Film Review: Avengers: Infinity War ***
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Many of my friends have been asking for my opinion on Avengers: Infinity War and I finally had a chance to see it.
Let me begin by saying Avengers: Infinity War was made for fans: fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans of Marvel Comics, fans of superhero stories. If you have not seen the previous movies or read the comics, this movie will be a two and a half hour bore. Infinity War was going to be impossible to make from the very beginning. If you count Spider-man Homecoming, there have been eighteen films leading up to Infinity War. There are twenty-four main superheroes in this film, not counting some “sidekicks” who show up. It is not possible to structure a film that will balance that many storylines, and yet, allow for protagonist’s journey to carry the story. The fact that they came at all close is something of a miracle
As a movie, Avengers: Infinity War, does not work. The lack of development of characters take moments that should be genuinely emotional and turn them into pauses in action. Act I is so long because we have to locate and introduce all of our heroes without necessarily adding to any of their character. For some of these heroes, they are meeting for the first time. Often these meetings are dispatched with quickly to push the narrative forward. Even the comical meeting between Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy is dispatched with one-liners, developing no real relationship between them. But there was promise in some of these set ups. For example, the relationship between Tony Stark and Dr. Strange could have been interesting. The fact that they dislike each other is established in a series of quick one-liners, but the root of their dislike is never explored. Even their dislike of each other is treated merely as a fact instead of a story opportunity. Consider, if they had made the two characters truly hate each other (perhaps Tony reminds Dr. Strange of his own ego in his previous life), and yet, when Dr. Strange looks into the future and sees the only possibility of victory involves giving Thanos all of the stones, and keeping Tony Stark alive, that he might actually struggle with that decision; that he might consider letting half the universe die just so he didn’t have to sacrifice himself to save Tony; but, that didn’t happen.
Unfortunately, many of the “most emotional” scenes in the movie don’t quite work. Spider-man’s death is a moving moment, but unless you already knew the relationship developed between Tony Stark and Peter Parker over the past two films, Avengers Civil War and Spider-man Homecoming, the moment doesn’t truly work despite Tom Holland’s great acting; the only reason most people who haven’t seen the other films feel any emotion is that it is a cinematic ‘tool’ to kill a child/teenager to tug at the heart strings of an audience. The disappearance of characters following Thanos victory is almost telecast. The original Avengers are almost all that’s left of the group who lives. Who could have guessed that?
But perhaps worst of all, the theme of the movie is muddled. Captain America has come to represent the morality of the Avengers, even when he decided that it wasn’t just that Bucky, who could not control his actions because of the brainwashing done to him, be punished. Avengers: Civil War clearly sides with Cap over Iron-Man; if there was any doubt, Iron-man’s climatic realization in that movie, turns the film to side with Cap. Here, Captain America appears to be wrong. His decision not allow Vision to terminate his own life and break the mind stone spells doom for the entire universe. I am unsure exactly what the movie is saying…
Even with all of this though, the filmmakers come close to making it work and the reason, I think, the filmmakers come close lies in the ingenious decision to make Thanos the protagonist of the story. It could really have work and almost does, but because they are balancing so many stories (home many lines of actual dialogue does Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, have? 5?) Thanos’ character is not on screen for enough time, though, he does make the major decisions that drive the story forward. As Thanos, Josh Brolin gives the most nuanced and impactful performance in the whole film (not necessarily saying a lot as the action in the film does not require much acting, but I actually found Thanos to be a wonderfully 3-dimensional villain). As a fan of Marvel comics, I think the adaptation to having Thanos be an eco-terrorist rather than being in love with Death works well (I don’t agree with this critique on the environmental movement… but, the idea that Thanos could realistically see himself as a savoir is a powerful idea). The film provides some powerful images of balance throughout, especially in the flashback with Gamora as a child being adopted by Thanos.
The single best scene in the film involves Thanos’ capturing of the Soul Stone. I think that it is [FOR THE LAST TIME SPOILER ALERT] important that Red Skull is trapped on Vormir (a desolate planet covered in snow), unable to get the Soul Stone because he is similar to Thanos; Red Skull loves no one, other than himself, and therefore cannot pass the test to sacrifice someone he loves to obtain the stone (a soul for a soul). I chuckled when Gamora begins to laugh at the cosmic joke presented to Thanos (I already knew her death was coming; no other reason to have her tag along) because it is a cosmic joke that Thanos would kill trillions of people and sacrifice anything to achieve this victory, but since he loves no one, he has nothing to sacrifice, and therefore cannot achieve his destiny. This ironic cosmic joke brings her such joy. Then, it is revealed why Thanos never tried to kill Gamora, even though she ran away; even though, she has fought against him completing his quest. He loves her. This explains why Thanos treats Nebula differently than Gamora. It also explains why he didn’t come after Gamora during earlier films. But, Marvel complicates this relationship even more. Earlier in Knowhere (the Collector’s vault), Gamora believes she’s killed Thanos (a clever use of the Reality Stone) and breaks down crying as she watches Thanos dies. These are surprisingly not tears of joy, but sorrow. This incredible demonstration shows that, although she hates Thanos, she also still loves him. He did raise her. He did teach her the important point about balance in the Universe. The fact that Thanos also feels love for her allows him to sacrifice her in order to achieve the Soul Stone and thus his destiny. It is a horrific moment of emotional turmoil (even though the slow motion was completely unnecessary and added nothing to the moment). When Thanos does achieve his destiny of ending the life of half of the Universe’s population, the final shot of the film shows Thanos basking in the glory of a new sun, rising on the Universe that he believes he has just saved. It is a powerful image.
Thor’s storyline is the other that showed promise. The first scene of Infinity War establishes not only Thanos (his power, his authority, and his goals) but also Thor’s goal. Forced to sit idloly by and watch Loki sacrifice himself, Thor screams in defeat and with a promise to return and achieve justice for his family. After the Guardians rescue him and he heads for Nidavellir, his delivers a monologue about all he has lost, expressing the struggle to balance vengeance and justice; I wish they explored it more. Although his banter with Rocket (the rabbit) is one of the highlights of the film’s lighter moments. It was great to see Thor used so well, as he is my favorite superhero; especially because the Thor movies, with the exception of Ragnarok, have been some of the low points for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I began this review or collection of my thoughts with these two statements: Infinity War was made for fans of the series and it was an impossible movie to make. I still believe both of those things. In the end, I was frustrated with many of the movies flaws, but I was also a little kid watching an epic that first unfolded for me in Marvel comics and then over and over again in my mind as I played with figurines on my parent’s floor. With a cherry ICEE and a buttered popcorn, the inner kid in me is ready to see it again, just don’t expect to see me teach this film in my classes.
