‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Reviews Are in and Critics (Mostly) Love Marvel’s Cosmic Crossover
Reviews praise the film’s scope, visuals, and shocks, though some think it feels too much like part one of two films instead of its own thing
Umberto Gonzalez | April 24, 2018 @ 6:14 PM
Last Updated: April 24, 2018 @ 6:25 PM
Marvel Studios
The reviews for Marvel Studio’s “Avengers: Infinity War” are in, and the consensus about Marvel’s epic superhero team-up is — mostly — that it’s fantastic.
One of the biggest fans of “Infinity War” was the man who helped make it possible — comics writer Jim Starlin, who co-created Thanos for Marvel in 1973. “There are a couple times my chest constricted from what I was seeing, making me want to cry,” Starlin said in a Facebook post praising the film.
The Avengers the Infinity War! I really have to watch what I say here, so as to not spoil the many surprises this film…
With 71 early reviews in, “Avengers: Infinity War ” currently has a 89 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics are mostly praising the film’s scope, ambition, and execution. TheWrap’s Alonso Durade wrote, “If you’re a viewer who binges TV dramas because you can’t wait a week to find out what happens, the implied ‘to be continued’ at the end of ‘Infinity War’ may drive you batty. But if you’ve been solidly along for the Marvel ride up to this point, you’ll enjoy this leg of the journey even if it hasn’t yet reached the terminal.”
“Avengers: Infinity War” is the Marvel film you’ve been waiting for ten years now. Everything that has proceeded it brings you to this very climactic event. I have never been this awestruck by a film in my entire life. Thanos is a force of nature and the deadliest Marvel Studios villain to ever exist. He easily takes the crown from Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger. The highlight of the film has to be Chris Hemsworth’s Thor. I believe this film will go down in history as one half of the greatest superhero movie of all time.
Is it possible to have too much of a good Marvel thing? “Avengers: Infinity War” tests that theory to the max. Don’t get me wrong: This movie is an epic event, built to celebrate the end of a decade in which the Marvel Cinematic Universe produced 19 films.
“Avengers: Infinity War” is the most ambitious, most audacious, most mindblowing superhero film ever produced. It is visually sumptuous, spectacularly entertaining, emotionally shocking and resonant. It is the perfect fulfillment of a promise Marvel made 10 years ago, and everything fans are hoping it could be. THIS is why the superhero genre exists.
What saves “Infinity War” from being just another bloated supergroup tour – and what will end up being the thing that blows fans’ minds to dust – is the film’s final stretch. Let’s be clear, when it comes to hand-over-fist cash cows like the Marvel films, any time a character is put into any sort of serious jeopardy, you immediately have raise an eyebrow and roll your eyes a bit. All of these characters are such lucrative intellectual properties no studio, no matter how daring, is going to put them into too much jeopardy… Still, there is something thrilling about watching just how much fun the Russos and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are having messing with the fans here.
“Infinity War,” by design, feels like one half of a completed puzzle, with the other pieces strewn about waiting to be put together. Maybe once it’s whole, the puzzle will be wholly satisfying. For now, “Infinity War” suggests that Marvel is able to wrangle together a massive, charming cast, but not quite create a story that deserves their presence.
“Avengers: Infinity War” upends the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as promised. It’s a spectacle unlike any movie before it, offering a ferocious narrative which fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will love but the average or young moviegoer might have a bit of trouble with. It is dark, it is fun, and it is bigger than anyone could have imagined. It substitutes some of the focus seen in previous Marvel films with wider-ranging narrative to create a sprawling, jaw-dropping, utterly relentless epic.
All 23 Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best (Photos)
Nobody on the internet wants to talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's a topic we just can't go on ignoring. But seriously: even though this seemingly unstoppable franchise has rabid fans across the globe...
Marvel
23. “The Incredible Hulk” (2008) Released just five years after Ang Lee’s “Hulk,” this second attempt to make a leading man out of the big green Gamma-radiated creature proved to be similarly disappointing. If we’v...
Marvel
22. “Ant-Man” (2015) While this movie deserves credit for not putting the fate of mankind on the line -- the stakes are more child’s-toy-train-sized -- the film’s stabs at humor seem overplayed, and little o...
