{"id":1883,"date":"2018-04-25T00:43:49","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T04:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/?p=1883"},"modified":"2018-04-25T00:43:49","modified_gmt":"2018-04-25T04:43:49","slug":"review-avengers-infinity-war-is-an-inspiring-heroic-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2018\/04\/review-avengers-infinity-war-is-an-inspiring-heroic-epic.html","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#8216;Avengers: Infinity War&#8217; is an Inspiring Heroic Epic"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>If you\u2019re yearning to see super-powered beings demonstrating true heroism, <em>Avengers: Infinity War<\/em>, releasing Friday from Marvel Studios\/Walt Disney Pictures, is the blockbuster you\u2019ve been waiting for. It\u2019s a refreshing return to the classic, morally unambiguous ideals of the silver age.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1886\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1886\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1886\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/720\/2018\/04\/infinitywar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"404\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1886\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Avengers: Infinity War images courtesy of Marvel Studios\/Walt Disney Pictures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since the creators dreamed up superheroes, the common thread, woven into the fabric of their literary DNA, was the selfless act of defending the defenseless. Ole\u2019 Spidey even learned early on that, \u201cWith great power comes great responsibility.\u201d Your power is not yours alone. It belongs to those who need it.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere, however, that heroic purpose often gave way to clannish ego-centered supernatural battles, or attempts at rectifying messes their own clumsy abilities created. <em>Avengers:\u00a0Infinity War<\/em>, however, finds a war coming to earth, and the ones who can do something about it don\u2019t run; they rally and fight.<\/p>\n<p>Like the epic comic book crossover events it\u2019s lifted from, there are many moving parts and countless characters in play, so much so that writing a non-spoiler-filled review is a feat unto itself. Still, as anyone who has seen the previews can surmise, the action is literally non-stop and plays against dozens of settings. Somehow the dozens of fan-favorite characters manage to get enough of a spotlight to satisfy the viewers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1889\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1889\" style=\"width: 518px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1889\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/720\/2018\/04\/avengersposter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"518\" height=\"768\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1889\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Avengers: Infinity War poster courtesy of Marvel Studios\/Walt Disney Pictures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Heroes in this film do not wrestle with their destinies. They don\u2019t brood or debate or agonize over putting themselves in harm\u2019s way; they run into danger like stepping into their true calling. It is inspiring and beautiful. At one point, Tony Stark, feeling the weight of responsibility, chides Peter Parker for stepping into this fray, but Peter, though still a teenager in high school, is fully aware of the stakes. He\u2019s ready and willing to go down fighting, telling Stark to be a neighborhood Spider-Man he has to make sure the neighborhood is still standing.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony and Joe Russo, who delivered the smash <em>Captain America: Civil War<\/em>, have created a pitch-perfect, wildly-satisfying film. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely somehow managed to capture the voice and spirit of so many heroes, including well-placed comedic banter between newly-paired heroes such as Star Lord and Thor, and Dr. Strange and Iron Man. Even Thanos (Josh Brolin) is fleshed out more than one might expect.<\/p>\n<p>Through 18 films, every step forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building to this, since Iron Man first took flight in 2008, bringing along with it the hopes and dreams of millions of fans. <em>Avengers: Infinity War <\/em>delivers on the hype. It is everything superhero fans were hoping it would be, and more. You\u2019ll want to see it again.<\/p>\n<p><em>Infinity War\u00a0<\/em>is rated PG-13 and stars Robert Downey Jr., as Tony Stark\/Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner\/The Hulk, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers\/Captain America, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff\/Black Widow, Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes\/War Machine, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Tom Holland as Peter Parker\/Spider-Man, Chadwick Boseman as T\u2019Challa\/Black Panther, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Paul Bettany as Vision, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff\/Scarlet Witch, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson\/Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes\/Winter Soldier, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Benedict Wong as Wong, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, with Benicio Del Toro as The Collector, with Josh Brolin as Thanos, and Chris Pratt as Peter Quill\/Star-Lord.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QwievZ1Tx-8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The culmination of 18 previous Marvel Studios films lives up to and surpasses great expectations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2815,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[539,400,16,542,229,249,92],"class_list":["post-1883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","tag-avengers","tag-chris-hemsworth","tag-chris-pratt","tag-infinity-war","tag-marvel","tag-robert-downey","tag-walt-disney-studios"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Review: &#039;Avengers: Infinity War&#039; 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