The Avengers: Infiniity War (on DVD)

The Avengers: Infinity War
[DVD Avengers]

Ten years of Marvel superhero films, with continuity across over two dozen pictures, culminated in this blockbuster film during the Spring of 2018 — The Avengers: Infinity War. Nearly all of the Marvel superhero characters, from Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, to the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, the Black Panther and Doctor Strange (all of whom have previously starred in their own feature films), were all pulled into this galaxy-spanning extravaganza. The heroes find themselves pitted against the mad Titan, Thanos (introduced in cameos in past Marvel films — and a brilliant effects-enhanced performance by Josh Brolin!), who has an obsession for bringing balance and “peace” to the galaxy. Unfortunately, his concept of bringing balance, in order to cure overpopulation and diminishing resources, is to gather all of the Infinity Stones (mystical devices that impart their user with unbelievable powers, and which have popped up in several of the previous Marvel hero movies) together, and use them to wipe out 50% of all intelligent beings throughout the galaxy.

Arrayed against him, on various fronts, are the Marvel heroes. For instance, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and members of the Guardians, all get dragged across the universe to combat Thanos face-to-face, while many the rest of the heroes fight Thanos’ minions in various Earth-bound locations. It all comes to a head on the plains of Wakanda (the kingdom of the Black Panther — who had his own hit film in 2018), as “earth’s mightiest heroes” attempt to prevent a partial galactic genocide.

While I don’t wish to spoil the plot, for anyone who didn’t see this in the theaters, I will say that this film has one of the biggest clifhangers in movie history, which will not be answered until the next Avengers film, coming in May 2019. I will say, however, that this film is an adaptation of a very popular storyline from the Avengers comic books, by writer/artist Jim Starlin, but makes many, many changes from that print storyline. While there are many similarities between the two Infinity Wars plots, they also diverge rather drastically from each other. But…if you’d like to see the original, it is out in a trade paperback edition, or through the libraries via our Hoopla downloadable content service.

This was an exceptionally well-made film, with excellent performances and spectacular effects. I can’t give it a rating of more than 8 (of 10) because my suspension of disbelief was surpassed by the ending. The likelihood that things remain as they were left is so slim-to-unbelievable that it actually detracted from my overall enjoyment of the film. Your mileage may vary, and if you’ve enjoy any of the previous 20+ films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you won’t want to miss this one!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the Infinity War graphic novel by James Starlin – compiling the original comic book storyline that inspired this film, and Avengers: Age of Ultron or Black Panther (also 2018).]

 

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Avengers movies web site ]

If you’re a fan of the Avengers movies, check out the new DVD “booklist” on BookGuide: If You Like…Superheroes on Film and TV!

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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