Disney/Marvel
21. “Thor” (2011) Director Kenneth Branagh nails the thee-and-thou of the Asgard segments, but the small town where the climax plays out is one of the screen’s cheesiest fake cities since the terrible 1980s “Superg...
Marvel
20. “Iron Man 2" (2010) The best MCU movies do a good job of distracting you from all the setting-up of future franchise entries; this one offers so much empire-building that it might as well have a “Pardon O...
Disney/Marvel
19. "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011) Much as he did in “The Rocketeer,” director Joe Johnston excels at portraying the gloss of the 1940s, although the characters aren’t nearly as vivid as the USO bunting...
Marvel
18. "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) Firmly average, yes, but an improvement on its predecessor and a straight-up good time, skillfully balancing superheroics, second bananas, entertaining villains and the occas...
Disney/Marvel
17. “Iron Man 3” (2013) Director and co-writer Shane Black doesn’t always have the tightest grasp on the story -- what does the nefarious Extremis do again, and why? -- but he shows off his skill at witty ban...
Disney/Marvel
16. “The Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) It’s always fun when the band gets back together, but it’s also difficult to recapture the magic of that first time. This sequel offers plenty of excitement and Joss ...
Disney/Marvel
15. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017) The band is back together, and they're as bristly hilarious as in their first outing, but overall this sequel feels like it's just vamping (entertainingly) until th...
Disney/Marvel
14. Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) This sequel has a better sense of its own silliness than its predecessor, as Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) run from the feds, battle the dimension-phasing ...
Disney/Marvel
13. Captain Marvel (2019) The self-fulfillment and the 1990s retro are both played with a fairly heavy hand, but there's lots of fun to be had here, from Brie Larson's heroine, both ebullient and haunted -- nothing like ...12. "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) It's a little tough to judge this one on its own merits since it's so clearly half a movie; we won't really know how this film comes to fruition until we get the sequel. Bu...
Disney/Marvel
11. "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) You get all the requisite T-crossing and I-dotting you would expect at this stage of the game, but the capper for the first chunk of the MCU saga is a mostly satisfying season fi...
Disney/Marvel
10. "Spider-Man: Far From Home" (2019) This second outing from director Jon Watts and leading man Tom Holland maintains the larkish tone and emphasis on characters that makes these films feel like such a uniq...
Disney/Marvel
9. "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017) Director Taika Waititi ("Hunt for the Wilderpeople") strikes a delicate balance between breathless action and fate-of-the-universe stakes on one hand and tongue-in-cheek silliness a...
Disney/Marvel
8. "Captain America: Civil War" (2016) The plotting and pacing aren't as tight as in "Winter Soldier," but if you're looking for dark human conflict and rousing superhero-on-superhero action, this movie does...
Disney/Marvel
7. "Iron Man" (2008) It all starts here -- a superhero origin story for literalists who can’t get behind exploding planets or radioactive spiders. Jon Favreau, then most famous for directing "Elf" and writing and co...
Marvel
6. "Black Panther" (2018) While Chadwick Boseman's titular African king-superhero takes something of a back seat to a troika of fascinating female characters -- played by Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira and Leti...
Disney/Marvel
5. "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017) Less guilt-driven and haunted than previous iterations of the character (on the page or screen), Tom Holland's Spider-Man has enough on his plate dealing with his superhero gro...
Sony/Marvel
4. "Doctor Strange" (2016) It would be all too easy to make the spell-casting Master of the Mystic Arts look ridiculous on the big screen, but somehow director Scott Derrickson and his crew gave us a version of surgeon-tur...3. “Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) Breezy, flippant and soaking in the super hits of the ’70s, this comedy adventure is something of an outlier -- both tonally and geographically -- in the Marvel Universe. ...
Disney/Marvel
2. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014) Aggressive patriotism meets anti-government paranoia in this exciting tale that pits the Captain against labyrinthine conspiracies. It also turns out that Steve...
Disney/Marvel
1. “The Avengers" (2012) Still the gold standard of the MCU, this movie reveals that Joss Whedon gets comic books down to their DNA, in the same way that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were fluent in the ...
Disney/Marvel
