The Marvel Cinematic Universe would not have become the most commercially successful film series in history if its creators had not, from time to time, been willing to experiment with style and content. Among those experiments, a key role was played by an interesting narrative structure, whereby the series consisted of several sub-series devoted to individual superheroes who would only come together in special event films, guaranteed to draw revenue from several different fan bases. The formula, first applied in The Avengers in 2012, does not guarantee success in itself – as Warner Bros. and DC Comics discovered in 2017, when their attempt to copy the same model with Justice League ended in a fiasco. Even before that, Marvel itself had a similar experience: Avengers: Age of Ultron, the second big gathering of the Avengers, was one of the weakest films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For the third film, therefore, something new had to be attempted, and one of Marvel’s moves was to replace Joss Whedon, who had to hand the directorial reins over to brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, who had made a solid impression with the mini-gathering of the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War. Their task in the new film was delicate, given that it was intended not only as a new Avengers blockbuster but also as a kind of grand finale to the series. In keeping with today’s Hollywood customs, that grand finale was too big for a single film and was split into two parts, which – with the obligatory cliffhanger – were to be released a year apart. The moment for the first part arrived at the start of the 2018 Hollywood summer season under the title Infinity War.
Over the previous ten years and eighteen films, Marvel’s superheroes had faced all manner of megalomaniacs, alien rulers, deities and similar scum who threatened to destroy New York, Earth and various universes, but none could match Thanos in terms of the power at his disposal and his destructive intentions. The intergalactic warlord had been, for the most part implicitly, suggested and foreshadowed in previous films as the greatest and most spectacular challenge for the protagonists, and when he finally appears at the start of Infinity War, expectations are even exceeded. The spaceship carrying refugees from the destroyed Asgard is captured by Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his minions, and Hulk and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) prove completely powerless, unable to prevent Thanos from starting an orgy of killing among a crowd of innocent people. This is only the beginning of the realisation of Thanos’s diabolical plans, which encompass the entire universe and require him first to acquire all six Infinity Stones, which grant their owner control over power, mind, soul, reality, space and time. Hulk manages to reach New York and tries to warn Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) of what is coming, and the Avengers mobilise to resist Thanos’s unstoppable hordes and prevent him from getting his hands on the Stones. To that end, they are forced to split into several groups and travel to several different planets, where all their powers and character will be put to the test – a test from which many, perhaps all, may not come out alive.
Given a whole decade of promotional build-up for the series’ grand finale, the creators of Infinity War did not have to try very hard if they wanted it to be crowned with box-office records. Fortunately, that did not stop them from actually making an effort, learning from the mistakes of their own and other franchises – above all those of the DC Extended Universe and the last, ill-fated Star Wars trilogy. The fundamental challenge for the new Avengers instalment was to avoid repetition, that is, to offer the audience something that – unlike other franchises – would neither be too experimental nor feel like an endless rehash of the same thing. In this case, that is reflected in the decision not to assemble the Avengers in the literal sense; instead, they are divided into three different groups waging their own battles in different worlds. The narrative structure is thus “borrowed” from The Empire Strikes Back, the film from the original Star Wars trilogy with which Infinity War is often compared by critics and cinephiles. This not only makes it easier for the audience to follow the plot – including the spectacular action scenes – but also allows the film to display variety in set design, costumes and general atmosphere, as well as offering far more opportunities to demonstrate the capabilities of modern CGI technology in depicting alien ships and worlds.
Infinity War also shares another important detail with The Empire Strikes Back, one that sets it apart from nearly every other film in the series. Given that the big showdown must surpass all that came before, the stakes must also be higher, and the audience must be made to understand that some of the usual rules no longer apply. Right from the start, we see not only that Thanos is invincible and unstoppable, but also that characters whose deaths were unthinkable in any other film will fall as his collateral victims. The killing of characters – regardless of how popular they are among fans or how prominent a place they occupy on the poster – continues throughout the film, culminating in a spectacular finale with a mass slaughter and one of the darkest and most depressing cliffhangers in film history, in which the embodiment of genocidal Evil achieves an almost complete victory.
The Russo brothers were also fortunate that the script gave them one of the most impressive villains in film history. Thanos stands out not only for the top-notch CGI that makes his figure – physically larger than the wretched, powerless Avengers – utterly convincing, but also for the superb performance of Josh Brolin, an actor who has often been unlucky in his choice of roles but for whom this hyper-villain role represents a career high. Thanos is also one of the best-conceived and best-written villains in recent memory. Unlike most cinematic bad guys, his crimes are motivated by something more complex and “purer” than dark passions; behind them lies a certain worldview and a conviction that he is doing everyone – including his victims – a favour. What makes Thanos frightening is not only his willingness to show inconsistent and often irrational mercy, but also the fact that, if you think about it, he has equivalents in real life – and precisely in those offices and armchairs from which the greatest damage can be done. Thanos’s goal, in fact, is not fundamentally different from the goal espoused by many nominal supporters of Greta Thunberg – although, unlike Thanos, they are neither able nor willing to admit that, in achieving it, they would be as apocalyptically consistent as the main antagonist of Infinity War.
Infinity War is on the whole a very good film that will achieve its aim and provide the audience with a solid two and a half hours of entertainment. However, that entertainment will be limited exclusively to an audience that was already willing to shovel its money into Marvel’s pockets. Because it relies on already established characters and has no time for their personal problems, Infinity War is comprehensible only to viewers who have seen most, if not all, of the films in the Marvel series. Moreover, the occasional – and often not entirely successful – attempts to offset the dark atmosphere with humour sometimes come across as “fan service” bordering on bad taste, one example being the casting of Peter Dinklage in an otherwise entertaining and spectacular scene. Some scenes stray into melodramatic territory, and one might say the same even of the finale, where some viewers will find the rather too obvious “cliffhanger” and the preparation for the second half a bit grating. Still, in the end, one must acknowledge that Marvel has succeeded in what has become an impossible mission for some once-untouchable franchises like Star Wars.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version is available here.)
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