K E Y P O I N T S
- ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ unites more than 24 superheroes from the Marvel universe (MCU)
- Stars featured include: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, the entire ‘Black Panther’ crew and the main Guardians of the Galaxy.
- ‘Captain America: Civil War’ directors the Russos brothers also took charge of ‘Infinity War’.
- It’s believed this may be the most expensive film ever made, with production costs reportedly reaching $500 million (roughly £359 million).
- No, we will not tell you who dies.
S N A P V E R D I C T
From HuffPost US Reporter Matt Jacobs:
We’ve reached a point where what happens in an ‘Avengers’ story carries less weight than the sheer spectacle of it all. Ten years and 19 movies into Marvel Studios’ cultural domination, ‘Infinity War’ thrusts all of the brand’s disparate crusaders onto one screen, ostensibly uniting the cinematic universe whose chief purpose is to ensure there will be more plot lines to concoct and more tickets to sell as the years pass us by.
If the goal is to give Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy a quirky meet-cute, mission accomplished. Want to see the Hulk join forces with Spider-Man and Black Panther? You got it. But ‘Infinity War’ coasts on the same routine repeated ad nauseous for 2 hours and 40 minutes: setup, banter, battle, setup, banter, battle, setup, banter, battle. And the battles end up drowning everything else out - they’re visual assaults that render the saga’s minutiae forgettable.
Nevertheless, there’s some magic to be found in the connective tissue that now brings together disparate parts of the Avengers clan.
It can be fun to watch folks who’ve never set foot in the same country or on the same planet work to take down Thanos, and the noisy action breaks long enough to give us a surprisingly resonant and emotional conclusion.
Will any of it matter in the franchise’s next instalment? Probably not. But it was nice to feel something, even if was fleeting.
W H A T ′ S N E X T ?
Another film, of course! The Russos brothers have already signed up to direct an as-yet-untitled ‘Infinity War II’ project, which is slated for release in May 2019.
There will be more from the MCU before then, though, as ‘Ant-Man And The Was’ is set to hit cinemas in July this year. ‘Captain Marvel’ will then follow in March 2019.
Watch the trailer below...