AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

Genre: Action/Adventure/Comics
Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Tom Holland, Peter Dinklage, Idris Elba, Benicio Del Toro, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, William Hurt, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Carrie Coon, Michael James Shaw, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Josh Brolin
Runtime: 2 hrs 30 mins
Rating: PG13 (Violence)
Released By: The Walt Disney Company
Official Website: http://www.facebook.com/marvelsingapore

Opening Day: 25 April 2018

Synopsis: An unprecedented cinematic journey ten years in the making and spanning the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time. The Avengers and their Super Hero allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.

Movie Review:

A few hours after the credits of this highly anticipated blockbuster finished rolling, and we are still thinking about what we watched.

In the movie’s Superbowl trailer released in Feburary, Tony Stark remarks “So this is it?”, and continues in a foreboding tone “It’s all been leading to this.” The sequel to 2012’s The Avengers and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron has been building up so much hype, it’s like a gas balloon waiting to burst.

Boom! And here it finally is. A culmination of Marvel's past 10 years on the big screen. A glorious montage of epic battles featuring your favourite Marvel superheroes. And most notably, a 150 minute movie that ends with (don’t tell us you weren’t expecting this!) a dramatic and shocking cliffhanger.

While it doesn’t hit all the right notes, the 19^th instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is Disney owned Marvel Studios’ most daring production.

You should know the basic plot by now. The Avengers need to team up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to prevent the villainous Thanos from collecting all six Infinity Stones, which will easily allow him to destroy half the universe. In the mix are characters you’ve grown to love over the past decade: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Vision (Paul Bettany), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Spider Man (Tom Holland), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his friend Wong (Benedict Wong), Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and his friends from outer space, as well as Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and his friends from Wakanda.

We sure hope we didn't leave anyone out.

The Russo brothers Anthony and Joe have done an impressive job bringing together all these personalities. The sheer scale of the premise is enough to leave viewers breathless, yet the directors manage to pull of this ambitious project with confidence. You forgive them for not giving every superhero an equal opportunity for character development.

The screenplay by the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely brings you from one realm to another, comfortably going for the ride with different groups of protagonists. The CGI is, of course, remarkably executed: you will be kept at the edge of your seat by one larger than life showdown after another. The laughs are in place as well: you will be duly entertained by the familiar Marvel sense of humour.

Let’s talk about Thanos. This is a bad guy who does not disappoint. Despite the menacing purple appearance, Thanos is someone who wants to make the over populated universe a better place by, well, re balancing it. He believes that wiping out half the population is the solution to the problem of overcrowding. Yup, this is a guy who takes things blindly into his own hands and causing tonnes of chaos while doing it. Played by Josh Brolin (the actor provided the voice and performed motion capture on set), the character even manages to pull some heartstrings in a few gut wrenching scenes.

Perhaps the most important question is: do any of our beloved superheroes die in this movie? Without giving away too much, let’s just say the filmmakers did what they had to do to move the franchise on. There will be much to process after the movie ends, and all you can do is to wait for another year for the fourth untitled Avengers film to be released. And yes, Thanos will be back. 

Movie Rating:

(Do you really need any reasons to catch this highly anticipated blockbuster, which is very much a bold and ballsy beginning of an end?)

Review by John Li 

Read our coverage of the Avengers: Infinity War press junket in Singapore