Your waiting and patience have paid off, everyone! Avengers: Infinity War is finally in our universe, ready to destroy our hearts and wallets with a fury never before seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! And, of course, with a vengeful being such as Thanos throwing planets and collecting Infinity Stones left and right, there's a potential for some massive 3D excitement. Which leads us to our favorite question to ask when a film this big pops up: to 3D, or not to 3D?
If you're wondering how Avengers: Infinity War stacks up as an actual film, you'll want to head on over to our official review. But if you want to know if your 3D tickets price is justified, or if you'd be better off saving those extra bucks towards the purchase of your own Infinity Gauntlet, then you're in the right place. Get ready to slip on your glasses, as we head into the third dimension and see if Avengers: Infinity War is worth the 3D hype.
3D Fit Score: 5/5
To think that Avengers: Infinity War isn't the sort of film that could benefit from the right 3D conversion is, quite frankly, tantamount to treason. Not only is it the culmination of Marvel Studio's efforts to build a cinematic universe, it's also another step on the road to their ever improving standing in the realm of 3D thrills. With Thanos wrecking things left and right, and a variety of Avengers whose powers are massively impressive in the third dimension, this is a perfect fit for conversion and distribution in 3D.
Planning & Effort Score: 3/5
In terms of the planning and effort that went into Avengers: Infinity War, there's a pretty good level of attention that was paid to this film's 3D presentation. And yet, there's pieces of this conversion that really stand out as sore spots, in particular the audience health and brightness factors. Despite those significant drawbacks, the film still has some fantastic visual flair, but it could have been so much better with a little more polish.
Before the Window Score: 4/5
There are moments of Avengers: Infinity War's 3D presentation that actually made me flinch. In particular, some of the creatures deployed during the gigantic Wakanda fight sequence really popped out of the screen. Those moments are occasional treats, with most visuals stopping short of exploding off the screen, though they honestly get pretty close in their efforts.
Beyond the Window Score: 5/5
The depth of picture in Avengers: Infinity War is most certainly nothing to mess around with. On the basic level of characters occupying reasonable fields of spatial reasoning, the film passes with flying colors. But when you add in atmospheric effects like rain, ash, and debris, as well as various powers and heads up displays that stand out from the rest of the picture, this film's conversion is all the more impressive.
Brightness Score: 3/5
When Avengers: Infinity War keeps its visuals in a colorful, brightly lit atmosphere, it's a pretty crisp picture with minor dimming issues behind the glasses. Unfortunately, there are wide swaths of this movie that venture into darker parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's in those moments that the third Avengers film manages to lose 3D points. This isn't totally on the conversion of the film, as theaters tend to forget to properly calibrate their projectors when switching from 2D to 3D. Even with that in mind, Avengers: Infinity War is dim enough to cause some eye strain over its roughly two and a half hour running time.
Glasses Off Score: 4/5
Whether or not you feel any strain on your eyes during a 3D movie, you're going to want to take your glasses off from time to time. Should you do so, you'll see that the picture is varying degrees of blurry. That's usually an indicator of how well the image for a film like Avengers: Infinity War has been manipulated to present a 3D image. There's some 2D effects that act as effective anchoring points to the film's depth and projection, which make up the majority of the film's blurriness factor. But a totally 2D post-credits sequence does kind of spoil the 3D aspect's overall hold.
Audience Health Score: 2/5
Much like The Avengers back in the early days of superhero 3D conversions, there are sequences in Avengers: Infinity War that mess with the audience's eyes. Be it the rapid paced action, or even the dimness of the film's picture, there are moments in the first two acts of the film that wonk out in the 3D realm. One of those two factors alone would have marked this film down slightly, but having both present takes a significant part of the score away.
Avengers: Infinity War is a decent 3D conversion, but it could have, and should have, been better. The brightness factor, as well as some sequences that didn't work so well, significantly bring down an overall good presentation. This could be different in the IMAX 3D format, as this showing was in standard 3D, but as it stands, Avengers: Infinity War is simultaneously a bit unsatisfactory, while not representing a totally horrific 3D experience. If you've got a theater you know and trust with 3D films, it's recommended you seek this out with the utmost care.
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