Our latest watch was the latest Marvel Comics film, Avengers: Infinity War and if we are honest, went in with low expectations
Which is odd, as whilst we often think we are tired of these films, they always leave us pleasantly surprised, I guess it’s because of the film’s genre current almost monopoly of the box office, we see less new original content, though this is in part because those new films just haven’t been good enough to compete with the comic film juggernaut!
However with all the previous Marvel films hinting at the Infinity War by the placing of infinity stones pivotal to the plot throughout the movies, we certainly were not going to miss this one.
And this film certainly grabs you in from the first minute as the films big villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) faces Thor (Chris Hemsworth); Loki (Tom Hiddleston) Heimdall (Idris Elba) & Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in a grueling battle which sees Banner escape to warn Earth.
This battle will bring in Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch); Wong (Benedict Wong); Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr); and Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Tom Holland)
Again the Avengers find them in a losing battle which will see them having to reach out to old colleagues they have lost contact with since the events of Civil War but this will need Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans); Natasha the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and The Falcon, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie)
In Scotland, next to face the henchmen of Thanos are Wanda the Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) & Vision (Paul Bettany) who has one of the Infinity Stones and with some help, manage to hold them off for now.
Responding to Thor’s distress call from the films opening events, The Guardians of the Galaxy; Starlord aka Peter Quill (Chris Pratt); Drax (Dave Bautista); Gamora (Zoe Saldana); Groot (Vin Diesel); Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff)
We then get some backstory of Gamora’s past as the adoptive daughter of Thanos and she will be pivotal to him if he is to collect all the infinity stones.
The battle goes from location to location; universe to universe, stopping to bring in Nebula (Karen Gillan); James Rhodes aka War Machine (Don Cheadle) and of course stopping off at Wakanda to get the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and his team as well as Bucky, the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan)
In fact of the current films, only Ant-Man and Hawkeye are missing! Over the 2 and a half hour run time (which never drags), many battles take place, which will involve big name casualties as well sub plots such as Thor seeking out Eitri (Peter Dinklage) to help forge a new weapon.
A final showdown takes place in Wakanda with an ending which will leave you wanting answers and desperate for the conclusion to be covered in the 4th Avengers film, which will likely bring back Ant-Man and new characters such as Captain Marvel and some new familiar characters following the Disney studio purchasing the Fox portfolio
Whilst this is not the masterpiece as we have seen many declare on Social Media, I did find this a great film, the special effects are expertly done and unlike some other films of this genre the characters do take centre stage, albeit for maybe not as much time as you may hope if you were to say have a favourite character. Black Widow has far less screen time than say Starlord for example.
We did really enjoy this, yet did not get the emotional impact some have had following big deaths, in part because our cynical mind, we feel with these films no character is really dead and has potential to rise again, albeit with a couple of exceptions this time, which must surely be true!
Overall we do highly recommend Infinity War if you are a fan of this genre, if you’re not, you may enjoy the wealth of stars on screen but it is unlikely to win you over! With the usual Stan Lee cameo and end of credits teaser, comic book films are clearly here to stay!
Watch the trailer here:
Pre-order the film here at Amazon here:
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