Or: How Thanos Learned to Stop Worrying and Get the Stones
10 years, 19 movies, and one massive ensemble of actors, writers, directors and other filmmaking craftsmen have led to this: the grand finale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. Avengers: Infinity War is the film where Thanos (Josh Brolin), the big bad of the MCU, finally puts his plan of wiping out half of the universe into action. To do so, he needs all six of the infinity stones (cosmically super-powered gems featured in various MCU films from 2011 onward), placed in a special gauntlet that will give him complete control over everything. Space, time, you name it. Attempting to stand in his way are the Avengers and their MCU do-gooder peers (deep breath): Iron Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Vision, War Machine, Falcon, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
If none or few of those names mean anything to you, then this is not the Marvel Studios film for you (or you've got a boatload of movies to catch up on*). If you've even moderately invested in these characters, then there's good news and bad news. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have delivered a fairly well-paced, balancing act of a movie that mixes and matches these various personae in fun ways, and Thanos is a magnetic villain, more than earning his stature in the MCU. The downside of so many people being put in one two-and-a-half hour film stuffed with so many subplots is that the characters with the dramatic arcs are carefully chosen among a swath of characters we're used to seeing in larger roles in their own movies. Minor spoiler: Avengers: Infinity War ends on a cliffhanger, one that may be as surprising to audiences as "No, I am your father," was to Luke Skywalker and his fans back in 1980. The good news/bad news element of this is that Infinity War is really just part one of a two part story, and it appears that the attention I was expecting to be paid to the original Avengers (Iron Man, Cap, and Black Widow, to name a few) will be given in the yet to be titled Avengers 4, which is due out in May 2019 (and was once upon a time officially titled Infinity War Part II).
Taking the film on its own merits, and not on expectations, and I think what the Russos and Marvel screenwriting stalwarts Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have achieved is a carefully constructed puzzle of overlapping subplots that will likely reveal more nuance on repeat viewings. The filmmakers have said they consider Thanos to be the film's protagonist, and this is pretty clear as he is the character with the clearest arc and want/need. One of the film's strengths is the humanization of a guy who believes in mass genocide to bring balance to the universe. Though he is literally a towering comic book villain, attention is paid to why he thinks and acts as ruthlessly as he does. Particularly well-developed is the relationship between Thanos and Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a Guardian of the Galaxy and an adopted daughter of Thanos. Markus and McFeely take what could have been a simple grudge on Gamora's part and find real complexity and pathos in her relationship with the man who took her from her real family, yet claims to have saved her.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) have a nice arc together in the film too, but most of our heroes are relegated to well-played dramatic reactions. Chris Evans' Captain America, a.k.a. Steve Rogers, is probably my favorite Avenger, as he's the heart and soul of the group, and he's given very little to do here, as is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. Johansson had been given more and more to do after her initial appearance in Iron Man 2 felt wanting, so Infinity War feels like a step back for her, but there is a light at the end of this tunnel. The ending of this film seems to point toward a more prominent role for the original Avengers lineup in the fourth film, and if that's the case then I think it will feel earned.
I'm not a comics reader, or even a Marvel die hard, but I've grown with this franchise, and it is undeniably the cinematic story of my lifetime. Just as Star Wars and George Lucas changed the film industry forever in 1977, Kevin Feige and his Marvel Studios have totally reshaped the way the film industry approaches tent-pole films. Cinematic universes are all the rage now, but no one has done it quite as well or as consistently as Feige and Marvel. Case in point: if I'm not mistaken, you can count on one hand the number of notable actors who've been replaced in this series of films, and only one of them is an "A-list" character. If that's not quality control, I don't know what is. As a fan of these films from the beginning, it's remarkable to arrive at what is purportedly the end of the line for some of these original characters (no spoilers**, but contracts do end), and all I really want is for my heroes, the ones that started this whole thing, to get the send-off they deserve.
