AGE OF THANOS
Movie Review – Avengers: Infinity War
Review by Paul Preston
Avengers: Infinity War is a sprawling, muscular superhero epic of the highest order. It’s only right that writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and directors Joe & Anthony Russo, the creative team behind the Captain America movies (arguably the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) head up this biggest-yet coming together of Earth’s mightiest superheroes.
Markus, McFeely and The Russos have already shown remarkable skill in combining a giant cast of characters in Captain America: Civil War. Here, they one-up themselves, blending together ten years and eighteen movies-worth of story. Every subplot has resonance and every character has worth, tied together with Marvel’s most menacing villain yet, Thanos.
Thanos was first glimpsed in the end credits of 2012’s The Avengers and more was learned about him in the Guardians of the Galaxy films as Gamora’s stepfather. Infinity War continues Thanos’ quest to own all the Infinity Stones where he can master time, mind, soul, reality, power and space. So, that…would make him pretty damn powerful. It is Thanos’ delusion that using these powers to decrease the universe’s population would be cleansing. What follows is a universe-spanning adventure featuring gods, kings, aliens, humans and superhumans.
There may be more hero moments in Infinity War than in the entirety of superhero movies made up until now. The Russos know how to frame a character entrance or a moment of unshakable bravery in the most cinematic and iconic of ways. These heroes run towards danger, always and without question. Once again, this franchise juggles the concepts of what it means to be a hero more than any other. It’s funny to see, after the lengthy moral debates of Civil War, how quickly Rhodey and Steve Rogers dismiss the good intentions of the governments of the world when the threat is beyond human understanding. It’s actually a good laugh and a nod to the fact that Cap was probably right all along.
This entry of The Marvel Cinematic Universe makes good on its on-going mission to deliver action sequences we haven’t seen yet. Ten years in, and this franchise continues to provide new eye candy for moviegoers. The trailer features a moment when Peter Parker’s Spidey senses tingle, and the hairs on his forearm shoot straight upright. How have we not seen that, after seven previous Spider-Man appearances in the movies? It’s this push toward new and creative moments, fight choreography and gadgets that keeps every new movie fresh, even though we’ve been ‘round with these characters a number of times before. Tony Stark has new armor, Spider-Man gets a new, more elaborate suit, Dr. Strange pulls out more mind-bending methods to battle Thanos and his henchmen and the reveal of these moments got gasps and applause from the sold out Regal “Fan Event” crowd that surrounded me.
Infinity War also ratchets up the emotion on all fronts. The humor is turned up to eleven (just imagine what goes down when a post-Ragnarock Thor meets up with The Guardians of the Galaxy). Stone-faced Dr. Strange and Stark share some fun dialogue and the earnestness Tom Holland showed in his previous two outings as Spider-Man is on full display. He has a keen ability to invoke a teenager’s desire to impress. Meeting the laughs in terms of emotional intensity is a heaviness – loss, sacrifice, darkness – like never-before-seen in a Marvel film. One criticism of the Marvel films has been the lack of hero deaths (as if they’re necessary to warrant a quality superhero film). If my math is right, only Yondu and Quicksilver have cashed it in up to now. I won’t say if anyone bites the dust here, but the spectre of death looms higher than ever before as Thanos raises the stakes to previously unexplored heights.
The other MCU problem, if you listen to its critics, is the lack of a substantial villain (although Erik Killmonger was pretty popular). That “problem” is solved in Thanos. He has a fairly singular plan, but there are complicated emotions at stake and he is an overpowering presence. He’s always loomed in the shadows as Ronan the Accuser and Loki have set out to do his bidding, but he takes center stage here, collecting the stones himself (as he declared in the post-credit sequence of Age of Ultron) and essentially making Infinity War his movie. As voiced and mo-capped by Josh Brolin, this is a complex and strong performance and character worthy of taking two movies to battle.
Elsewhere in the cast, everyone has great moments, but with their familial closeness to Thanos, The Guardians seem to have the most electric screen time. Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch has the most emotional time of it. From her brother’s death in Age of Ultron to her civilian casualties guilt in Civil War and now her growing troubled relationship with Vision, she saddles much of the film’s heaviness. Actors like Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Hemsworth by now so own their characters, they’re just a treat to watch, and pairing Thor up with Rocket for much of the movie reaps comic rewards.
Covering an unprecedented amount of ground and weighing in at two and a half hours (that fly by), I loved all five movies that Avengers: Infinity War was. It’s a workout and takes a toll on you, emotionally. I honestly didn’t sleep well after I saw it. It really is a glorious, exciting, unparalleled, intricate, thrilling LOT.
If you don’t like the genre, that’s on you, but the MCU is delivering a monumental dose of entertainment history. Infinity War looks like it caps one of the single most impressive feats ever achieved in the movies, but you shouldn’t be surprised that it feels like it’s only capping the start of the ever-growing single most impressive feat ever achieved in the movies.
Directed by: Joe & Anthony Russo
Release Date: April 27, 2018
Run Time: 149 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Distributor: Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Pictures
