Avengers: Infinity War

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.

2018. Rated PG-13, 149 minutes.

Cast:

Chris Hemsworth

Robert Downey Jr.

Josh Brolin

Mark Ruffalo

Scarlett Johansson

Chris Pratt

Zoe Saldana

Tom Holland

Chris Evans

Chadwick Boseman

Elizabeth Olsen

Don Cheadle

Paul Bettany

Benedict Cumberbatch

Anthony Mackie

Peter Dinklage

As MCU fans have known for quite some time, it's all been leading to this. This being the official arrival of the incredibly powerful Thanos (Brolin) into the MCU. As his several appearances in mid- and post-credit scenes have let us know, he's been observing things from the sidelines. He has finally joined the game and has big ideas. He seeks to gather all of the Infinity Stones spread throughout the galaxy which will give him immeasurable power. With this power, he plans on enacting some pretty drastic measures of population control. As we're told several times, once he has all of the stones he can snap his fingers and kill half the beings in the galaxy. Of course, some of these stones are on good ol' Planet Earth and it's up to our mightiest heroes to keep this from happening.

What Marvel does better than anyone else, most notably rival DC, is bring the different factions of its universe together seamlessly. That power is on full display here as the Guardians of the Galaxy are put into the mix and Thor is reintegrated after being absent from Captain America: Civil War. Characters mesh very well and have instant chemistry. In what's become par for the franchise course, some of the best scenes are back-and-forth exchanges where characters try to one-up each other, either aggressively, or more entertainingly, passive-aggressively. In this installment, the bulk of this part of the workload is handled by Thor (Hemsworth) and Peter Quill (Pratt) with Iron Man (Stark) and Dr. Strange (Cumberbatch) occasionally taking over. Surprisingly, we even get some of this from Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk (Ruffalo). More on that later. Just for good measure, the father-son dynamic between Iron Man and Spider-Man (Holland) continues. Sure, it's all part of the franchise formula, but for the most part, the jokes still work.

A decade of immensely popular movies has afforded Marvel a luxury that is the envy of every other franchise hoping to follow in its footsteps. They can release some movies with a total lack of regard for character development. Audience familiarity is so strong this isn't really an issue. Characters from all over the MCU just pop up to help out and it's no issue. Of course, if you're somehow coming into this without being familiar with everyone, you may not feel the same. Honestly, if you're in that camp, the film ignores your feelings. Nothing about any of the good guys is explained or developed, aside from the occasional reference to earlier films in the canon. It's the ultimate in media res story-telling. All outsiders would really know is that Thor is leading a band of costumed heroes in an effort to save the galaxy.

Yes, I said Thor leads the band. He has been thrust into the spot previously reserved for Iron Man and Captain America. However, the film really centers around its villain, Thanos. Since Infinity War serves as his official introduction, he is the only character who is explored. In what amounts to a voice-over role, Josh Brolin somehow manages to create one of the MCU's top villains. Though saddled with the same treasure hunt as many of the franchise's previous baddies, chasing some all-powerful whatchamacallit, he manages to convince us Thanos sincerely believes he is on some magnanimous quest. As Killmonger showed us in Black Panther, bad guys who think they're the heroes are the most interesting types. Thanos is of this ilk. His overall point is defensible, it's his methodology that is not. This dichotomy between what the heart desires and how the brain chooses to get it is what makes him a compelling figure. His determination is immediately apparent. Eventually, his sadness and weariness are, too.

Even with a wonderful bad guy giving our beloved heroes a run for their money, all is not peachy-keen with Infinity War. Remember that lack of character development I mentioned? It comes with a price. In lieu of giving the Hulk another solo film, we've watched his character grow throughout the various movies he's shown up in. Despite Thor Ragnarok skipping lots of comic book history to get to this point, it was an excellent showcase for Hulk. This film throws us some things that hint at further development, but doesn't actually do anything with the character other than confuse the audience. I'm sure all will be explained in future installments, but what happens here is the polar opposite of everything we know about Hulk, both within and prior to the MCU. We're suddenly to believe he has an emotion we've consistently been told he isn't capable of - fear. It's an interesting direction to take him in, but it needs to be explored. Instead, it's just thrown out as a recurring gag, that back and forth between Bruce and Hulk I mentioned, with no actual payoff. This is disappointing because it takes Hulk completely out of the film.

Perhaps, Hulk's sharp left turn could not be examined thanks to the sheer number of characters who cross the screen. In what has become the double-edged sword of these types of movies, there are superheroes everywhere. Fans like me might have nerdgasms every time one of them does their thing, but there's no denying this is a crowded movie. To it's credit, Infinity War handles this about as well as it can, again owing much to audience familiarity, but it can be a bit fatiguing bouncing around from one micro set of heroes to another at breakneck speed for nearly two-and-a-half hours. However, as mentioned, the upshot is we get plenty of superhero stuff to distract us from weak plot elements.

Then there's that ending. I'll tread lightly here in order to not spoil it for the one or two of you who haven't seen it. On one hand, it feels like a total cash-grab by a company that already has our money. After all, what better way to ensure you come back for more? On the other, it feels like a stroke of genius. It's a cliffhanger in every sense of the word. If you haven't seen the movie, you may have heard that it's frustrating. To a degree, it is. That's because, as fans of the MCU, we've been conditioned to expect the main plot of the film we're watching to take care of itself by the time the credits start rolling with a teaser or two for future movies after that. That's not what happens here. Theoretically, the plot does wrap itself up, just not in a way we're expecting. As I was leaving the theater, I was one of the confused. However, I couldn't stop thinking of the possibilities. My brother, a friend, and I texted our predictions for the MCU back and forth. I privately mulled over how accurate they might be. I quickly came to understand that this movie had done what I most want movies to do - give me an experience that travels with me beyond the borders of its runtime. This is where it gets tricky. Depending on how you feel about the ending, you might think it's either one of the all-time greatest, or all-time worse movies. It's neither. Infinity War is a movie that's pretty good for about two hours and fifteen minutes. The last ten minutes or so, I'm calling brilliant.