To say that Infinity War doesn't quite deliver on this sense of a 10 year-old legacy is really more about my expectations than anything else, and, frankly, I think I'd have been very frustrated with this film if I didn't know another one was in the pipeline for next year. That's not the film's fault by any stretch, and I think it's a movie that will both reward repeat viewings and will likely feel like a crucial part of a whole when paired with its sequel (as is the case with the Deathly Hallows films in the Harry Potter series). If Avengers 4 really sticks the landing, then all involved will have made a pretty terrific five to six hour epic that would surpass even the wildest dreams of someone like myself, who just thought Iron Man was a cool way to kick off the summer movie season at the end of his first year of high school in 2008.
Sure, as with previous Marvel joints, the cinematography is at times unremarkable, and the action and effects range from passable to great. As with Captain America: Civil War, the Russos shoot action in a way that is fine but could be clearer. Alan Silvestri, who scored the first Captain America film and the first Avengers, returns to the MCU and brings with him his excellent Avengers theme (I didn't catch any of his wonderful Cap theme this time). One of my biggest gripes with the Marvel films is that they have very little musical consistency in their scores despite a slew of talented composers who have worked on their films (I'm a sucker for leitmotifs, and few carry from one Marvel film to the next). Silvestri delivers a fine score here, and I hope he too will get to go all out in Avengers 4 with themes he had previously employed in the MCU.
Avengers: Infinity War can't be fully judged until next year's film comes out, so I'll leave you with this: see it, and do so with an excited audience. It's the epic, cinematic turning point of a franchise that has changed the landscape of movies. The film feels a little over-stuffed, like how some of the subplots disappear for a bit too long in the second act, but even those criticisms I have of the film have started to diminish the more I think about them. If anything is clear, it's that Kevin Feige and the Marvel team know what they're doing, and even with this massive undertaking, it's all still under control.
*If anyone is interested in an abbreviated Marvel Cinematic Universe to prepare you for certain plot and character elements that are relevant in Infinity War, here are some of the films worth seeing, in order:
- Iron Man (mainly because it was first)
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Captain America: Civil War
- Doctor Strange
- Thor: Ragnarok
- Black Panther
These are mostly the best MCU films, though I would also recommend Iron Man 3, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Spider-Man: Homecoming for fun.
**I’ll dive into spoilers a bit below to discuss how this film may set up Avengers 4 to deliver exactly the kind of character work I found lacking here. DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM. I will literally mention all of the movie’s biggest, most spoiler-y moments.
Ready for the spoilers? Thanos succeeded in wiping out half of the universe, which means half of the good guys turned to ash! Though most, if not all, of these character deaths will be undone in the next film (Spidey's already got a sequel on the calendar for next year), the shock and gravity of many powerful characters simply disintegrating before our eyes is still quite riveting. Tom Holland gives his best performance yet as Peter Parker when he begins to fade away, grabbing Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and saying, terrified, "I don't want to go."
The characters who were erased from reality were largely the group of characters seen as the new guard in the MCU: Spider-Man, Black Panther, Falcon, Winter Soldier, and the Guardians of the Galaxy (minus Rocket and Gamora). Without these folks, the main heroes left are the original Avengers (Cap, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Thor, and an unseen Hawkeye), plus certain supporting heroes like Rocket, War Machine and Ant-Man (also unseen in Infinity War). The filmmakers have essentially given themselves a clean slate with the old crew. As long as the "classic Avengers" are working to undo Thanos' handiwork, Avengers 4 won't have to bend over backwards to explain why all of the super friends aren't along for the ride. Instead, we'll get these characters, whose presence was lacking, back in the forefront of the story.
Many, myself included, thought that Captain America or Iron Man might have been doomed in Infinity War, given the longevity of their time in the MCU (and that Downey and Chris Evans are either ready to leave or too expensive to keep much longer). This assumption was wrong, and I'm glad that neither met their end in a film that didn't really give them full arcs, though Tony isn't wasted with what he is given. Whether they walk off into the sunset or die a heroic death, I think at least a couple of the classic Marvel heroes will join Loki on the "dead and staying that way" list in the next film, and I think the filmmakers have given themselves an opportunity to truly give the characters an ending befitting their legacies.