Avengers: Infinity War Review: Entertainment Unlimited

Sethumadhavan

The 3rd film in the Avengers series and the 19th overall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Avengers: Infinity War which released today has been perhaps the most eagerly awaited Hollywood film in recent times, not just in India but worldwide. No wonder then that the advance booking figures of the film in India have actually turned out to be way more than almost all Indian films in the recent past (barring Baahubali: The Conclusion). After all this is a franchise that has been developed with great passion & fanfare over the years by the people concerned, thus making the audience look forward to this date with so much of anticipation.

There’s been a lot of talk over the last few days as to whether one ought to have watched all the previous Avengers films or all the MCU ones in order to comprehend Avengers: Infinity War better. Truth be told it does help if you are clued on to the proceedings of the Avengers franchise and the MCU, especially if you’ve been following up on all the recent films. The only reason for this being, you get to connect to all the relevant characters and avoid coming across any loose ends. Avengers: Infinity War literally begins from where Thor Ragnarok ends. Thanos and his team are aboard the spaceship carrying Thor, Loki, Hulk and the Asgardians. Thanos and his team are found to be way too powerful for the others to overcome; as a result Thanos ends up destroying the spaceship and obtaining the Space Stone (one among the 6 Infinity Stones).

Hulk crash lands into earth and alerts Dr.Strange and Tony Stark/Iron Man about Thanos and his quest for the remaining Infinity Stones, 2 of them being in earth. On the other hand Thor teams up with the Guardians of the Galaxy who respond to a distress call from the Asgardian ship and find Thor. Soon it becomes a race against time of sorts as Thanos travels across the universe with the aim of getting hold of the remaining Infinity Stones and the entire MCU superheroes (most of them at least) try to come together in their own ways to stop the maniac in his quest as well as go about trying to save the universe too. Sounds like a grand order isn’t it? It’s to the credit of the Russo Brothers, Anthony Russo & Joe Russo who’ve taken over the directorial reins of the franchise from Joss Whedon and successfully managed to do justice to the myriad characters and knit them well into the narrative.

For a plot that might sound very simple the screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is certainly polished enough to do enough justice to the tremendous hype generated in anticipation of the film. Made at a huge budget of around 300+ million USD, the film has state of the art VFX work and is a strong contender for all the technical awards in the coming season. Shot on IMAX cameras as well (cinematography by Trent Opaloch) the film is a treat in an IMAX 3D (this is a 3D experience that you wouldn’t end up complaining about) screen and is worth the extra premium paid for the tickets. For a film that contains so many popular and iconic characters including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Spiderman (Tom Holland), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Vision (Paul Bettany), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), the Guardians of the Galaxy team etc., it’s heartening to see that nearly everyone has been well accommodated in the tale.

But the character that towers above them all is Thanos (Josh Brolin) who strikes a commanding presence and is more than impressive. Considering that it’s nearly the entire lot of MCU superheroes against one major antagonist over here, the impact would have been totally lost if the character of Thanos would have ended up without the much needed weightage or justice. In fact the portrayal of Thanos is carried out in such an effective fashion that he makes you look forward to the sequel (yes there’s one coming up indeed) all the more. As the film draws to a close you are most certainly left with a few questions in your mind and would be more than keen to get the answers for the same. In a way the film might remind the Indian audience of the Baahubali franchise which achieved the same in a similar fashion. Avengers: Infinity War is an absolute delight of a film and it demonstrates that big budgets can also result in smart and sensible entertainers.

Bottomline:

Avengers: Infinity War is a smashing summer blockbuster that would delight not just fans of the MCU but any film lover. Making plans for the weekend? Make sure it includes this film as well.

Rating: 4/5