Finally saw Infinity War. I guess I owe a review.

Shortest version: Liked it but didn't love it. Easily a solid 7/10. Spoilers are obviously gonna be below but figure I'd warn whoever hadn't seen it by some weird chance.

PROS:

1) The biggest hurdle it had to jump was making Thanos and the Black Order a credible threat and I have to say, Brolin as Thanos was excellent. Some of the best scenes in the movie involve him just talking to the other characters. The one scene with Gamora in the second act moved me more than the actual ending. In many ways, a more interesting character than some returning protagonists. I'll get to that in a minute. I liked the powers and design of the Black Order even if Carrie Coon didn't get as much dialogue as Proxima Midnight as I hoped. Ebony Maw was probably my favorite thanks to that creepy voice and the cgi on him being very good.

2) When the plot started rolling and the characters became scattered, I enjoyed most of the switch-ups between the heroes. Thor, Groot, and Rocket were my favorite group with Iron Man; Doctor Strange; and Spider-Man coming second. Thor taking the center stage was a stroke of genius since he literally lost everything. I'd expect Vision and Scarlet Witch suddenly paired up being jarring but it made sense for the plot (compared with something else). Out the cast, performance-wise, Gamora was the best. Figures what happens next.

3) Tone-wise, I thought the movie was more consistent than it had reason being. For all my upcoming complaints, I think the Russos have a better grasp on dark material than Joss Whedon might have done. It's fairly grim from the get-go and I appreciated it better than say how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 did it out of fucking nowhere.

CONS:

1) Star-Lord is a fucking idiot. Just the whole movie and I'm perfectly aware he leans between goofball and doofus a lot, here he's a goddamn imbecile. The one time his character made any sense was the scene where Gamora first told him what to do when facing Thanos and he subsequently fails because he loves her. That made sense. The second time he meets Thanos a

2) The ending was not as emotionally effective as I expected. It's still sad seeing everyone die but I know they're returning in some fashion by Part 4 next year. If the Russos wanted me to feel something akin to The Empire Strikes Back or The Dark Knight, it didn't happen. Sorry .

3) While I thought the tone was maintained consistently, the humor was jarring at times. Like that Starbucks plugin and Drax doing dumb stuff.

4) This is a minor complaint but it is something I've always bitched about and the running time didn't really seem warranted. Like the battle scenes could have been trimmed down and some wacky bits that were out of place.

CONCLUSION:

The Russos did a good job adapting Infinity War but it makes me wonder a two part film was actually necessary. There was one scene that would have been a kickass deathscene and an earlier action scene that was a clever villain beatdown.