Avengers: Infinity War Movie Review

By: Lynn Barker

Avengers: Infinity War finds the assembled Avengers plus Guardians of the Galaxy fighting Thanos (voice of Josh Brolin), the adoptive dad of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), who is determined to collect all six infinity stones (Soul, Space, Time, Reality, Power, Mind) so that, by a mere snap of his fingers, he can destroy ½ of humanity throughout the universe. He rationalizes that he’s doing this to thin out populations so the survivors can have a better life… yeah, right.

Thanos is sure he can get all the Infinity StonesCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Asgardian Ambush

Thanos and his Children (Cull Obsidian, Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive and Ebony Maw) ambush the Asgardian ship containing Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in search of the Space Stone, which is in the Tessaract that Loki stole before Asgard's destruction. Thanos kills most of the Asgardians aboard and defeats the Hulk. A couple of the good guys won’t survive. Heimdall (Idris Elba) uses the power of the Bifrost to send Hulk to Earth before Glaive kills him. Thanos and his Children then leave before the ship destructs.

Will Loki help this time?Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Enter Doctor Strange, Iron Man and Spider-Man

Hulk crashes into the Sanctum Sanctorum and turns back into Bruce Banner, who tells Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong) about Thanos' coming. Strange and Banner contact Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who has announced his intended wedding to Pepper Potts (Gweneth Paltrow) and brief him about the Infinity Stones and Thanos. Maw and Obsidian arrive in New York to get the Time Stone from Strange.

Dr. Strange whips up a spell with Tony, Bruce and WongCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) joins in and a battle ensues. Banner, however, is unable to transform into the Hulk. Maw incapacitates and captures Strange. Stark and Parker chase his spaceship while Wong stays behind to protect the Sanctorum and Banner contacts the rest of the Avengers.

Spider-Man joins the fightCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Meanwhile, in Scotland

In Scotland, Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) are in love and are attacked by Midnight and Glaive but enter Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Natasha/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) with Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) to drive them off. All seek shelter in the Avenger’s NYC HQ and realize they will have to reunite to fight this ultimate evil. James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) is there too and Vision proposes that Wanda destroy the stone in his forehead to keep it from Thanos. Steve Rogers convinces them to go to Wakanda to get the stone removed safely, then Wanda can destroy it.

War in WakandaCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Enter the Guardians

Meanwhile, Thor is rescued by the Guardians of the Galaxy, who had heard the Asgardian ship's distress call. After some awkward introductions, Thor thinks that Thanos would be after the Reality Stone, which is with the Collector in Knowhere, but decides to retrieve an ultimate new weapon from the Dwarf planet of Nidavellir. Rocket Raccoon (voice of Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voice of Vin Diesel) accompany Thor to Nidavellir, while Peter Quill/Star Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klenmentieff) travel to Knowhere.

Mantis tries to ease Thor's painCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Thanos ambushes the Guardians on Knowhere and captures Gamora sure that she has the Soul Stone. Nebula escapes and signals the remaining Guardians to meet her on Titan. Thanos and Gamora travel to the planet of the Soul Stone, where Red Skull, the Stone's keeper, informs him that the Stone can only be retrieved by sacrificing someone he truly loves. What will he do?

Star Lord and the GuardiansCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Plan to Get Thanos’ Gauntlet

Iron Man and Spider-Man rescue Strange after throwing Maw out of the ship. The trio go to confront Thanos on Titan, where they finally meet Quill, Drax and Mantis and form a plan to remove Thanos' gauntlet. Strange uses the Time Stone to look at all the thousand possible futures and tells the others that there is only one future in which Thanos loses. On Titan, the group manage to subdue Thanos. Quill and Nebula, arrive but Thanos defeats the group, and Strange surrenders the Time Stone to save Stark.

Iron Man struggles against ThanosCourtesy of Marvel Studios

On Nidavellir

Thor, Rocket and Groot arrive at an abandoned Nidavellir, where the weapons of the Gods are made but metal forger Eitri (Peter Dinklage) informs them that the dwarves were forced to make the gauntlet then Thanos destroyed them and the forge. Finally, with Thor’s help, Stormbreaker, an axe with the power of the Bi-frost is made.

Thor and Rocket join the fightCourtesy of Marvel Studios

In Wakanda

Avengers gather in Wakanda and ask Shuri (Letitia Wright) to safely extract the Mind Stone from Vision. Thanos' Outrider army invades Wakanda, and the Avengers united with Wakandan armies led by King T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) mount a defense against the attacking army. Glaive infiltrates Shuri's lab and attacks Vision.

T'Challa/Black Panther leads his armyCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Final Outcome?

The army of Outriders overwhelms the defending armies before Thor, Rocket and Groot intervene. Midnight, Obsidian and Glaive are killed, but Thanos retrieves the Mind Stone from Vision by using the Time Stone to roll back time. Thanos is then mortally injured by Thor using the impressive Stormbreaker, but teleports away. Who will live and who will die? Will Thanos succeed in wiping out half of all life in the Universe, including our heroes?

Tony Stark is shocked at the destructionCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Post Credits Scene

Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) and Deputy Director Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) are in deep trouble but Fury is able to send a distress message to Captain Marvel (upcoming Brie Larson). Will it be in time to help?

Bruce wears a suit when he can't Hulk out Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Wrapping Up

Wow! It is quite amazing that the filmmakers were able to stuff so many characters into so much almost non-stop action while retaining their established personalities, relationships and quite a bit of humor. Bravo on that!

Captain America has a new lookCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Avengers: Infinity War is almost too action-packed but it is also an emotional roller coaster for fans of the Marvel Universe. Action scenes and SPFX are well-executed and prepare yourself because a just cause can require great sacrifices. I saw the film with an audience of non-Hollywood types who clapped, cried and laughed at appropriate moments while sitting perfectly still without comment when the film was over. It’s that well…loaded and shocking.

Star Lord fights ThanosCourtesy of Marvel Studios

I will say no more in case there are one or two of you who haven’t been tipped off on the dense storyline already. If this is the last hurrah for this large group of Marvel super-heroes, then it is a very difficult task quite well-executed. However, “Part II” is coming in 2019 so we hold our final judgement on the fate of these heroes until then. For “Infinity War”, we can go four stars.

Avengers: Infinity War Movie Rating: 

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

See Avengers: Infinity War in theaters now!

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