Avengers: Infinity War
**Though relatively spoiler-free, there are descriptions of moments that could be considered spoilers, but they are done in a way that will not ruin the experience if you are reading this, and haven’t seen the movie yet.**
The seeds for “Avengers: Infinity War” started with two Easter Eggs during Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe- the first was the original end credit “tag” between Tony Stark and Nick Fury at the end of 2008’s “Iron Man,” the second was the revelation of the existence of Thanos, the Mad Titan who was behind the Attack on New York in 2012’s “Avengers.” A decade after Stark declared himself, “I am Iron Man,” we see him at the center of the action in Thanos’s bid to collect the Infinity Stones in “Infinity War,” and it is a moment that you will be both readily prepared for after 18 years of Marvel storytelling guided by producer Kevin Feige, as well as emotionally crushed by when the credits begin to roll on Joe and Anthony Russo’s epic entertainment.
I have been rewatching all of the MCU films, in order of release, in preparation for “Infinity War” (I still have four I didn’t get to before test-screening it Tuesday night for work), and you can check out my live-tweets, along with reviews for every MCU movie from my pinned Tweet on my Twitter account. One of the things rewatching the films has given me is a fresh perspective on each film, and figuring out what has worked, and what hasn’t, both in the individual films, and the MCU as a whole. One thing that has worked is that each film builds to something in another one, and has a part to play in the culmination we see here, whether it’s an individual storyline like Tony and Pepper Potts, the dynamic between Gamora and Nebula as “children of Thanos,” the sacrifice Captain America made that landed him in ice about 70 years ago, or the recent opening of Wakanda “to the world” by King T’Challa in “Black Panther.” It’s a tremendous credit to the Russos and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who wrote all of the “Captain America” films) that we don’t feel whiplash throughout this entire thing, and can follow the action wherever it leads us, and understand why they took us there. You don’t have to do what I’ve done before watching “Infinity War” to do that, and it’s probably the greatest trick of storytelling everyone involved with this process, from Jon Favreau to Kenneth Branagh to Joss Whedon to James Gunn to Scott Derrickson and Ryan Coogler, has accomplished, and it’s hard to see a weak spot in anything that’s happened along the way, even if the movie was not as good as others that came before or after it.
“Infinity War” begins as the Mad Titan has taken the ship Thor, Loki, Bruce Banner and the remaining Asgardians stowed away on after Asgard fell in “Thor: Ragnarok,” and he and members of the Black Order are looking for the remaining Infinity Stones, one of which (the Space Stone, which is located in the Teseract from “Captain America: The First Avengers” and “The Avengers”) was being kept on Asgard. We’ve only been teased about Thanos to this point, with his most significant screen time being in 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but “Infinity War” wastes no time showing us a fairly complete version of him, right off the bat, and Josh Brolin immediately establishes himself as one of the most iconic, and intimidating, villains Marvel has unleashed over the past decade. In addition to his vocal work, though, is the performance-capture visual effects of the role, and they make Thanos’s size and weight as much a part of the character as Brolin’s vocal performance, and they make it felt in this early scene as he faces off against Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Bruce (Mark Ruffalo) trying to get himself his second Infinity Stone; he had already taken the Power Stone from the Nova Corp before the film starts. Immediately, the stakes are established in “Infinity War,” and the action moves from there to the next steps of the journey this film will take.
Even more so than the previous “Avengers” films, or “Captain America: Civil War,” “Infinity War,” which runs a remarkably-economical 2 1/2 hours (given the ground it has to cover), could very easily get bogged down in exposition, character introductions (both to the film, and to each other) over keeping the plot moving, but the Russos are able to balance all of these needs fantastically. I will offer this “spoiler”- you won’t find any of the Marvel TV characters in this film, and that’s honestly a good thing, because between all of the big-screen superheroes this film has to make room for, that would be insanity personified. The opening scene I discussed above sets in motion where “Infinity War” leads from there, and, if you’ve seen the trailers, you can probably figure out how the disparate corners of the MCU catch wind of Thanos from there. I’ll also say they’ve done a great job of keeping things on the down-low, in some cases. Yes, the Guardians of the Galaxy finally hook up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, but the way that happens will come as a surprise as all the cinematic heroes find a nitch in this story that make it worth waiting a year for the second part of this story to see how it all plays out. The Russos have been mum on the title of next year’s “Avengers” film because it supposedly divulges spoilers, but even after seeing the film myself, I have no idea what that subtitle will be, and I’m fine waiting a little longer for them to tell us.
I mentioned the second part of this film coming next year. That leads to a question of how this plays as a film, compared to not just previous “Avengers” films, but compared to “Part 1” movies, in general. First of all, let me just say that I love the note the Russos have left this film at when the credits roll- it is a cliffhanger that makes you feel like you only have one fingertip still on the ledge before you’re about to fall off. The biggest question “Infinity War” will have people asking, from an artistic standpoint, is whether it earns the place it ends up at, and I think it does. The one review I’ve read for the film likened it to Marvel’s “Empire Strikes Back,” and that’s a pretty accurate comp for the film, if you ask me. We’ve seen a lot of films in the past decade split the final part of their stories into two-parts (“Harry Potter,” “Twilight,” “The Hunger Games,” most notably), and the results have been mixed as to whether they worked or not. “Infinity War” definitely worked, and I would say, it ended probably the only suitable way this film could do to satisfy fans who have been with Marvel every step of the way in this process. Of those previously-mentioned “two-part” finales, this is definitely closer to “Harry Potter” than the other two, and it makes me think we’re in for quite an emotional upheaval when the next “Avengers” film comes out next year.
The scale of this film is damn-near ridiculous, and I haven’t even watched it on IMAX yet. I completely get why they did the full-film IMAX shooting on this film (I cannot wait to see the scale of Thanos to everyone else on that screen), but even in a regular theatre, the cinematography by Trent Opaloch captures some crazy-ass action sequences that make the film a roller coaster ride every step of the way. (I am a bit curious why they formatted it down to 2.35:1 scope vs. 1.85:1 flat, though. The flat frame would have served the scale of Thanos and some of the other larger characters in the film better, I think.) Whether it’s the first time Thanos’s legions make their presence known in New York as they take aim at the Time Stone wrapped around Doctor Strange’s neck, a couple of members of the Black Order finding Vision (Paul Bettany) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) as they are on the run to keep the Mind Stone in Vision’s head safe, or the massive brawl at Wakanda’s gates as T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) leads the people of his country into battle with Thanos’s army alongside Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and many of the other Avengers who are not otherwise occupied in other areas of the galaxy, “Infinity War” lives up to the hype of being the largest Marvel film to date, with a score by Alan Silvestri (returning to the MCU for the first time since the first “Avengers” film) that captures all of the weight and power of this moment.
There are a lot of ways that this is a complicated film to discuss prior to its debut. For me, it comes down to not wanting to reveal the fates of characters, and wanting people to be as surprised with the direction the film takes as I was. There’s one bit of “How did they get there?” narrative-building early on that gave me pause, but ultimately, this film delivers in all the ways you would hope that it would. Sacrifices are made. Real loss is finally, honestly felt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And the Russos have some unexpected surprises for us along the way. With the exception of Thanos, it’s difficult to talk about the rest of the actors in terms of their performances, because so many of them have these characters locked down cold, at this point, that there’s not much to be said; plus, some specifics would give up spoilers to the film.
This is going to be a wild ride as more people see this film. I’m going to love every minute of it…and await seeing it again.
