I admittedly came late to the world of Marvel; I was not a comic book kid and I held back as the movies came out. The superhero films of several decades ago were mostly mediocre, but I admit to being enthralled by Christopher Nolan’s three part rebooting of Batman. And then I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr’s personal reboot when he proved his capability in the Ironman role.
I finally went in full time when I had a chance to see Kenneth Branagh present some “Thor” work in progress from his director chair. If that level of talent was working in the comic book genre, what was I missing?
For those not already fully geeked to the premise, stay with me here. Avengers is the group of Marvel superheroes who occasionally get together on the big screen, to not only stop some evil force but to also apprise the ignorant to other Marvel superheroes. It is a very effective strategy. (I once heard the head of Marvel Studios admit, just about when Disney acquired Marvel, that they make films to sell merch…I think he has been chastised corporately since then).
In the case of “Avengers: Infinity War” the producers upped the scorecard and added the Guardians of the Galaxy for further manpower (although manpower is sorta stretching the definition). After all, the good guys are battling Thanos, who is loading up on Infinity Stones which can wipe out much of the universe.
The film is a sequel of two prior Avenger films. If all of that is a bit much, suffice to say that a veritable who’s who have donned the superhero costumes to fight for truth, justice and the American Way. Ooops, that is from the DC Universe. Here is the lineup: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana and Josh Brolin. It is great seeing the revitalized Black Panther in the mix.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo keep the proceedings mostly on track, and as expected the look of the film is full of action, colors, explosions and more than a couple nodding winks.
If you are a casual fan you know what to expect going in. If you are a huge fan you get to revel in another chapter of an expanding universe. If you have no idea what is going on, it is still rather fun.
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