The players of the Marvel Cinematic Universe collide with spectacular results. *SPOILER FREE REVIEW*
Editor’s note: most of this review will contain only plot details available from the trailers. There is one paragraph that reveals very small action beats, and we will notate that with a bold and italicized warning beforehand.
Over the past 10 years, Marvel has brought to the screens an array of characters and stories lifted from the pages of their comic books. There have been missteps along the way, but formulas have been refined, film genres interwoven into the makeup of their storytelling to impressive effect, and genuinely well crafted characters and relationships brought to life thanks to some brilliant casting and outstanding performances. The Avengers films have always marked a uniting of the key players in this Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for 18 movies, lurking in the background, has been a foe orchestrating much of the mayhem these heroes have had to contend with — and now, Thanos is here.
The driving force behind the carnage he brings is a quest for the Infinity Stones: objects of great power that came into being when the universe was created. Five of these we have encountered previously, being smartly woven into the storytelling of past entries: the Power stone (Guardians of the Galaxy), the Reality Stone (Thor Dark World), the Space Stone (The Avengers, Thor Ragnarok), the Time stone (Doctor Strange), the Mind Stone (Avengers Age of Ultron), and the as yet undiscovered Soul Stone. Once the set is completed and mounted on his gauntlet, the power will allow Thanos to carry out his ultimate aim: bringing the Universe back into balance by removing half its population from existence.
Picking up immediately after the events of Thor Ragnarok, and two years after the Avengers parted ways in Civil War, Thanos finally makes his move. The opening minutes reveal that the Titan is well on his way to unite the stones, and ensuing carnage sparks our heroes into action. Thor partners with the Guardians of the Galaxy to try and stop Thanos from claiming the stone held by the collector and forge a weapon capable of leveling their foe. Earth, alerted to the impending arrival of Thanos by Bruce Banner, begins to rally their resources to fend him off. They must also foil his plan to unite two of the stones that are supposedly secure on Earth, guaranteeing Thanos’ eventual arrival and a conflict with our mightiest protectors.
You are plunged right into the fight, and within minutes the stakes are made apparent. There is no recap, and little in the way of exposition until later in the film. Infinity War is an utterly crammed endeavor: it hurtles plot points, locations, and characters at you at a break-neck pace. If you’ve been in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) for the long haul, it’s a gleefully rewarding experience; if not, then it could be hard to keep up. Civil War left things in a fragmented state, and when we pick up with the gang, these fissures have deepened, both emotionally and geographically. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, along with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, had the unenviable task of weaving together 76 characters spanning the MCU, and to their credit they realize their goal with aplomb. Despite its density there is a logic and a natural flow to the film. Parts are not forced into place, unions and reunions make sense. It’s sprawling but impressively focused and refined in terms it how it deals with arcs and characters. Experience with previous films puts you at ease with these characters now, and there’s something of a shorthand to how they’re written that allows everyone to get in a quip or action beat. You’re never lost or overwhelmed, but you know you’re in the midst of something epic.
The film moves between sequences of character exchanges and action set pieces, much like previous MCU entries, but in a far more dense manner. There is a briskness, a shorthand even to the narrative scenes, that are lean and drawing on characters’ best (and worst) characteristics to great effect, often delivering conflict and affection within the same sentence. For the ensemble, the film takes many of them back to their core, which reminds you how smartly structured both this film is and all the ones that came before, as the balancing act of interlocking and complementary pieces is executed. It’s a melting pot of the MCU, but one that avoids homogeneity.
Mild plot spoilers follow in the next paragraph.
The action is impressively rendered. It kicks off with a smackdown you might guess would come closer to the film’s end, then swiftly transitions to a smartly orchestrated duel on the streets of New York. A slugfst on Titan where a few of our heroes attempt to de-gauntlet Thanos is perhaps the best structured action piece, while a final battle on Wakanda surely feels like a realization of what George Lucas envisaged for the battle of Naboo. You really have to admire how they built to all of what would just years ago be considered outlandish: 10 years of work to prepare the public consciousness for something so “comic-booky”.
