by Ray Keating
5 out of 5 stars
If you’ve been waiting for a
big payoff after watching the first 18 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
well, you get it in Avengers: Infinity
War … and more.
Infinity War
certainly packs a wallop in terms of action – as most expect with this kind of
film – and we get that action on Earth and across the galaxy.
It also packs a wallop in
terms of the directors’ – the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe – ably and coherently
telling a compelling story, and managing a film with enormous breath in terms
of the number of characters. And the moviegoer is treated to some extended (well,
for this film) quality screen time with key favorites.
However, there’s much more.
This film serves up an
emotional wallop regarding relationships between certain characters that Marvel
movie fans have come to love, and even with some who perhaps weren’t exactly at
the top of our hero lists coming into the movie. While this Marvel film serves
up some of the humor the franchise has become known for over the past decade, that
banter never takes away from the grave stakes in play, whether for the galaxy
or for particular characters.
But the biggest wallop, if
you will, comes courtesy of Thanos. Moviegoers have been teased about Thanos in
previous films for a while now, and I started to wonder if the character could
live up to the expectations. But Thanos far surpassed those expectations. In
fact, he ranks as the greatest villain of any superhero story to reach the
silver screen. Thanos stands as far removed from a one-dimensional movie evildoer
as a character could. Why does Thanos do what he does? He is Thomas Malthus,
but with staggering power and a will to “solve” the Malthusian dilemma. Of
course, he was as wrong as Malthus was. Thanos is the villain who believes that
the ends justify murderous means, and that the evil he is perpetrating is
necessary to bring about something he deems to be the common good. Ah, history
unfortunately is familiar with this kind of villain, and in Infinity War, we catch a glimpse of how
a twisted, yet brilliant mind can rationalize breathtaking evil.
At the end of Infinity War, this movie reviewer and
fan was left saying, “Wow,” and longing for the still untitled Avengers 4
coming in May 2019.
_______________
Ray Keating is an economist and a novelist, with his
latest thriller being Lionhearts:
A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel, as well as being new to the world of podcasting
with Ray Keating’s Authors and Entrepreneurs
Podcast and Free Enterprise in Three Minutes.
Tune in to Ray Keating’s Authors and Entrepreneurs
Podcast episode titled Lessons
from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Also, Ray joins Lou Mongello on his WDW Radio Disney Podcast to discuss and rank the first 18 movies in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe in a two-part discussion – Episode
517 and Episode
518.
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