Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3: Team Red and a Great Villain

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2018)

Ever since it was revealed that the 3rd installment of the Avengers saga would feature (almost) all superheroes from previous Marvel films, the stake was immediately put high. Even though my expectations were not considerably high, having Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther still fresh in my memory I was certain that this movie would not dissapoint. I was wrong.
First of all, don't let the title mislead you; one would think that Infinity War would treat the original Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye) similarly to the first and second films. In reality this is a story about the playful (and pop-culture reference packed) rivalry between Peter Quill/Starlord, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange and, at times, Peter Parker/Spiderman. I admit I laughed at quite a few of their jokes, but after a certain point it seemed that this was it; that was essentially the film. With Starlord and Spiderman almost useless in battle scenes, I expected more of Doctor Strange and his so called mastery of the dark arts, while I found Iron Man pretty much the same.
The scenes featuring the above mentioned were (at least seemed to be) more in number or length than those with the other characters. Captain America and Black Widow were pretty much ignored or poorly developed in character, and as for Bruce Banner it was a great opportunity to show his internal conflict with Hulk, but instead you got more comedy, less Dr Banner scinetific brilliance and almost zero Hulk action. Thor was more authentic considering that the film takes over Ragnarok's last scene; his ship destroyed, his people exterminated, and his brother subsequently killed in front of his eyes, all by the hand of Thanos, makes him vulnerable and more human. His later quest to find a weapon mighty enough to take on the villain finds him teamed up with Rocket Raccoon and Groot, which was...ok; his is maybe the best representation of the initial five (Hawkeye does not appear in this film).
As for the other characters, they're mostly decorative and mistreated in terms of development or even screen-time such as Falcon, Winter Soldier/White Wolf (yes, Bucky has a new name), Mantis, Nebula and War Machine. Black Panther behaved as expected of the king of the country where the most important battle is held, with Shuri and Okoye less fierce but still efficient. The romance between Vision and Scarlet Witch was mediocre at best and some long-expected reunions (Steve Rogers-Bucky Barnes, Bruce Banner-Natasha Romanoff) totally understated. Loki was wonderful as always and his demise, although untimely, did him justice (he is my favourite character, well, was). The pleasant surprise was Gamora and her back story, which connected her to Thanos. But the greatest of them all in the story is the villain.
Thanos was very good, maybe unexpectedly good, with a little bit of a human side to his person. His desire to destroy is explained, his power matches his reputation, his dialogue is the most interesting...overall he's what makes up the good part of the film. Josh Brolin's performance is laudible!
In conclusion, an expensive production and an enormous box-office do not guarantee quality. This film was centered around a specific number of less attractive or even likable characters (Starlord, Doctor Strange) and the inequality between action and plot scenes, each starring 10 characters, is tiresome and boring. I assume that the next one will introduce Captain Marvel and bring Hawkeye, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Not sure I'll watch.
P.S Dear Marvel, you could do so much better...