Avengers: Infinity War (Epic Unforgettable Mayhem)
+ A Spoiler-Free Review +
“He’s from Space. He came here to steal a necklace from a Wizard.”
Plans can change and often do, especially if your plans involve a subject matter as fantastical as superheroes and a project as ludicrous as a shared cinematic universe: Directors get swapped, actors come and go, and intellectual properties are passed around. But the overall purpose of these ever-morphing plans has been roughly the same. That is, to make the above sentence make complete sense in a big-budget blockbuster movie. Ditto for it being said to an arachnid-themed teenaged vigilante by a billionaire playboy in a hot rod-inspired high-tech suit of armor.
Avengers: Infinity War is the climax of over a dozen films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Not so much in terms of story as its plot involving a ruthless conqueror attempting to gather ancient artifacts of magnificently deadly power is as classic as it is self-contained, but as an apogee of setting and tone. The previous movies lightly hinted to the menace presented here, but superseding any duties of foreshadowing, they served to inoculate diligent viewers against the purported absurdity and specificity of high-concept genres.
The industrial intrigue fireworks of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) bleed into the super science horror story of The Incredible Hulk (Edwart Norton then, Mark Ruffalo now) which shuffles into the far more successful human enhancement wartime escapades of Captain America (Chris Evans) who fights against his scarlet skulled twin over a mystical power source that links him and the above with the higher realms (and courtly conspiracies) of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) Norse Pantheon thereby permitting the exploration of the rest of the cosmos including the plucky vagabonds and freaks who eventually band together as (and try to live up to the name of) the Guardians of the Galaxy and so on and so on and so on. Thus, a stellar collective of exotic and captivating sagas, landscapes, and champions is born. It’s vast, colorful, diverse, bizarre, and very much alive, made realer and more potent with each new element that every succeeding movie sews into its fabric. And Thanos (Josh Brolin), the aforementioned tyrant and seeker of the Infinity Stones, wants to maim it.
With such a vibrant, kaleidoscopic existence in jeopardy, the threat is nothing less than total, necessitating the tearing of the all ready tenuous membranes between sub-franchises for an assembly of gonzo might that ought to chase away any doomsday despot through sheer eccentricity alone. Tragically, the path to this enormous mash-up of cyborg assassins and talking trees has been stylishly harsh on this universe’s protectors. Infinity War brings the understatedly apocalyptic vibe of past episodes – the lost kingdoms, the fallen alliances, and the phantoms of inevitable ruin – to a virulent din that reverberates through every scene and in each character. The heroes are intriguingly scrappy, well-defined, stronger than they’ve ever been, and obviously far from their best. They’ve got their own demons to fight, there are dreams they hoped to follow, and some of them don’t even know what an Infinity Stone even is.
Weighty baggage, but Directors Anthony and Joe Russo mine if for building blocks with which to establish an even and understandable thematic landscape, managing the odd miracle of making Infinity War the darkest hour for all these people without making the film oppressively dark. There’s still energy to spare, interesting characters to meet, and new worlds to explore, expanding the Marvel Cinematic Universe even as Gotterdamerung approaches. This wild all-encompassing frontier is rendered digestible by how the Russos and their writing crew have wisely divided the narrative into several concurrent storylines that run parallel to one another, interlock at key points, and diverge before ultimately forming a circuit where they all come together, much like the ancient gems Thanos gradually installs into his gauntlet.
The structure is ambitious given the scale of the cast and locations, and admittedly it doesn’t always work; in spite of a strong start and it being just as important as its counterparts, Captain America’s plotline with his renegade Avengers cell limps to the finale understated and uneventful in spite of the undeniable chemistry of its cast. Still, it’s a framework intrinsically fluid enough to deliver on other miscellaneous madcap crossover content to compensate. Spider-Man chases a telekinetic alien zealot through the streets of New York in pursuit of an unconscious - and flying - Doctor Strange, Star-Lord (Chris Pine) finally learns that his homeworld of Earth is lousy with superheroes when one literally runs into his ship, and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and his formerly isolationist city-state of Wakanda plant themselves on the frontlines as the planet’s first (and maybe even last) line of defense against an all-new extraterrestrial army. These are just broad fragments of the vivid encounters at play as rivalries, jealousies, and synergies coil and spring on a personal level. It’s also a fertile stage for supporting characters to display their strengths with the likes of Wong (Benedict Wong) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) playing crucial roles in hectic action scenes alongside the MCU’s heaviest hitters.
