to make a single zippy film? Probably, but that's not what happened. Alas.