Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
What with work and all, I wasn't able to get to the theater to see this movie until last week. Co-workers had been raving about it and spoiling it for me ever since it came out. I was very curious to see if Marvel could pull this off.
The plot of Infinity War is primal and simple. Thanos wants to collect the Infinity Stones which would give him omnipotent power over the universe. The Avengers and basically every other Marvel superhero that has had a movie is trying to stop him. Don't know why Ant-man and the Wasp weren't around for the fun...most likely because they have their OWN movie coming out in about two weeks. Because the plot is so simple the directors do not have to spend any time with exposition and because all the characters have already had their own "origin" films, we don't have to spend much time explaining their situations either. Instead, Infinity War can spend its entire two and a half hours on action and character development and interaction.
To me, that was the coolest thing about this film. Bringing together disparate characters like Thor and Rocket Raccoon or Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. It reminded me of the old Marvel Team Up or Marvel Two-in-One comic books. They were more about two of your fave heroes interacting than they were about fighting a baddie. This movie also reminded me a bit of the last season of Game of Thrones, where all these characters with different storylines for the first five or six seasons start to cross paths and come together. It was pulled off magnificently and you can say the same for this movie.
Some of the best scenes in Infinity War were those that were intimate between two characters. There are some real tear jerker moments between Vision and Scarlet Witch (has she ever been called that on screen?) and Thanos and Gamora, between husband and wife and father and daughter. I couldn't believe that the writers somehow worked in all these little emotional moments in the midst of all the cosmic destruction and battles. It was breathtaking. My friend that went to see it with me was also amazed that they somehow made Thanos a sympathetic character! Even though his aim is to annihilate half of the universe's population.
I was blown away by this movie. I'm not gonna lie. It's the closest to Shakespeare that a comic book movie is ever going to get. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the directors and writers as a unit also did Civil War and Winter Soldier which were both great movies. The Russos do action very well without resorting to over the top slo-mo or choppy cuts. Everything flows and you feel drawn into the fights instead of being an observer. The action is very personal. The writing was great as well. While the Marvel trademark wit was still intact it never became overbearing or awkward like in Last Jedi. All the characters stayed WITHIN their characters.
After this movie I found myself wondering how Disney could do such a great job with the Marvel Universe and yet somehow completely fucking destroy the Star Wars franchise. I mean, the Star Wars mythos was already set up. It seems like it would have been EASIER. The Marvel Universe movies are all of a piece (except for outliers like Deadpool and maybe the upcoming Venom). Why couldn't Disney have left the main Star Wars story and characters well enough alone and used their anthology "Star Wars Story" brand to do more experimental and canon shaking films? It boggles my mind. You don't hear anyone in the streets calling for the heads of the Marvel studios!
My Grade: A+
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