Movie Review: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’
Quick disclaimer: There are some spoilers in this review, if I’ve actually remembered the movie correctly.
Ten years in the making, “Avengers: Infinity War” is the culmination of all of Marvel Studios carefully laid plans across all its eighteen feature releases. If nothing else, Marvel should be lauded for its “stick-to-itiveness” in seeing its connected superhero film universe through while others, such as longtime rival DC, have tried and mostly failed to emulate Marvel’s successes.
From its humble beginning with 2008’s efforts, “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” (the Edward Norton one), Marvel post-Disney acquisition has now become the 800-pound, 8-foot tall, bedazzled-gauntlet-wearing-purple man with the funny looking chin in the room. From niche entertainment to now a household name, their characters are now ubiquitous within the culture and its brand synonymous with tightly-orchestrated blockbuster movies. They are both popular and important enough to be equally lauded for their quality and, at the same time, derided for their continued existence by critics.
“Avengers: Infinity War” is certainly thrilling, in doses, especially so if you’ve already invested the hours-and-hours getting to know these twenty-something or so characters. Otherwise, I’d imagine that aspects of this movie could be more than a little trying at times. Its 149-minute runtime would certainly only serve to exacerbate that fact.
The sibling co-directorial team of Joe and Anthony Russo (“Captain America: Civil War”) inherit the helm of the Avengers franchise from its previous “captain,” writer-director Joss Whedon. Neither the Russos nor Whedon are particularly noted visually stylists but they all share the ability to deftly juggle absurd amounts of characters, possibly due to their shared background in television. As well as, the ability to inject a little bit of levity even in the direst set of apocalyptic circumstances, typical for these types movies.
Since his first appearance in a post-credits scene in 2012’s “The Avengers,” we’ve been continually teased with the impending threat that is the intergalactic eco-terrorist and colorful gem-aficionado, Thanos (CGI-ed Josh Brolin). The mad Titan now has taken the responsibility upon himself to capture all those elusive Infinity Stones that we’ve heard so so much about over the past decade. Well, I guess, not entirely upon himself he has his own set of acolytes, the eminently disposable Black Order. Let’s see, there’s magician torturer hype-man, big dumb strong-guy, lady spear-warrior, and elfish-looking dude. Those aren’t their actual names but it’s all to put a finer point on the fact that they are unnecessary fodder.
During the run-up to the release of the movie, the filmmakers have stated that Thanos is the real protagonist of “Infinity War.” And that bears out to be true. He’s the movie’s catalyst, in actions and in Brolin’s CGI-based performance. He has the insane plan to re-balance the universe by wiping out half of it population with just the snap of his fingers, using the harnessed power of his newly custom-made, infinity gem-encrusted gauntlet.
Our collective heroes may just be in for a big ol’ world of hurt. Scattered throughout the cosmos as well as various Earth-based locales, some of our favs and not-so-favs unfortunately find out if you’re in any proximity to one of these rocks you just might be out of luck. I don’t think I’m spoiling much with that little tidbit; we’ve been tease with potential causality since the official announcement of the movie in 2014.
The performances for the most part are on par with their usual quality, which is typically good from each of these actors in their respective non-Avengers movies. The version of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) we get is the looney-yet-lost one we met in “Thor: Ragnarok.” The Guardians are as entertaining as ever. And Iron Man is, well, Iron Man, or just Robert Downey Jr. I’m not really sure where that line ends and begins at this point. Iron Man, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Spider-man (Tom Holland) are thrown together in their own side-adventure and the quality and comradery between the actors really shines through. The same can be said for the unique pairing of Thor, Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and the now teenage Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). All of the action and story surrounding our space-based crew works and contains some of the best parts of “Infinity War,” while our more traditional earthbound heroes seemingly get the short end of the interesting stick (besides a welcome but most likely ill-advised as it would turn out trip to Wakanda). Yes, all of your “Black Panther” favorites are in this movie but are underutilized. From the looks of it, Marvel’s real movie future lies in the stars and is not grounded in the minutiae of politics or constantly waring international clandestine factions.
Marvel movies are built more on relationships than coherent plots. In this movie in particular, some of those pivotal relationships are more fully realized that others. A good portion of the movie hinges of the relationship between the Thanos and his adopted daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana). With heartbreaking and monumental consequences involved with these in-between characters, the actors bring their best out of each other without stretching believability. The same can’t be said for another such vital relationship, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). The dynamics of their relationship feel totally unearned and the actors seem as disinterested as the rest of us in its final outcome.
These movies work best when there’s a level of “unexpectedness” to them. I don’t know many people that thought that “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Ant-Man” were exactly mainstream movie material, or for that matter, movies in the first place. If you weren’t familiar with the comics you’d really have no earthly idea what these movies were about or why you should care. You’d have zero expectations allowing for such a low barrier of entry to be totally surprised when you fell in love with a character that just happens to be a bazooka-wielding, genetically-enchanted raccoon. Its four years of hype and a decades’ worth of build-up that only works to undercut the ultimate sting and stakes of this movie.
“Avengers: Infinity War” is entertaining but not important. You won’t find a moment of bravura filmmaking or even dazzling technical achievements. If anything it’s a grand narrative and organizational feat. There’s nothing wrong or bad about that. It’s just a slightly hollower result than the promised cinematic epicness of this long foretold odyssey. Again, if you’ve grown to care about these characters you’ll most certainly be bought in. If not, you might as well be cheering for Thanos.
