There was a lot riding on Avengers: Infinity War. Following a decade of build-up, the Marvel Cinematic Universe finally brought all of its characters together (well, most of them; Hawkeye and Ant-Man were curiously absent, but hardly missed) and introduced the threat of Thanos six years after he was originally teased in The Avengers’ mid-credits scene.
Against all odds, the Russo brothers’ superhero-infested epic managed to satisfy fans across the world — which was particularly impressive following the disappointment of Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron — but it wasn’t without its flaws. It’s a great movie, despite what Scorsese says, but it’s not perfect.
Right: Humanizing Thanos
The Russo brothers described Avengers: Infinity War as a Thanos biopic. Not only did focusing on the Mad Titan help to bring together all the heroes from their disparate worlds; it also shed a light on the cosmic warlord’s complex emotional state.
Without this, Thanos would’ve been yet another villain spouting a ridiculous evil plan. Josh Brolin’s performance brought a real humanity to Thanos that hadn’t been seen in many other MCU villains.
Wrong: Relying Too Much On Previous Movies
As much as Avengers: Infinity War makes sense to MCU devotees who have seen every movie in the franchise 25 times, it would be complete nonsense to someone who went in blind without having seen a Marvel movie in their lives.
Now, it wouldn’t be advised to watch Infinity War without having seen any of the previous Marvel entries, but the job of a movie is to stand on its own two feet as a complete piece, and this one doesn’t.
Right: Fun Team-Ups
The Russo brothers took full advantage of their giant roster of characters in Avengers: Infinity War and delivered some really fun team-ups, like Tony Stark and Stephen Strange’s clash of egos or a post-Ragnarok Thor joining the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The movie also built on pre-existing team-ups, like Tony’s father-son bond with Peter Parker and Steve Rogers’ alliance with T’Challa.
Wrong: The Off-Screen Destruction Of Xandar
At the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos destroys the planet Xandar off-screen. The whole conflict of Guardians of the Galaxy saw the team coming together to save Xandar from being destroyed by Ronan.
If Infinity War was going to undermine the Guardians’ victory in that movie and cast a shadow over every rewatch of it, then it could’ve at least depicted it on-screen.
Right: Airtight Script
Despite being faced with the almost insurmountable task of tying 18 movies together, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely managed to write an airtight screenplay for Avengers: Infinity War.
The pacing keeps the plot moving along at top speed while still leaving enough room for the dramatic moments, like Star-Lord and Gamora’s romantic scenes, to breathe.
Wrong: Character Inconsistencies
The script for Infinity War went through a number of changes, with characters coming and going. Whenever a character was excised from a draft, their role needed to be filled by a different character. This led to a few inconsistencies.
For example, Nova was supposed to be the one who warned Doctor Strange about Thanos, but he was replaced by Bruce Banner, retconning the fact that Bruce can’t remember things that happened while he was the Hulk.
Right: A Real Sense Of Danger
In a lot of Marvel movies, the stakes don’t feel real. It seems obvious that the hero will win in the end, so as exciting as the action set pieces are, they don’t provide any edge-of-your seat thrills.
In Avengers: Infinity War, however, for the first time in the MCU’s history, there’s a real sense of danger, and a genuine fear that at any moment one of the heroes could die, or at least sustain a serious injury.
Wrong: Thor’s Second-Act Arc
While the second act of Avengers: Infinity War has fascinating arcs for Iron Man (the fight against Thanos on Titan) and Captain America (the Avengers’ struggle to ward off the Black Order in Wakanda), it falls short in Thor’s arc.
Whenever the movie cuts to the God of Thunder, it slows down significantly. Amidst two wide-scale battles, Thor forges a new weapon, and nothing ever seems at stake because the characters involved are too powerful to die.
Right: Downer Ending
In the grand tradition of The Empire Strikes Back, Avengers: Infinity War has a downer ending. It’s often called a cliffhanger, but it is a definitive ending — it’s just one where the villain’s plan succeeds and the heroes are left devastated by their first crushing defeat.
Thanos’ plan to snap his fingers and wipe out half of all life was insane and narrow-minded. Fans who hadn’t read the comics blindly assumed he’d be thwarted by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes by the film's climax. But he managed to pull it off, and then just vanished to a distant planet to watch a sunrise as the audience was left hanging.
Wrong: Killing Off Characters After Announcing Sequels To Their Movies
As effective as the ending of Infinity War was, it would’ve been a lot stronger if Marvel hadn’t announced that all the characters who bit the dust had their own sequels hitting theaters in the coming years.
It was hard to take the Guardians of the Galaxy’s deaths seriously when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was in the pipeline. The same goes for Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and especially Spider-Man, whose next movie was already being marketed by Sony.