MICHAEL LOMAX: Fanfare surrounding ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ justified

After almost a decade of deliberate planning and anticipation, “Avengers: Infinity War” is finally here.

With over a billion dollars in box office receipts in just two weekends, the film is already one of the highest grossing ever and will likely set a few more records by the time its theatrical run is over. And the fanfare is totally justified.

It’s not clear whether, in 2008, Marvel Studios knew where they were going with the franchise. The first “Iron Man” had just been released to critical acclaim, but there were only whispers of more to come. Nothing was set in stone. Three years later, however, it was obvious we were building to something special.

Several more years down the line, and directing brothers Anthony and Joe Russo have given us exactly that — a visual, cinematic feast with performance, heart and ambition that rival many of the best superhero films ever made. Without a shadow of a doubt, “Infinity War” is that darned good.

You just better know what you’re getting yourself into.

“Infinity War” assumes a lot of things. It assumes you know what the infinity stones are. It assumes you know who the main villain Thanos (played expertly by Josh Brolin) is. It assumes that you understand why everyone else has a really hard time talking to one another. In other words, the film assumes that you’ve seen all the ones that came before it — or else you’re going to be really lost.

That being said, “Infinity War” is a simple enough story for all its moving pieces, and it’s very easy to find yourself invested. Again, you probably should know who all the characters are beforehand, but given that, there’s so much story to like here, and in all honesty, I doubt it could’ve been paced any better.

Ambition is not wasted on the Russo brothers. Theirs is not so much a story about good superheroes fighting bad supervillains. It’s more about all characters doing what they think is right and suffering the consequences for it. And that’s something anyone can get behind — regardless if you even like superhero movies.

So if you’ve kept up to date on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Infinity War” is not a film you can afford to miss. The stakes are simply too high. And as we’re but halfway done with the story, those stakes are only gonna get higher.

Michael Lomax is a writer-filmmaker currently at work on a film script to be set and shot in Albany.

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