Avengers: Infinity War (First Impressions - Spoiler Free!)

By: LowfatRogueSymbiote will be providing a full review, including spoilers, in the next day or so.How do you cram a finale of 10 years’ worth of movies into 2 ½ hours? If each of the 18 movies that preceded Infinity War was 2 hours long (granted many were longer), it would be the equivalent of cramming the entire third act of a 300-page novel into the final 20 pages (I did the rough math – just trust me). That leaves little breathing room. And wow, there is no breathing room in this movie. It will exhaust you, and leave you desperately trying to catch your breath as you scramble to piece together each of the many scenes into one cohesive narrative.Infinity War has been marketed as the culmination of 10 years of Marvel movies and, with it, 10 years of continuity. If you have seen every movie, you probably won’t be lost. Still, I would have hated to miss a scene. There was no fat. The entire movie played out like a fight scene with Jason Bourne: blink and you will miss things risk becoming disoriented.The heroes, like in most preceding Marvel movies, were spectacular. They were nuanced and complicated. And desperate. The villains of the movie were great, and they left me wanting to get to know them more. Ebony Maw’s scenes, in particular, stole the show. His scenes came as close as any superhero film has come to entering the horror genre. Thanos himself was a surprisingly three-dimensional character, which made it all the more enjoyable to hate him. Or at least his actions.Many of the characters experienced a gamut of emotion: amusement, triumph, loss, sorrow, and fear. Extra kudos to ILM and the special effects department for creating believable – even relatable – characters entirely out of CGI.The score was terrific, and it escalated – and was silent – exactly where it needed to be.I can’t wait to see this movie again, if only to catch what I missed. The worst part of the whole experience? Part 2 is a year away!