“Never has the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” seemed like more of a universe, in ways both good and bad.”
“Infinity War—the title is almost too apt—is a narrative juggling act the likes of which I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before. “
“It is far from a perfect movie, but it is probably close to the best movie it could have been.”
“The story, which Marvel seems to have been building toward since our collective childhoods, revolves around the existence of six “infinity stones” created during the Big Bang and sent “whizzing across the universe.””
“I should note here that if the central flaw of many Marvel movies to date has been the relative lameness of their villains—Ronan the Accuser? Malekith the Dark Elf?—Thanos is very much in the studio’s top tier. He’s no Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, with his problematic but hard-earned racial politics, or Loki, with his wicked yet adorable mischief, but he’s only a notch below them.”
“Though still in its infancy, and frequently misused, motion-capture is gradually, if intermittently, living up to its cinematic potential. Gollum of Lord of the Rings, Caesar of the last two Planet of the Apes films: For a time, it seemed that only Andy Serkis, the early maestro of motion capture, had any real idea how to bring the medium to life. But Brolin’s Thanos is an unexpectedly resonant monster, filled with sadness and even a perverse sense of honor. Deranged though it may be, his population-control rationale for mass murder is actually an upgrade from the comics, in which he mostly wanted to kill trillions in order to earn a date with the female embodiment of Death.”
“I can say that Avengers: Infinity War ends on by far the bleakest note of any Marvel movie to date. Or perhaps I should put “ends” in quotation marks, because it is clear that—in notable contrast to Marvel’s previous offerings—this storyline is very much incomplete, in a way that will surely frustrate some viewers. Many heroes are dead, but it seems unlikely that all will stay that way. Early in the film, Thanos promises, “No resurrections this time.” But then, Thanos is a liar, and infinity is a long, long time.”