Infinity War: could this film
have had a more appropriate title? Infinite lead-up movies, infinite
characters, infinite dollars. As with the first two Avengers movies,
Infinity War ups the ante in terms of cast, action, and scope
(though when you think about it Age of Ultron's stakes weren't
that much higher than Avengers'). It truly is the most epic
crossover since that time the King of the Hill characters cameoed in
that episode of The Simpsons. But does it settle for sticking to that
Marvel-money-machine formula that we've grown used to? Is it just
another Marvel movie? Let's find out.
Infinity War tells the story of
Thanos's quest to attain all six of the infinity stones so that he
can have unlimited power to re-balance the universe. In the process
he takes on Earth's mightiest heroes, including the Guardians of the
Galaxy, the Avengers, and various supporting heroes. To be honest,
the first half of this 2.5 hour film does drag slowly as the
disparate groups of characters each go on what's basically long road
trips punctuated by chores. The phrase “how long is this going to
take?” is spoken by various characters probably five or six times
(not a good thing for an action movie). But once the plot threads
start coming together, at around the half-way mark, Infinity War
becomes an engrossing spectacle to behold.
The tone of this film is also
noticeably different than many recent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)
films. While it can still be jokey at times, Infinity War
becomes more and more serious and bleak as it goes on. One could say
that it borrows a page from The Empire Strikes Back
playbook. (Speaking of Star Wars, there's a big battle scene
in Wakanda that closely resembles the Gungan battle scene in The
Phantom Menace. Did anyone else notice that?) This more ominous
tone is reflected in the musical score, this time more dramatic and
sometimes even quieter than previous MCU soundtracks.
And it's all capped off by the most
awesome ending to any MCU movie yet. As Batman might say, it wasn't
the ending we deserved, but the ending we needed.
As mentioned earlier, the cast of
Infinity War is huge... sometimes a little too huge. It's not
as bad as X-Men: Apocalypse in this regard, but you can tell
the writers were struggling to come up with stuff for everybody to
do. It takes a while to get all the heroes' introductions out of the
way, and like I said most of the heroes spend a decent amount of time
simply travelling to far away locations. Moreover there are a
particular handful of characters who pretty much do nothing in the
movie (aside from getting some punches in during the battle scene).
Having said all that, there are a couple brief surprise appearances
from characters we haven't seen in years (which I won't spoil here).
But the film's biggest success in the
character department is in its villain, Thanos. MCU films have been
hit-or-miss when it comes to badguys, but Thanos is a fascinating
person to watch. He's not just evil for the sake of being evil; he
believes that he's carrying out the lesser of two evils.
He takes no joy in what he's doing and even has to go through some
personal sacrifices to achieve his goals. Thanos is a well-rounded,
complex character here, arguably the film's main character,
and Josh Brolin – with some help from some spot-on special effects
– does an excellent job of bringing him to life.
So to answer my question from earlier,
I'd say that Infinity War is somewhat more than one would
expect from any old Marvel movie. While it does have the same level
of action (which is brilliant, by the way) and somewhat basic plot,
it can boast an impressive cast and an exceptionally interesting
villain. Needless to say, a film like this wouldn't work on its own
at all. If you haven't seen at least half of all MCU films then
you're going to be utterly lost. But for everyone else, Avengers:
Infinity War is essential viewing.
Grade:
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