Avengers: Infinity War Reviewed

Avengers Disassembled

♦ Tripwire’s senior editor ANDREW COLMAN takes a look at The Russo Brothers’ Avengers: Infinity War out now in UK and US cinemas…

Avengers: Infinity War
Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
Stars: Anthony Mackie, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dave Bautista, Josh Brolin, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Pom Klementieff, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Tom Holland

While me and my esteemed colleague were waiting for the screening of the latest magnum opus from Disney/Marvel, we spent the better part of an hour staring at an onscreen message from the Russo Brothers, which struck me as unnecessarily supercilious. The gist of it was that one shouldn’t reveal anything about the plot, especially the ending, to those who haven’t seen their latest masterpiece – after all, you wouldn’t want people to ruin your pleasure of it too, now would you?

There’s no denying that there’s a considerable amount of plot to spoil in this blockbuster – but that isn’t a criticism as such. There’s a considerable amount of superfluous exposition, but there’s also a genuine sense here of a studio who, now that the franchise is so embedded in the cinematic landscape, are emboldened enough to take chances. You could claim that the filmmakers are throwing everything at the screen including the kitchen sink, but it would be equally reasonable to say that the foundation work has been done, and now the fun can really begin. And it’s hard to go wrong when you have Jim Starlin’s peerless canon (the entire Thanos saga from the 70s on) to mine.

The film dispenses with any kind of framing device, as we immediately lay eyes on the granite form of the film’s monster / villain (and virtual protagonist) of Thanos (Josh Brolin) himself, immeasurably powerful against Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Accompanied by some equally gnarled and utterly ruthless henchmen called the Children of Thanos, his goal is to attain all six Infinity Stones in order to have complete dominion of space, time and dimension. Which involves wiping out half the population of the universe in order to save it. It’s a moderate departure from the source material, but it’s all moot. Such a force of nature will require just about every spandexed good guy in the MCU to defeat him, and that, essentially, is what we get.

The film’s budget is concomitant with the amount of worlds and places in which the action is spread, as everyone gets a turn, however brief. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) joins forces with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr., as if you didn’t know) in order to battle Thanos’s sledgehammer invasion of New York, replete with brutalist spaceships and widescreen devastation. Meanwhile the Guardians of The Galaxy make their entrance, along with both factions of the warring super-team from Captain America Civil War. All are involved in either combatting Thanos directly or his underlings. Oh yes, Spider-Man (Tom Holland) gets thrown literally into the mix as well.

With so many names on the marquee, and all that plot that I mentioned earlier, the familiar pitfalls are all too inevitable – a lack of screen time for quite a few of the characters (better not say which – wouldn’t want to transgress the Russo’s edict) leaves them as bare sketches rather than supporting players. The constant mingling of bleak darkness and throwaway barbs is also predictable in its unevenness – at times you feel that there are two movies fighting for pre-eminence here (oh wait…). The script also is trying and hurried in places, especially for the characters who really are plot devices, such as The Vision (Paul Bettany) and Eitri, (Peter Dinklage, a truly marvelous actor who has the worst lines in the film) who’s only around to help Thor reclaim his mojo.

However (yes, it’s time to list the positives) this film does have something that could be conceivably transcendent, which might be a first for a super-hero movie. Thanos, despite being grandfathered into continuity, is a far more credible super-villain that very nearly treads that line between sympathy and enmity for the viewer (a contrivance beloved by HBO). It’d be a bit much to call him an anti-hero though. The action, despite being on multiple worlds, is handled deftly, and the characters, well those who get adequate screen time, are as worthwhile as ever – Thor, Gamora (Zoe Saldana), and Starlord (Chris Pratt) being particular standouts.

Yes, the fight scenes, especially the one centred on a certain African kingdom, often devolve into a ludicrously excessive carnival of CGI and graphic gruesomeness, but there are bravura and subtle touches – the early scenes featuring the almost indomitable (and brilliantly contemptuous) Children of Thanos capture the spirit of comics hoedowns that has rarely been seen before. The cosmic settings are often breathtaking, and regardless of all the plot strands tugging the viewer in different directions, the movie still has time for the odd serene, if not surreal, moments.

This is by no means a challenging or world-beating classic, but is a step by the Marvel Cinematic Universe towards actual, if not demanding, cinema – there’s ambition in spades, needless to say, with the filmmakers attempting to think outside the box, while being frequently entertaining in the process. The last twenty minutes were engrossing rather than the same old tedium, featuring what is a surprisingly beguiling denouement. For a film that often threatens to collapse under the weight of its aspirations and ensemble cast, it’s a highly commendable bit of work that goes some way to living up to the hype. After Black Panther’s record-breaking box office, this film will rake in even greater megabucks. Hopefully the sequel will retain its quality.

Avengers: Infinity War is out from today in UK cinemas and from tomorrow Friday 27 April in the US

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