Avengers: Infinity War (2018) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline: Where will you be, when it all ends?

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.

Storyline: As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment - the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain. Written by Marvel Studios

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, August 3, 2018 With the plethora of great Marvel films out there, hailing any of them as "the best" is sure to cause a ruckus amongst the legion of rabid fans. But most would not argue that Avengers: Infinity War makes as strong a case as any of them for that title. The film pushes all the right buttons, leaving the characters and universe in an ever-evolving state of flux and the viewer in a constant state of amazement. Less than 10 minutes into the movie and infinity War reshapes the Marvel landscape and continues to turn the universe upside down on through to the end, an end that is not just a cliffhanger but an end that leaves the state of Marvel, and the studio's enormous fanbase, precariously teetering atop Mount Everest. The film is action-packed, sprawling, and heartfelt. The roster is huge and the story is consequential. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who shot the sequel immediately after shooting Infinity War, have a tall task to live up to this and to resolve the seemingly unresolvable.

Chaos rules the galaxy. The imposing, powerful Thanos (Josh Brolin) holds two of the five Infinity Stones, having just extracted the second from the Tesseract. He eyes Earth, where two of the remaining three remain. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), privy to Thanos' plans, is transported to Earth where he warns Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) of the coming invasion. Strange, in turn, enlists the help of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and The Avengers to defend the planet from the assault. As Earth braces for additional attacks and various heroes assemble, including Vision (Paul Bettany), who holds one of the stones, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) relives her dark past and maneuvers through an uncertain present alongside her villainous adoptive father. Meanwhile, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself seeking a new weapon to wield his powers, aided by the mischievous Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and the teenage Groot (Vin Diesel). But can the collected powers of all of The Avengers -- and many additional allies -- stop Thanos and his army from acquiring the ultimate power to wipe out half of the universe's population?

For a movie that runs well over two hours, Infinity War finds a lightning pace and never relents. For as sprawling as the film may be, connecting characters and worlds and actions and interweaving story lines and bringing unlikely allies together in various pursuits to save the universe, it's surprisingly texturally rich and easy to follow. Certainly a foundational understanding of characters and continuing storylines and familiarity with the glut of past Marvel films is helpful, but not entirely essential. The film stands on its own as a dramatic powerhouse and an action extravaganza, with both presenting in equal proportion in terms of screen time and screen merit. It's rare to find a film of so much flash and so much substance, the latter coming in the ways of seriously consequential galaxy-spanning events, the strains on intimate bonds shared between characters, and the very real possibility of failure. Themes of love, sacrifice, fate, friendship, and shared goals interweave throughout the film as The Avengers' battles against Thanos appear increasingly hopeless across each of the several battlefields upon which the "Infinity War" is fought.

As the film plays to the characters' strengths, it tests and strains them like never before. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely don't simply drop every drip of past Marvel movie characters and dynamics into a blender and hope for the best. The film sees constant shifts in dynamics and power and unlikely and unusual pairings that individually feel off but ultimately prove critical as the film develops, as Groot, in this film a lazy teenager glued to a handheld video game, plays a significant role in returning a hero to his former glory. Stephen Strange and Tony Stark develop an unlikely bond. Vision's relationship with Scarlet Witch is put to the ultimate test. Peter Quill faces an impossible choice with Gamora. Chaos reigns through the film, structurally and dramatically alike, and no Marvel film has pushed so hard, frayed and bloodied so many characters, and poured on the significant drama to the same extent as Infinity War. It's a highly rewarding film, particularly for those who prefer their movies bleak and always teetering on the edge of disaster. It's unrelentingly intense, offset by key outbursts of mild humor (particularly from Drax), but the darkly dramatic crux carries the film to heights previously unreached by any other Marvel film.

Digital effects dazzle. There's not a character or location or action sequence that isn't absolutely convincing. The sense of spectacle is high but the feeling of character intimacy is also significant, thanks in large part to a dedicated cast that is willing to share the screen with a Hollywood who's who that brings almost literally every Marvel hero, and numerous support figures, together in one film. Of particularly noteworthy mention is Josh Brolin, whose digital performance of the imposing Thanos is as towering as the character he portrays. The villain's own character arc, which expands significantly into the emotional realm beyond the power to reshape the universe to his liking, is the film's centerpiece. That a digital villain can carry a movie populated by countless superheroes who have individually earned billions of dollars in their own films is a testament to both Brolin's performance and Marvel's willingness to highlight its best and build around what will work rather than merely what might be most marketable.

Infinity War is a dazzling film of great emotional draw, strongly defined characters despite a sprawling roster, digital delights, and storytelling that wraps together many previous plot lines from older Marvel films while boldly headed into an unknown future for the entire universe. This is not only perhaps the best Marvel movie of them all, it's also one of the year's most agreeable movies. Disney's Blu-ray release of Avengers: Infinity War features reference video, passable audio at high listening levels, and a nice collection of bonus content. Highly recommended, but Disney does need to do something about these soundtracks.

(Based on Comic Book)

[CSW] -4.3- This was an incredible adrenaline rush of a film, maybe the most intense movie I've ever seen. It's 2.5 hours long but never lets up the entire time. It is hard to imagine a movie getting bigger than this - The culmination of a decade-long film series with 18 prior films, featuring 2 dozen A-list stars battling for the fate of the universe. It does a good job of taking moving parts from the 18 previous Marvel films and putting them together into one, cohesive machine. Each superhero gets his or her chance to shine, and Thanos holds his own as the antagonist. This movie can't really stand on its own, but is has an epic feel, as well as enough humor & action to keep fans of this cinematic universe entertained. The plot is a bit bizarre, even for a comic book actioner; but it fully meets the requirements of Marvel reality. While this film will be entertaining to you if you're a comic book actioner fan, to fully appreciate what is going on and to keep up with the wide array of action heroes, it would be better to see the first two "Avenger" films, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thor: Ragnarok.
[V5.0-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box really enhanced this movie (when toned down).
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