Character-wise, everyone has moments to shine. There are pairings you dreamed of and some surprising ones you never imagined. The film is a stream of delightful moments, quips, and alpha-males vying for space. Thor gets a healthy chunk of screen time, thankfully channeling his Ragnarok makeover vibes, as do the Guardians (and their brilliant interplay with Thor). Their cosmic origins and personal ties link them to Thanos strongly, most notably with Gamora (a wonderful Zoe Saldana), whose relationship with her adoptive father gives the film much of its emotional heft. Downey’s Stark gets plenty to chew on with his lingering PTSD from the Battle of New York getting woven into the arrival of the individual responsible for it. For all his flamboyance, his flaws have made him all the more human and he’s one of our most relatable figures in the midst of all the madness, and his protege Spider-Man (Tom Holland) remains an absolute delight. As the previously established defender of the Time Stone, you can guess that Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange has something of a pivotal role, and he certainly rises to the occasion. His character is a great demonstration of how the film respects individual character eccentricities and their franchises that have come before. While some may quibble their favorite doesn’t get the limelight, in a movie with this many characters it’s an achievement that everyone gets at least a moment. Still, Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) comes without significant depth, exacerbated by a lack of exploring her relationship with Banner throughout the MCU (she does however forge a nice bond with Okoye (Danai Gurira)). Banner is largely used as comedic relief, with mixed results. Fans clamoring for plenty of Wakanda may be disappointed by the Black Panther squad’s screen time. The Vision also gets short thrift considering his entwined role as another holder of a stone, largely limping through the film rather than anything truly involved.
It’s been generally held that (outside of Loki), Marvel had something of a villain problem. Recently they have certainly corrected that, with Ego, the Vulture, and Killmonger being fantastically realized foes, especially in regards to the protagonists they went up against. Now we get the daddy of them all in Thanos, a being fleetingly glimpsed in the past decade, whose malevolent tendencies perhaps crystallized best with Nebula’s speech about her upbringing at the hands of the mad Titan in Guardians Vol. 2. Brolin does sterling work, giving him layers and a nuance greater than you might expect. The CGI brilliantly captures his range, while the writers afford time to expand his backstory, his relationships, and his beliefs. His arrival is framed in a Biblical sense, heralds paving the way for onslaught and decimation (technically ‘hemi’mation?). In these harbingers we have the Black Order: a collection of henchmen, with only Ebony Maw, played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, really marking an impression. It’s a shame that this aspect of the film and some of their backstories aren’t given as much substance as the master they follow.
Infinity War is certainly an impressive feat, not just in terms of entertainment, but cinema too. But of course there are weaknesses within the film. While much of it is visually impressive and embraces scale and emotion with a flourish, some of the action is shot in a flat or jerky manner. It seems as if one foot is in the old MCU and the other planted in the vivid artistry brought by Waititi and Coogler to Ragnarok and Black Panther respectively. Another issue is that it’s still hard to buy Thanos’ motivation: balance to the Universe? More significant a weakness is the overall stakes and lasting resonance of the film. Any comparisons you see to the Empire Strikes Back are lazy, reflexive shorthand for “it’s dark.” Yes, the film has a weight to it, and there is a cost for these people we have gotten to know over the years. There are emotional moments, and times where you hold your breath, but equally there are moments where you sense that Marvel pulls punches. Things unfold largely as you’d expect. It’s thrilling to watch, but lacks anything really surprising. Those cries you see of Infinity War delivering a ‘“shocking finale” can be tempered with logic, informed by Marvel’s future commercial endeavors as well as simple comic book lore. When you have all-powerful MacGuffins that can control reality and time, you hamstring your potency. Of course this is compounded by the knowledge that we will receive a direct continuation of this film in a year’s time. Don’t get me wrong: I eagerly await the followup, not just for resolution, but for how it wraps up the tale and delivers the long term ramifications, which if done correctly, could strengthen this first chapter.
Avengers Infinity War is a genuinely impressive achievement, in terms of pop culture, entertainment, and cinema. A platform that impressively allows the distinct voices crafted within their respective franchises to sing, while orchestrating them into something more epic in scale. It is supremely confident and refined storytelling, and relentlessly entertaining from start to finish.
Avengers Infinity War hits theaters on April 27th
