There is so much going on in the latest Avengers movie. There’s hardly a character that doesn’t show up to stake his claim of importance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU for those who are busy). Unlike the first Avengers film, these heroes are no longer playing nice with one another. Bonds were tested after Age of Ultron and then completely severed after Captain America: Civil War. The Avengers of this latest movie, Infinity War, have to overcome egos, heartbreak, and general strife to band together again. It’s not quite as easy as just meeting in a cornfield. This is presumably the beginning of a Final Chapter, where all of these characters come together in a room to take on the biggest baddie of them all. That baddie is named Thanos, and he’s played by Josh Brolin with a grumbling voice and a fierce ruthlessness in the face of human (and, frankly, non-human) life. Thanos is an astonishingly powerful figure with a diabolical preoccupation with population control and a skin tone the shade of a pale Barney, a radical diplomat who sees genocide as a form of mercy.
All those infinity stones that we’ve been trained to believe are so important throughout various Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy movies are finally brought to the forefront here, as Thanos seeks to find all six, adding them to a supposedly all-powerful gauntlet on his left hand. If he collects all the stones he won’t need force to kill half the universe, he’ll only have to snap his fingers. So, first in line is Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his duplicitous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who possess the Space Stone aboard a ship holding the entire population of Asgard after the events of Ragnarok. Next, is Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbath) who posseses the Time Stone in New York City. He is warned by a returning, un-Hulked Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) that Thanos is on his way. With Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Strange hopes to keep the stone from Thanos’ bloodthirsty minions.
In Scotland, Vision (Paul Bettany) possesses the Mind Stone in the center of his forehead. With Wanda Maximoff (Elisabeth Olsen), they live in seeming tranquility, until the stone in his mind sends him signals of impending doom. This brings the return of Captain America (Chris Evans), who brings with him Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to protect Vision from more of Thanos’ thieves. There is also the Guardians, who respond to a distress signal just in time to learn of Thanos’ actions. Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Thanos’ estranged daughter, is the one most familiar with his ferocity, and the one most afraid of what he is capable of. Despite this, her and the Guardians also decide to join the party against this ever-harrowing villain. When times become desperate, they eventually need the services of Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and the Black Panther himself, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). So yeah, it gets a little crowded.
Thanos proves not only strong but intelligent and one has to only watch Infinity War‘s FIRST TRAILER to know he collects all six stones. Which means these heroes must all fight together if they hope to win. Thanos has mastered the art of emotional manipulation and no less than six times in this movie various Avengers are forced to choose between weakening Thanos and saving one of their own, and he plays upon the weakness of their humanity that way. How can you combat his complete lack of moralism? This film is directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, who directed the last two Captain America movies, and seem to have an interest in the moral relativism within these superhero stories. There are philosophical questions about the nature of their actions and behavior, but like Civil War, Infinity War never really takes the deep dive needed to answer them. The Russos are seemingly just putting them there to tell us ‘Hey don’t worry, we’ve thought about that, too’.
The script (by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) is also penned by those behind Captain America, but thankfully it is littered with the levity of Joss Whedon’s Avengers movies and Taiki Waititi’s take on Thor: Ragnarok. Infinity War wants to hit you with the dark profundity of The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s still not afraid to let you have fun. Downey Jr. and Hemsworth are still as humorous as they ever were, and the Guardians are still able to become distracted by their infantile squabbles, which makes their rapport exciting and unique. Like all Marvel movies, Infinity War is at its most predictable when it leans into its seriousness – most of these characters are too thin to achieve real pathos – but thankfully it doesn’t sulk for too long. It understands its true ability to dazzle comes from its effects, its fight choreography, and its peppery sarcasm. There’s no one of Age of Ultron or Civil War‘s self-righteousness.
It also has a villain that can truly intimidate. Thanos is the most threatening thing that MCU has ever created. His brutality is motivated by an unbreakable belief in his own deformed moral compass. The best thing Infinity War‘s script does is contextualize Thanos’ mission, no matter how absent it may be of simple compassion. Thanos’ belief in his actions is guided by a spiritual force within him. Whether that spirituality will manifest itself in future Avengers films is yet to be seen. **SPOILER ALERT** Thanos ends Infinity War a big winner, and the movie dares to give audiences a view of hopelessness, to watch a staggering body count pile up before our eyes. It makes us think the unthinkable: mainly, that a lot of these beloved characters have reached their end. Of course, a lot of that won’t actually happen. At least not in the way Infinity War presents it. So the stakes are still pretty low. But that Infinity War even goes to those lengths to scare us displays a darkness that the studio hadn’t prepared us for.
Infinity War is a good movie for what it wants to be. It sets itself up as a consummate experience, the ultimate payoff of over a decade of films from the ever-monolithic Marvel Studios. So why does it leave you wanting more? The ultimate trick of this latest iteration of conglomerate superheroes is that you will never be totally satisfied, you’re always asked to stick around for more, that there is always another story to tell. Infinity War is a nifty, prescient title considering that ‘infinity’ is how long Marvel (and ultimately its parent company, Disney) expects us to be interested in all this. My interest wanes from time to time, but to give Disney credit, they established these Avengers with a solid screenwriting base which makes it hard for even its biggest critics to truly argue that these movies are bad. But what about if they’re bad for movies? It sounds cynical and traditionalist, but Disney’s structure is Too Big To Fail for the multiplex, willfully ignorant of its own mortality and incredibly nonchalant about the existence of anything else.
Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo