Well, here we are. The culmination of the last few months of our rewatch. Avengers: Infinity War was a solid entry in the MCU. In lesser hands, I could easily see this having been a total botch job, but the Russos and Markus and McFeely keep the film moving along at a brisk pace, with plenty of action and just enough fanboy moments to keep the audience thoroughly entertained. It’s not a great film by any means and I don’t think it could have been, being essentially a setup for the sequel due next summer, but this film still functions well on its own merits and ties together everything we’ve been exposed to over the past decade.
The film balances most of the cast well. This is not an easy feat when you have about thirty stars in roles that have importance to the plot. And there were even a few missing which should pop up in the sequel. I would say the biggest grievance I had on this front, was what little we got of Captain America. If Avengers 4 is to be Evans’ swan song in the MCU, I hope he’s given more to do. Here he does little more than engage in various battles. Kind of odd coming from the writers and directors of his films. Tony, on the other hand, clearly is given the most to do, outside of, possibly, Thanos.
Speaking of, I have to say I’m glad to admit my fears about Josh Brolin were unfounded. I was worried about how effective a villain Thanks was going to be. From the little we get in both Avengers films and Guardians of the Galaxy and the basic plot of assembling the infinity stones, I had worried Thanos would be little more than a device to move the story along. But Brolin imbues him with enough pathos and emotion, that you can actually understand where this guy is coming from. There is a method to his madness. He’s not cruel just to be evil. He believes he is working for the greater good. Granted that involved wiping out the lives of half the universe, but it’s not just mindless evil behavior. Again, Brolin’s portrayal goes a long way to selling this apocalyptic plan to the audience and even humanizes him when it comes to his relationship with his “daughter”, Gamora.
If Brolin is the MVP for this film, I have to give a close second to Zoe Saldana as Gamora, who gets more to do here than in both Guardians films combined. Her and Brolin sell that relationship. It’s complicated and fraught with emotional complexities. In a film that does not give us much character growth for a majority of the players (which I don’t necessarily see as a major flaw in a team-up film), the focus on this relationship was both powerful and ingenious. It gives us one of the better villains we’ve had in the MCU, and shows growth for an under-developed character in her own series. Saldana (and Pratt) even sell the romantic angle which was practically nonexistent before this film aside from a few ham-fisted allusions. It’s a little forced here but the scene where it culminates is also a great scene for Star-Lord and his own growth as a character.
The screenwriters show that not only can they balance all these moving parts but also give them depth and, maybe most importantly, get their portrayals right, and sometimes even better. Doctor Strange is better here than in his own film. His brash personality is folded into his oath regarding the protection of the Time Stone and not just to be a dick for the sake of being a dick. His accent is also thankfully better. Putting him up against Tony for much of the film was a risk as Strange has been previously depicted as Tony without the charm but he holds his own with Downey and it brings out a better performance. The relationship between Vision and Wanda is also delved into more deeply after having been set up by the same players in Civil War. You feel Wanda’s pain in the threat to Vision’s life so we care a little more than just if a hero was in danger.
Let’s talk about the ending briefly. I actually think the film was quite bold to end how it did. Yes, we know the MCU is going to continue on and we know which characters still have films on the slate, but in looking at it from the angle of the past decade, we care about these characters. We don’t want to see them lose. We don’t want to see them taken away from us. Will some (perhaps all) come back? Possibly. But in that moment, it works. We’ve never seen a defeat like this before. And I think it’s actually bold to end your summer tent pole on a dark note. We won’t get to see the resolution for a year and even a few days later, some of those departures are still haunting. Ending the way it did allows it to sit with you for longer than a scene transition if the climax had been pushed to the beginning of the next film. I have no idea (other than a vague notion) of what will happen in the sequel. And that excites me.
I’m going to give Avengers: Infinity War a 7/10. It transcends its narrative need and tells a complete (and good) story in its own right. Thanos is one of the most compelling villains the MCU has ever had and this helps to avoid being all build-up for the grand finale to Phase Three next summer. The writers and directors clearly worked hard to avoid a simple transition story. My personal fanboy moments are Cap’s introduction with the Avengers theme playing over the subsequent battle and Thor, Rocket and Groot appearing to turn the tide of the final battle just as our heroes were becoming overwhelmed. I wish we had more character moments like in the first two Avengers films, instead of essentially passing from one battle to the next. But we get a lot in the Thanos and Gamora relationship and each battle is different enough to avoid feeling repetitive. Bravo, Marvel. I look forward to the conclusion.
Current rankings:
