Sunday, April 29, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War is a marvel

Movie: Avengers: Infinity War
Grade: A-

There's a bit of downtime near the end of Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War during which superhero/wizard/Captain Cumberbatch Dr. Strange uses his power over space and time to travel through the more than 14 million timelines in which he, Iron Man, Spider-Man and a couple Guardians of the Galaxy fight the genocidal villain Thanos on Thanos' devastated home world of Titan. Using these mystical Monte Carlo simulations, Dr. Strange can see that, in 14 million attempts, the good guys win...once.

He could just as easily be talking about Infinity War, which could have failed so easily and in so many ways. It is every metaphor you can imagine: a juggling act, a high wire act, running through a minefield, etc. The odds against getting it right might not have been exactly 14 million to one, but they were certainly long.

Infinity War might not be the Marvel Cinematic Universe's best movie. But it is surely Marvel Studios' greatest accomplishment, a beautiful, breathtaking adventure that pays off a decade of work with both epic scale spectacle and moments of quiet, introspective tenderness.

There was a great deal of snark when Infinity War's two hour, forty-minute runtime was announced. But what's striking about Infinity War is just how well and how thoroughly the movie uses that time. Infinity War never feels as long as it is - the story is pushed along not so much by constant action (though there is plenty of that) but by a propulsive narrative momentum that sees all the heroes of the MCU (save Ant-Man and poor, neglected Hawkeye) split into different groups with different goals and scattered across the galaxy.

Infinity War creaks a little in its beginning under the weight of the necessary exposition. We get another classroom lecture on the Infinity Stones - six chunks of rock created by the Big Bang and flung across the universe, all with the power to control the six crucial aspects of existence (Space, Mind, Reality, Time, Soul and Power, if you're curious). Thanos, who has acquired two of the Stones by the time the opening credits roll, needs to collect the remaining four to fulfill his longstanding dream: the death of half the beings in the universe.

But once the groundwork is laid, Infinity War takes off. The movie's greatest accomplishment is its ability to so well serve so many characters, including its villain. Infinity War needs every one of its 160 minutes to tell its story and explore its characters. It does this in part by putting all of them under extraordinary stress and pushing them to the breaking point. But it also does it by gleefully playing out the dynamics that result from bringing together these characters from such different corners of the Marvel universe - Thor and Rocket, Tony Stark and Dr. Strange (who's basically Stark with an all-powerful wizard's sense of self-importance), Bruce Banner and Princess Shuri of Wakanda.

Infinity War isn't perfect on this front. A few characters - Black Panther, Black Widow and even, to an extent, Captain America - are given a handful of moments that basically serve as a greatest hits album for their personalities (Steve Rogers is noble and brave, Black Widow is a badass, etc). But then, that's the strength of the MCU - a decade with these characters means Infinity War's decisions don't feel like cheats or shortcuts. Captain America has earned those brief moments of nobility. T'Challa has earned his gravitas and determination.

The movie is even able to find extraordinary heart and heartbreak in the relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch, two relatively under-the-radar members of the MCU's hero roster, to the extent that it defines the climax of the film.

But Infinity War's best character work is reserved for Thanos, who, along with Black Panther's Killmonger, Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2's Ego and Spider-Man: Homecoming's Vulture, appears to have finally solved Marvel's famous villain problem.

The CGI in Marvel's movies hasn't always been as convincing as one might expect from a studio with essentially unlimited funds - the computer-assisted action sequences in Black Panther were that great movie's biggest weaknesses. But Thanos is a CGI revelation (helped by Josh Brolin's able performance), a figure of hulking size and strength whose face is capable of truly remarkable variation and subtlety. Marvel's CGI team succeeds in making every nuance of emotion play across Thanos' impressively expressive face.

But more impressive than the technical achievement is the emotional one. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo (who got promoted to the big franchise after helming the exceptional Captain America installments Winter Soldier and Civil War) and credited screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are able to turn the genocidal "Mad Titan" into an impressively sympathetic figure. Thanos gets his own twisted hero's journey in Infinity War: an origin story and call to action, a comprehensible goal and motivation, seemingly impossible-to-overcome obstacles and, in one of the movie's most emotionally resonant scenes, a heartbreaking sacrifice that results in extraordinary pain.

There's a surprising lack of cruelty to Thanos, this genocidal villain who willingly murders and tortures to get what he wants. There's not even the kind of matter-of-fact apathy to his actions that you see from the usual businesslike, cold-blooded professional bad guy in other movies. Thanos believes so deeply in his cause and speaks of it with such genuine emotion that the bloody steps he takes to further it seem (in the character's eyes, at least) believably necessary.

And all of the time spent investing in Thanos' motivations pays off with a final shot that is simultaneously jaw dropping and gently peaceful.

In every moment of Infinity War there is a sense of extraordinarily talented people doing their job well and with great seriousness, both behind the camera and in front of it. Chris Hemsworth deserves special praise for his work here - he could very easily have settled into the expected bland blond brick groove after the original Thor, but instead developed into a reliable comedic talent, and indeed carries much of Infinity War with both his comedic timing and his emotional range. Hemsworth manages to mine genuine hilarity from his scenes while still conveying the weariness and melancholy of someone who has lost everyone he has ever cared about.

There are so many other great performances: Robert Downey Jr provides his usual dynamite work as a more evolved, weary and wary Tony Stark, Tom Holland believably sells Spider-Man's enthusiasm and, especially in one heartbreaking scene, frightened youth, Zoe Saldana persuasively conveys Gamora's conflicted emotions as the adopted daughter of Thanos and so on and so on. The Marvel chain has no weak links.

That consistent excellence and care is what stands out about Infinity War and, indeed, the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. Infinity War isn't without its flaws - Thanos' cadre of spooky henchmen is mostly under-developed, and none of the action sequences in the movie reach true greatness. But it is striking just how deeply everyone involved with Infinity War cared about getting it right. No one is here just to cash a check, though the checks are staggeringly large. In a genre that's still fighting for respectability, even while dominating the box office, none of these stars is just marking time in a silly superhero movie until a "serious" role comes along.

Getting Infinity War wrong would have been so easy, and getting it right must have been incredibly hard. The fact that the Russo brothers and everyone involved did get it so right is a reflection of the great talent of the creative team, yes. But it's also a reflection of how seriously they took the task, how hard they were willing to work at it and how profoundly they respected their audience.

Avengers: Infinity War is more than just a great movie, then: it's an admirable one.




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