Jean-Paul’s rating: 4/5 stars
Bottom Line: More superheroes than you can shake a Chitauri Scepter at. I feel like I have made this joke before… Does a good job of still not making the movie feel crowded, though. Does your favorite hero survive? Almost assuredly, yes. Unless your favorite hero happens to be…nope, not going to hear it from me!
Correction: I have been told by friends much dorkier than I that there are six infinity stones. This is an egregious error and I ask the forgiveness of all dorkdom. I have also been told that this is not the end of Marvel’s Phase 3. That will occur with the next Avengers movie. Those responsible have been sacked.
It is kind of astounding how long and good of a run the Marvel Movie Universe has had. There were a few not good movies in there, but they were also not bad. Many were terrific. “Infinity War” comes very close to the terrific scale. That they could create such an engaging movie with a scope as large as this one has is a Marvel in itself. See what I did there? Almost every Marvel Movie superhero is in this movie and while many obviously have secondary or tertiary roles, they all fit in to this giant jigsaw puzzle of a movie in an important way. Sure, you’ll probably wish that your favorite superhero had more screen time, but you have a favorite superhero and are a dork. Everything fits and everything is fun. That is kind of amazing.
For the second movie in a row, and for three out of the last four, Marvel has an actual interesting villain in Thanos. Thanos has the laudable goal of wiping out exactly half the living things in the known universe. Like any job you love, the drudgery of everyday population culling can get to you from time to time. Tired of wiping out half of the universe one planet at a time, Thanos embarks on a quest to unite the five infinity stones which, for reasons, will allow him to wipe out half of the rest of the universe in a blink of an eye, allowing Thanos to retire early and enjoy the rest of his life. And who doesn’t want to retire early? I am all for anyone who is pursuing that dream!
I wonder if all of Marvel Universe Earth is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. First, the Chitauri attack and lay waste to a good portion of New York. Then, Ultron lifts the entire city of Sokovia up in the air. And now, Thanos is on a mission to wipe out half of the universe. And that’s just the Avengers movies! Heck, 9/11 happened 17 years ago and the U.S. is still struggling through its own collective PTSD and that wasn’t even an attack by aliens! Most of Marvel Universe Earth must be complete basket cases by now!
I know somewhere out there is someone or likely thousands of someones who embarked on a quest to watch all the Marvel movies back to back in anticipation of “Infinity War” coming out. Those people are now dead from sheer exhaustion. This is a shame because “Infinity War” is a good cap to the Marvel Movie Universe. That cap will assuredly explode in more Marvel Movie goodness, but thus ends phase three of Marvel’s ultimate plan to dominate the movie box office.