Avengers: Infinity War

The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Avengers: Infinity War is easily one of the best movies that I’ve ever seen overall, with a great story, above-average character development, witty banter, comedy, incredible action, and eye-popping visual effects. It isn’t without it’s problem moments, outlined in the spoilers section below, but is incredibly well-rounded for a superhero movie.

I continue to find it impressive that Marvel is able to put together such an incredible string of blockbuster hits unlike DC, which has had as many bombs as it has had successes. Crucial to Marvel’s success is their ability to keep their movies so well-rounded. The Avengers is not just mindless action — it’s like everything is there to balance-out something else.

Take their comedy for example; it’s always there to lighten the mood when things are getting particularly dramatic. The lack of (good) humour in super hero movies in the past was often what led to incredible cheesiness (I’m looking at you Batman).

The Marvel universe leverages some truly standout characters as well. The hilarious banter back and forth between Thor and Starlord was a highlight moment, but there were also the usual funny moments from Rocket, Drax and Tony Stark as well. These moments keep the audience engaged and create a lot of added appeal.

The rest of what makes the movie great, as well as some of its biggest flaws, contain a number of spoilers. Read on at your own risk.

Warning Spoilers Below

What truly made the movie so great was how it ended. Those that live for happy Hollywood endings probably don’t agree, but the fact that the movie ended with Thanos (“the bad guy”) winning, was unexpected and very much welcome. I’m not evil, but the smile on my face when it ended “unhappily” went from ear to ear. I was shocked that, unlike most other major movies, the producers didn’t insist on a happy ending just to ensure broad audience appeal. The number of movies where the good guys prevail against all odds via miraculous circumstances makes me sick to my stomach. So this change raises The Avengers from great to top-tier as far as I’m concerned.

As for what could have been improved — the main issue was the repetitiveness of some tropes. For example, the number of times loves’ influence was used as a plot device. There was Gimora giving up universe-ending information to Thanos to save her sister. Wonder refusing to destroy Vision’s infinity stone (that would have saved half of the universe’s population). But most annoyingly, when Dr. Strange gives over his infinity stone to Thanos, despite swearing that protecting it was the most important thing in the universe — giving it up to save Tony Stark.

There were a few saving graces, though. The trend was bucked when Thanos ultimately overcame his soft spot for his “daughter” Gimora and threw her to her death, and when Quill ended up pulling the trigger on Gimora in an earlier scene.

But don’t get me started about one of the worst tropes of all and a major pet-peeve of mine — letting a villian survive. It’s right up there in the realm of incredibly bad tropes like “villains talking way too much instead of just killing the person, allowing for the good guy to get out of the situation”. The scene is the one where Captain America, Widow and a few others had a chance to kill 2 of Thanos’ “children”. They stated (for the audience) that they didn’t want to kill them and just let them go. Why would you let a bunch of vicious murderers helping to destroy half of the universe go??? Ugh! It reminds me of a certain frustrating childhood cartoon . . .

[End rant /]