Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo (Captain America 2-3)
	Actors: Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Chris Evans (Fantastic Four 1-2), Scarlett Johansson (Match Point), ...
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 27.04.2018, 3D, Mathaeser Kino
Synopsis: The Mad Titan Thanos is on a quest to gather the six Infinity Stones that will allow him to wipe out half of the Universe. This leads him to Earth where the Avengers will old the last stand.
Review: I realize I have been waiting quite impatiently for this movie, and over the past month I have not only caught up with all the latest movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Spider-man: Homecoming, Black Panther), kept on following the series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the vain hope of a cross-over with this movie (a short mention is made in this week's Season 5 Episode 19 Option Two!), but also re-watched many past Marvel movies. I think it is the movie to which led all the other movies, much more than the first two Avengers were. This really is the culmination of the three phases of the project, with the gathering of all the heroes you came to learn and love. With such a heavy cast, it was predicted that there would be deaths, and the movie doesn't waste one minute to start decimating populations as well as known characters you thought would never go. Tough start, but a necessary pace to pack all the movie has to display in 2.5 hours. In fact the movie could have easily been an hour longer, but I appreciate that some battles and events are seen only in short flashbacks or simply stated, it would have been otherwise too repetitive. I like the colorful poster which promised a continuation with Thor: Ragnarok which it is directly in fact, but in chronology not in tone. In a review I read after watching the movie was the pertinent comment that the only character that has enough screen time by himself to get a decent development is the bad guy Thanos. It was about time as we have been teased his existence in the past movies, and this opportunity was well used to detail his past and his motive, making him a very interesting character in fact, partially thanks to the performance (motion capture + voice) by Josh Brolin. Besides this character, the movie delivers the expected amount of battles taking place in a few different places, heroism, jokes (Stark to Banner: "You are embarrassing me in front of a Wizard"), characters from previous movies that meet (Stark & Strange, Thor & Quill), at a well-balanced pace but that doesn't offer the time for reflection as the two other Avengers movie did. I didn't have the choice but to see the movie in 3D which only brings a little in some scene, however the IMAX format means that you'd better watch on a big screen. The movie is not perfect (in the referential of super-hero movies, don't forget) but delivers what I was expecting, however in a direction I was not expecting: it is indeed (spoiler, highlight to read) a succession of defeats for our heroes, up to the very end which is quite bold. Well, not that bold if you know that the next Avengers movie (still untitled) is coming next year, and if you know a bit how Marvel handles its stories. Still, the cinema audience stayed baffled in the room and was not even comforted by a mid-credits scene. Only the patient ones could see the post-credits scene that only teases a little of the things to come, but doesn't take away the bitter taste. Just for this feeling, uncommon among popcorn super-hero blockbusters, the movie deserves a good rating.
Rating: 8 /10