I have been a dedicated fan of the MCU (the Marvel Cinematic Universe) since Iron Man started it all in 2008. I have seen every MCU film at least once, and some of them multiple times (I mean Captain America: The Winter Soldier is just so good). But when the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War dropped, I honestly wasn’t excited. I thought that including 70+ characters in a film was destined to be a disaster and would result in me sitting through three painful hours of film, simply because I had devoted ten years to this franchise, and needed closure.
Boy was I wrong.
Avengers: Infinity War may be one of the strongest films in the MCU, standing tall with greats like Black Panther, Spiderman: Homecoming, and Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s hard to discuss the film and get into the minute details without spoiling plot points, so I promise to not disclose any spoilers. Here are some of the things that made Infinity War worthy of a decade of build-up.
1. There’s no mistaking that the stakes are high.
From the opening scene, you know that things are different this time. People are going to get hurt and the MCU as we know it is going to change. The Russo brothers are able to maintain this level of intensity throughout the film, ensuring that the audience, if they weren’t already, is invested in what happens to these beloved characters.
2. Pacing, pacing, pacing.
When a movie is long with lots of characters, it can be easy to get bogged down in the unimportant moments and gloss over elements that can have a large impact on the narrative. However, between mixing up characters from different franchises and bouncing between different locations, Infinity War (which again, was close to three hours) never seemed to drag.
3. Infinity War knows when enough is enough.
Even as much as I love superhero led action films, in recent years, I have started to get bored with the long fight sequences. And the rapid-fire one-liners are only funny for so long. But Infinity War does a good job of avoiding placing fight sequences on top of fight sequences, saving the biggest sequence for the end of the film. And as for those iconic Marvel one-liners? Don’t worry—there are plenty in the film. But, they are balanced by some major emotional moments!
4. Umm, that ending!
Since this was supposed to be Infinity War: Part One, it’s fair to say that many people probably assumed that the film would end with some sort of cliff-hanger. But the level of cliff-hanger the film ends on is unprecedented. When I saw the film, there was nothing but silence when the lights came up and the credits started to role. Even the most casual of MCU fans will be eagerly anticipating next year’s follow up.