‘Avengers: Infinity War’ proves blockbuster movies can still be intelligent
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‘Avengers: Infinity War’ proves blockbuster movies can still be intelligent

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It’s easy to shit on the common blockbuster these days, with the amount of remakes and sequels around, but it’s hard to deny the sheer enormity of what Marvel Studios has created over the last decade.

Most won’t remember (or at least admit) they didn’t exactly know who Iron Man or Robert Downey Jr were when that film came out in 2008, nor the fact Chris Evans, Pratt and Hemsworth were all near-nobodies before Marvel made them A-list somebodies.

It takes a lot of work to make a film and much more to make a good one, so to pull off the incredible feat of 16 intertwining films that not only stand alone (bar Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The First Avenger) but also work together is truly incredible. It’s also unlikely to ever happen again in our lifetime.

For those who haven’t been paying attention the baddie here is The Mad Titan, Thanos, who was actually the puppet-master behind much of the death and destruction in previous films. He’s trying to retrieve all six of the Infinity Stones, which he plans on using to wipe out half of existence and restore natural balance to the universe.

The success of Black Panther definitely boosted the hype of Infinity War prior to release, but this is actually a far superior film. Everything contained within this 2.5-hour epic feels necessary in developing the narrative and gives each character a reason to be there. It’s especially exciting if you’ve followed the comics and watched all previous films, because there are a lot of Easter eggs littered throughout. There’s so much going on yet never a dull moment, as we rapidly skip between characters and locations.

The best thing about this film is that it pairs unlikely heroes who haven’t interacted on screen before, particularly when they don’t get on. While they’re not always fighting, we get to see Tony Stark and Doctor Strange battle egos, a macho-off between Star Lord and Thor, and Bruce Banner and Shuri dropping knowledge bombs on one another.

On the flipside, Infinity War doesn’t mess around in laying many beloved characters to waste, with quite a few happening before the opening credits. It’s especially painful because producer Kevin Feige has been on record saying this time the deaths will be “for real.”

In a film full of positives, there are still a couple of glaring negatives, particularly the absence of quite a few characters and the fact Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch shows no trace of her former European accent.

Still, without giving anything away, there’s not a single person watching this that won’t want to know what happens next and furthermore, it’ll make you want to watch the entire back-catalogue again to pick up on things that might’ve been missed. Take note DC, this is how you build a universe.

By Chris Bright