What Critics Loved About 'Avengers: Infinity War'
Avengers: Infinity War is landing in theaters this weekend and making good on its promise of being [...]
Chicago Sun-Times
"At times it's nearly impossible to keep track of all the Guardians and Avengers who are banding together on Earth and on far-flung planets such as Knowhere and Titan. Infinity War has just enough self-awareness without becoming too jokey or winking at the audience. When Spider-Man rescues a number of the Guardians and says, 'I got you, I got you, I got you! I'm sorry I haven't learned everyone's names!,' it's just the right light comedic touch at just the right moment."
prevnextIndieWire
"Avengers: Infinity War contains the most dramatic cliffhanger of any major blockbuster since The Empire Strikes Back, and everything leading up to it is a marathon. After 18 movies and 10 years of Marvel superheroes battling through overlapping plots, sibling directors Anthony and Joe Russo unite nearly every single character for a series of epic showdowns and one giant, universe-shattering threat. It's a lot more cohesive than Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the sprawling, busy ensemble often feels like every Marvel movie engaged in overlapping conversation, like a slow-zoom from the Robert Altman playbook laced with CGI. As a virtuoso juggling act, Infinity War has no real parallel in popular culture; as a movie, it's an impressive montage of greatest hits until the gut punch of a finale."
prevnextThe Wrap
"Directors Joe and Anthony Russo move their many playing pieces around with as much grace as possible, and they offer up jolts of pleasure throughout. The violence is ratcheted higher than usual — parents, please note we get both torture and genocide this time around — but the wisecracks still work; on this outing, the audience needs them more than usual, and the experienced cast knows how to throw them around as a way to keep their characters sane in the face of Armageddon."
prevnextUSA Today
"Infinity War also doesn't disappoint in letting a bunch of folks get their licks in on Thanos, an outstanding antagonist and the best computer-generated baddie to date of any superhero film. Like Michael B. Jordan's exceptional Killmonger in Black Panther, Thanos offers a level of human depth (thanks to Josh Brolin) that elevates the entire movie: Instead of being a crazy fanatic killing everything in sight, there's pathos and understanding to his mission, though you still want him to get punched really hard in the face."
"While it's hard to beat the wonder of that original Avengers film — remember when superhero team-ups were still a novelty? — Infinity War does its best to change the game again. There are unexpected returns, true surprises, real sacrifices and a cliffhanger ending that's going to freak fans to their superhero-loving core, yet is, quite simply, marvelous."
prevnextEntertainment Weekly
"What saves Infinity War from being just another bloated supergroup tour – and what will end up being the thing that blows fans' minds to dust – is the film's final stretch. Let's be clear, when it comes to hand-over-fist cash cows like the Marvel films, any time a character is put into any sort of serious jeopardy, you immediately have to raise an eyebrow and roll your eyes a bit. All of these characters are such lucrative intellectual properties no studio, no matter how daring, is going to put them into too much jeopardy...Still, there is something thrilling about watching just how much fun the Russos and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are having messing with the fans here. Even if, in the end, that little subversive act of freaking them out only lasts until the next sequel."
prevnextThe Hollywood Reporter
"Without giving anything away, the climax is startling in its gravity, and no Marvel fan will leave before the long final credits scroll gives way to the traditional kicker tease at the very end, which amplifies the ending by serving up even more questions, not answers. This will achieve the desired result of making millions of fans debate what it all means until the next installment. All we know for sure is that just one identified character will return."
"No question about it, barely two months after the release of Black Panther, Marvel (and Disney, of course) has returned with another of the most expensive films ever made that will pull off another of the biggest commercial hauls of all time. This franchise isn't going away anytime soon."
prevnextUproxx
"Thanos — who, in Avengers: Infinity War, is played by Josh Brolin and is arguably the main character; the writers refer to him as the 'protagonist' — was first introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a post-credits tease after 2012's first Avengers movie. (Half the theater I was in broke out in whispers of, 'Who was that thing?') Since then he's been teased and teased and teased as the bad guy of all bad guys and here we finally are, all of the build-up culminating in two hours and forty minutes of superhero euphoria (well, mostly) that comic book fans have been dreaming about for years. I mean this as a compliment, but Avengers: Infinity War just might be the dorkiest movie ever made."
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