Everything You Love Is At Stake in Avengers: Infinity War, a Movie You Need to See Now

One does not consider fun while balancing the universe, but this does put a smile on my face. The ominous and sinister words spoken by Thanos in the trailer also bend towards the direction of Anthony and Joseph Russo. The writers and directors of some of the best Marvel films thus far, have taken on the responsibility of fulfilling the promise that the previous dozen and a half Marvel films pledged ten years ago. While many directors have turned in outstanding takes on the Marvel heroes in separate films, it’s hard to imagine another team more poised for this ambitious of a film. And even harder to imagine them getting it wrong. My one spoiler is that they don’t. Infinity War is strange (Doctor or otherwise), sprawling, hilarious, awe-inducing and of course, really damn good. Even after seeing Infinity War, I can’t imagine it being the consensus best Marvel film for most folks. (While not undeserving, there’s just something for everyone in the MCU.) But it never needed to be. It needed to be the culmination of all the stories that came before it and the movie doesn’t waste any time showing that. Almost no previous movie is without a character, callback or significant plot point brought forward in the big payoff film, making it more than lip service that this was a film 18 movies in the making.

What should be obvious, but is still disheartening, is there is all the screen time and yet not enough of it. No long monologues from new fan favorites like M’Baku or Mantis. There sim…