'Avengers: Infinity War' is Marvel's most ambitious movie yet. And it pays off

Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for the MCU as a whole 

Story 

The mad Titan Thanos continues his quest to acquire all six Infinity Stones and the heroes we know and love must come together and stop him before he wipes out half of the universe.

This kind of story is unprecedented because it spans 10 years. It is the culmination of the entire MCU and due to the fact that it spans so many franchises, there are a lot of moving parts. Even with that the story still feels streamlined and grounded.

Acting 

The cast in this movie is one of the stacked probably ever. All the major players are here (no shade at Clint Barton or Scott Lang). I honestly couldn't list everyone here so I will leave a link the IMBD page where you can find the cast list here.

The acting in this movie is a lot heavier than previous MCU movies, a given when you look at the scale of the movie and the stakes. The characters here have more to lose and you can see that in the way they interact with each other and their surroundings.

The cast all have incredible chemistry. You see characters from different franchises coming together and bouncing off each other like they were friends. It does help that a lot of MCU actors are friends with each other, it makes their interactions more believable.

The stand out performance in this movie belongs to Josh Brolin. We know nothing about Thanos outside the fact that he wants the Infinity Stones and sits in a chair. Going into this we know that he is the antagonist of the movie however, he gives a somewhat emotional and grounded performance. Even though you know that what Thanos is doing is wrong, you can see that he is a complex character with greater motivations than a lot of comic book villains.

Writing/Direction 

The Russo Brothers return to direct their third MCU movie and if anyone could handle a lot of characters while still giving us emotional moments and in-depth characters, it is the Russos. They showed with Captain America: Civil War that they could balance large scale movies with a lot of characters. You’re still connected to what is going on even though more characters are being introduced and the story is moving forward.

This movie moves at breakneck speed. It wasted no time getting straight into the action and I saw some complaints about that when the film was released which in all honesty is invalid criticism because a lot of people who are rushed to see this were already heavily invested in the story. There is so much to cover here that you will miss something if you don’t at least a little bit about the MCU. That’s doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn't stand alone, it just isn’t as enjoyable.  I mean if you aren’t on the Marvel hype train by now then you’re not going to really care much about Infinity War.

One of the most interesting things about this movie is the character focus. Yes, the Avengers are the titles characters but this is Thanos’ movie. You see him before any of the other characters. He is the focus of the movie and as I mentioned earlier he is a complex character. His core beliefs make sense, I’m not saying I agree with that he does but his reason for it isn’t necessarily out of left field.

There are quite a few tonal shifts which affect some scenes as they lose dramatic tension, but the movie as a whole isn’t compromised. The serious characters are still serious and the comedic characters bring a sense of levity to the movie.

This writing in this movie is clever, it breaks out of the Marvel mould without deviating from what we know and love. The decision to end the movie the way it did is one of the best decisions that Marvel could have made, in a world where there are no stakes having your main character succeed shows that we aren’t prepared for what comes next. The movie is also incredibly emotional and not just because of the ending. A lot of the characters are on their own personal journey and having all of those stores come to a head caused for some interesting characters interactions. I think of Thor’s loss and Scarlet Witch’s decision at the end of the film when I think of this.

CCGI/Set Design

This has such great CGI, which has to happen when a lot of your main character is completely CGI. The set design matches the scale fo the film. There are so many locations and because of that, there is a great use of colour grading in this movie. Having that visual distinction helps to differentiate each location. Each location has its own look and feel and it fits in tone with the characters that are in those locations. 

Score/Soundtrack 

Alan Silvestri returns to score his third MCU film after Captain America: The First Avenger and the first Avengers movie. Having Alan Silvestri not only creates an auditory connection with the first Avenger movie but also gives the score a more "traditional" sound.

The score uses more of its string section than most Marvel movies which makes the score sound more dramatic and grounded. It makes you pay attention to what you hear because it is so prominent. The score in this movie might be the best one in an MCU movie. It has everything you want in a score. It is emotional, exciting, thrilling and triumphant. Infinity War has a lot going on and the score is no different.

I highly recommend listening to 'Infinity War' and 'End Credits', they're my two favourite songs from the score. They both carry a lot of weight and whenever I listen to them, I picture the film in my head.

Overall Thoughts

Infinity is easily the most ambitious film ever made. It has so much story to tell and so many characters to juggle and manages to do that. There are so many twists and turns in this movie that you don't expect especially when you watch it for the first time. Yes, there are characters that have significantly less screen time than others but it is a means to an end, and that ending is the most shocking ending in the MCU.  It isn't what you expect but upon reflection, it's the ending we needed,

Infinity War is one of my favourite MCU movies, while it isn't a perfect movie, there is so much to enjoy here. There are so many notable moments. It's the kind of movie that makes you laugh and also cry and leaves you wanting more.

So much went into making this movie and all that hard work paid off because Infinity War really did live up to the hype.