Ten years.
Nineteen films.
Myriad characters whose adventures we've followed and whose personalities we've come to know as well as ourselves. Flawed individuals who've come together even as they've bickered among themselves, walking separately and together on the long and winding road that marked them as earning the mantle of "hero".
A road that has led to Avengers: Infinity War.
Infinity War is
the first half of a culmination of a decade’s worth of cinematic world
building. As such, the pressure was on not just Anthony and Joe Russo (and at least 14 credited screenwriters) to deliver, but for all the actors as well. Infinity War is both the end of a
beginning and the beginning of an end. If that sounds operatic, then its a designation that befits the film.
After years of subplots and teases, the mad Titan Thanos
(Josh Brolin) finally makes his bid to collect the Infinity Stones, gems of
power which have been peppered throughout the Marvel film narrative. Once
collected, Thanos will use the stones to impose galactic cleansing on a universal scale, wiping out life everywhere. It will take the combined
might of practically all the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to attempt
to stop him…though not without bitter sacrifice and loss.
The Russo Brothers have clearly
learned from their missteps in Captain
America: Civil War (2016). There are no shoehorned narrative hiccups here.
The story kicks off immediately after the events of the tonally-different Thor: Ragnarok (2017) with the speed and
power of a rocket launch and, despite moments of quiescence here and there,
does not let up. The action and story are so compelling one is barely aware of the
two and a half hour run time. It’s visually stunning, narratively arresting, and
cannily polished; perhaps too polished for the Marvel Studios
naysayers who decry the studio’s “play-by-the-numbers” policy. But the films' flaws are
conversely its’ strengths: it’s operatically epic, filled with the bombast and sturm und drang that one expects of an “end
of the world” fable. Whether it’s one’s cup of tea or not is based solely upon
the viewer’s taste and perspective.
Polished it may be, but "safe" it isn't. From the first few minutes of the film, the directors
establish that there are no sacred cows and that the phrase of the day is “anything
goes”. As befitting the culmination of years-long universe construction, the stakes
are as high as they’ve ever been and the fallout is sure to drop. As Steve
Rogers’ (a bearded and resolute Chris Evans) disgraced uniform signifies, the
film portents dark times. Yet his bearing and carriage also signify the hope
and resoluteness that viewers have come to expect, not just from him, but of
all the Marvel heroes in varying degrees. Alan Silvestri’s score enhances the
contrast between the light and the dark, at turns portentous and uplifting. In
truth, there is no “by the numbers” in this one…to a degree (to say more would
be to spoil more).
An ambitious ensemble piece like
this had more likelihood to crumble and fall under the weight of its sheer star
power alone. Instead, the actors’ commitment to the film and the Russos’
direction show that, unlike another ensemble wannabe epic illustrated, it’s not
the numbers of the players, but the construction of the playbook. And epic, it
is. The story moves across a myriad worlds and landscapes, each sub-story
working in service of the main one with hardly a one feeling ancillary. The
weight of the stakes, and their costs, feel real in this film than they haven’t
in a previous Marvel film. It is as emotionally charged as it is visually hypnotic. The visuals are so spot on they deserve the IMAX and
3-D treatment. So much goes on that it teeters on Avengers fatigue (and not of the sort implied by a noted director). It’s
may look exhausting, but the film is as exhilarating as any super hero film has
any right to be.
Further, Infinity War bears repeat
viewing. There’s so much spectacle on the screen that moments of subtle import
are lost in the shuffle. Character lines foreshadow character moments in a way
that hit subconsciously in an effective manner (one moment in particular in the
film’s climax comes to this critic’s mind. It won’t be spoiled here. Suffice it
to say, it was an unspoken rebuttal to a previous statement that gave the film
more power and import than it would have had alone. It was an unexpected
example of brilliant storytelling). For all its character numbers and ratcheted action,
character development is not sacrificed. Previous subplots from the preceding
films are touched upon; some satisfactorily, some less so (but could be
forgiven if addressed in next year’s as yet untitled Avengers film), but all respectfully and completely in character. It
would be unfair to single out any of the approximately 64(!) main characters of this film here as they all bring their
>ahem< “A” game. Yet the revelatory performance here is Brolin’s. It’s
not incorrect to say that in all of Thanos’ previous appearances (save for the
end tag of the first Avengers, who
was played in profile by actor Damion Poitier), implied a standard,
two-dimensional megalomaniac waiting behind the scenes. Now front and center,
he is surprisingly three dimensional (realistic CGI notwithstanding). He’s a
resolute man of singular purpose with, as with all Marvel films in the back
half of their run, a totally topical and identifiable reason for his actions
even if his methods of addressing same is anathema to anyone with a whit of
sanity. Years ago, there was a news story detailing a real life genocidal
dictator who showed love and affection for his dog; a marked and incongruous contrast between human being and mass slaughterer. In this fictional universe,
Brolin manages to evince the same effect, making his moments of merciless
brutality seem even the more terrifying as a result. On top of that, it’s this
level of villainy that raises the stakes and, in contrasts, bolsters the actors’
performances as the heroes even further. If there were an MVP award for films,
Brolin easily takes it here (while Peter Dinklage would win for “most ironic,
tongue-in-cheek casting”).
As aforesaid, to say more would
spoil more. In this day and age of the almighty entity known as “The Hype”, it
is more the case than not to say that very rarely do event films live up to the
hype leading up to it. Avengers: Infinity
War is a successful exception to that expectation. As aforesaid, it’s no secret that
there is one more Avengers film
slated with this cast which tells the rest of the story. Yet for
all that knowledge, this film is completely satisfying and successful on its
own merits. For all its “darkest before the dawn” aesthetic, it is the first of
a celebration of an experiment that began with a previously-disgraced actor in
an iron suit. The pay-off is there successfully on the screen. Don’t war with
yourself. Avengers: Infinity War is a
must see.
