So, ever since a guy dressed in purple prosthetics turned to the screen and smiled in the mid-credit sequence of the 2012 Avenger’s Movie, ultimately causing an untold amount of mild-mannered comic book readers to Google-search who is Thanos; this is essentially what the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building towards. Six years later, twelve feature films, in excess of 23 recurring new characters and five seasons of … shudder… Agents Of Shield we finally arrive at Thanos’ big entrance in Avengers Infinity War.
As we know, we’ve got the character of Thanos, who’s moved from prosthetic extra to CGI Josh Brolin. He has sat in his chair, made idle threats, picked up the Infinity Gauntlet whilst saying he’d do it himself, yet still waited seven films and three years to actually do anything. Now he’s out to collect the Infinity Stones that were featured in the original Avengers, Thor The Dark World, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Age Of Ultron and Doctor Strange and of course if he is able to gather all six stones he could destroy life on a scale hither to undreamt of (insert Tony Stark’s line) hence the need for all the heroes on Earth and across the galaxy to join together to stop the Mad Titan before he gets.. out of his chair…
Ok I’ve just gotten out of the film and holy ducking shit it was amazing. The pace of the film is relentless, the ambition and the stakes that are set in this film are friggin’ headache-inducing (in a good way), every character is given a moment to shine, every character serves a purpose to the overall story and ultimately, any theories you had about the film, from who would live and who would die, to the location of the soul stone, to what happens in the end - can all just be thrown out the window. The Russo Brothers basically just tore up the rule book with this one.
I certainly don’t want to spoil anything in this film but there are some questions that can be answered:
Is Thanos another in a long line of lame Marvel villains?
Hell no. This movie, despite its massive cast, universe-spanning settings and ticking time bomb of a narrative, is really Thanos’ movie. We follow his journey, learn his motivations, come to empathise with his mass-genocide approach to balancing the universe. His motivations may differ from the comics but within the first five minutes of the film where he establishes himself as the mother of all villains, I don’t think anyone will care.
Is it just Ironman and The Avengers or even Black Panther 1.5?
Definitely not. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFreely have written a script that balances each character, each character serves a purpose and propels the story forward. Outside of Thanos, Thor is probably the next character with the most screen time but hero really feels shortchanged. The Russo Brothers have managed to effortlessly move from one setting to another without any of it feeling jarring. We move from furthest reaches of space to New York, to the planet of Knowhere to Scotland, to Thanos’ home world to Wakanda and back again without even breaking a sweat. Each setting serves as its own little vignette to shuffle the film along - it keeps the pace going non-stop and expertly balances the many balls (or should I say Infinity Stones) in the air.
Now there are very few things to complain about or criticize when looking at this film. At an absolute push, there are some scenes where Thanos’ CGI is a little too obvious and even though Thanos is probably the most fleshed out villain Marvel has ever done, the same can’t be said for The Black Order who are very undercooked and underused.
I’m sure some may criticize the cosmic coincidences within the film, but often I feel this has been covered via comments characters make throughout the film to justify how certain people show up at convenient times - so for me, this is not a concern of any kind. And of course, I imagine others may feel that there is just too much going on and too many things to keep track of, however, there’s no denying that this is what Marvel films are all about: the continuous stories, overlapping narratives and multi-film character arcs is what Marvel has been about for over a decade. These films require the dedication to details when moving from one film to the next - yes it may not be user-friendly to new viewers, but it certainly rewards long-time fans.
Ultimately, this film should satisfy even the pickiest of Marvel fans. Much like how Joss Whedon’s original Avengers felt like peeling open a fresh new comic, Infinity War feels like feverishly reading through an event onimbus by Marvel. One thing that really needs to be commended about the film is how much they have been able to keep under wraps from the public: from surprise character appearances that answer questions from all the way back in Phase One to character deaths and character arcs that no one saw coming - the films trailers sent out quite a few red herrings and when all is said and done, I challenge anyone to be able to confidently say what will happen in Avengers 4. Even with my own wealth of knowledge about Marvel, I was left watery-eyed and at a loss as to what happens next. You’ll be left satisfied, but man, it is going to be a long 12 months waiting for the follow-up.
As a comic book fan, Avengers Infinity War gets Six Infinity Stones out of Six, but as a film fan, Infinity War gets a firm Four and a Quarter Stars out of Five.
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