Speaking of action, the skirmishes, feints, and feats of good and evil alike are in top form here. Ensemble movies like Infinity War, Age of Ultron, and Civil War are usually where these various empowered individuals group up and battle it out, providing pure visceral spectacle that none of them alone could manifest. Infinity War continues the tradition with a cavalcade of clashing and combined abilities hitherto unseen on the big screen. Singular standouts include the latest suit of Iron Man armor, a nanomachine shell that can fabricate a number of weapons, gadgets, and other accouterments on the fly and Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbach) expanded repertoire of curses and constructs. The Infinity Stones themselves also provide plenty of world-bending flair, creating vast illusions, compressing space into armaments, shredding time, and altering reality itself in delightfully twisted manners befitting the villain’s brutal and capricious nature. A little more polish on the CGI (particularly on some of the closer shots on what are clearly computer-generated costumes) wouldn’t have been unappreciated, but these are just slight hiccups that are quickly superseded by framing and choreography of the bedlam.
The premium placed on theatrics and the simple - if layered - plot allows returning characters to easily catch up to the calamity at hand and each has their own treacherous route to undertake as they try to gain headway in the race for the Infinity Stones. These are entertaining enough with Robert Downey Jr as the apparent crux of the whole affair as his Tony Stark finally gets a chance to face off with his ultimate nightmare of starborne Avenger-killers while contending with an unwanted funhouse Batman & Robin dynamic when he discovers that Spider-Man (Tom Holland bringing believable eagerness and competing wit yet again to Peter Parker) has tagged along for the interstellar ride to galactic Armageddon. However, it’s Thanos who is the bleak heart of the story whose beat its knaves and do-gooders dance to. Despite appearing in other movies, this is the Mad Titan’s first true foray into the spotlight and Josh Brolin doesn’t waste a moment to make you want more of this purple, raisin-chinned megalomaniac. Surprisingly expressive in his digital visage and mocap body language, he sweeps through a grand span of emotional zestfulness.
He’s an absolute monster in a brawl – outsmarting juggernauts, bringing gods to their knees, and using each Infinity Stone to its most deviant utilization - but can appear approachable and even fragile at points when the strain of his centuries-long quest briefly overcomes him. For all his flukes of joviality and etiquette, he is perpetually intimidating. One is never quite sure if he’s going to simply pat you on the shoulder or rip off the whole limb to make a statement, an ambiguity that is enhanced by the fact that he is most definitely insane, motivated by a distorted sense of purpose that nicely complements his deceptive onscreen charisma.
Putting aside its 149-minute running time, Avengers: Infinity War ultimately feels like two similar, but fundamentally different movies. The first one is for longtime or even infrequent fans, a staggering culmination of intertwined character arcs and earnest worldbuilding that dives into a gargantuan conflict that they have long-expected, but are not quite ready for. The second movie is arguably the rarer and more precious of the two, the one complete newcomers will stumble into: a dense tidal wave of cinematic sights and sounds loaded with impossible acrobatics, dreamlike vistas, peculiar creatures, flamboyant technologies, and a myriad of ludicrous combatants. Those who watch the former movie will doubtlessly be pleased with Infinity War. The ones lucky or unfortunate enough to see the latter? I can’t really say much about their reactions other than the lack of prior MCU exposure will ensure that they will have never seen anything quite like Infinity War before and that its foundations are stalwartly solid to the point that they’ll still wind up caring about who perishes and who prevails.
Oh, and they’re also guaranteed to enjoy the single greatest Peter Dinklage cameo of all time. That’s a promise.
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