A Movie Review #2 - Avengers Infinity War

Destiny still arrives.

As a long time comic book reader, I have seen Iron Man start from 2008 till today (a decade and 18 movies later) when an entire generation of superheroes ripped from the pages to the big screen have arrived.

It is with intrigue and interest as I watched what was the first ever proper event comic book-to-movie translation in all of cinematic history. It’s a staple in comic books to do one such event every few years (though the frequency is increasing in an irritable way) but for mainstream movie watching, this was an entirely new experience.

I have always held that the episodic format suits this form of storytelling more, with cliffhangers and longer overall durations, with tangential arcs bouncing off each other. But Marvel took a wonderful risk despite selling their big stars, and it paid off. Comic book movies, started proper since X-Men and Spiderman in the early 2000s, were now a regular blockbuster event.

Infinity War is a culmination of long form storytelling. Unlike the first two Avengers movies or even Civil War (which was basically a Avengers 2.5 movie), this relies insanely on how you have approached this universe and all the movies tied in to it. Have you seen all 18? Do you know all your heroes? All your infinity stones?

I don’t think there is any movie in history that could match up to this one in terms of novelty and expanse.

WHAT IS THE WAR ABOUT? SPOILERSSSSSSS!!!!

In a similar way to how Infinity Gauntlet the comic book event started, we find figure of great might crash into Dr Strange’s Sanctum shouting out that Thanos is coming. It’s intriguing how after years of shadow movement, we find a lucid Thanos - one that shows off both might and resolve. Xandar is gone, Asgard and its people are gone, Thor floating in space accompanied by his dead brother while as a last act, Heimdall casts Hulk to Earth to warn the Avengers. From here, three plot points begin - Titan, Earth and Nidavellier. I won’t go into specific plot points as much as I want to focus on the core themes.

One is Love. As in the original where it was Thanos’s love for Death that instigated everything, here it is Gamora who is both the boon and bane when it comes to love. Peter Quill will possibly be the most hated character coming out of this movie, as in a moment of emotional outburst, he gives Thanos a reprieve when all was lost for him - while Thanos himself is able to use the love for his step daughter to gain an elusive stone for his Gauntlet. There are other elements of love as well, seen in a very underdeveloped manner for Wanda and Vision. Theirs is a relationship only comic book readers will be able to link to, but with no prelude the general audience and MCU faithful will be left cold, and that hampered my enjoyment of a very critical moment in the movie

Thanos is changed very much in a fashion, but his core obsession with balance is still the same. He is everyone who is afraid that overpopulation will ruin the universe, as it is finite while growth is not. Malthusian folly aside, it’s not something to sneer off as evil - it has weight and Thanos carries it well. He does care but he is too determined to ensure that the universe gets its judgement - and in the process, commits the sin of self aggrandizement. While in the end he achieves what he wanted (remove half the population of the universe), who knows the consequences that plague his mind. It’s a well-developed character we see here, though due to the nature of the movie, it still comes across as without a proper foundation.

Besides this, Obsession is there for both Strange and Stark, who manifest it in different way. Strange is fixed on saving the Time Stone at the cost of everything else, including human lives before he relents and finds a game plan where human life may be the key to saving everything - while Stark has been haunted by Thanos’s arrival since New York and juggles between his mortality and resolve to stop the incoming blight. Thor has a crucial journey as well which links back to the start of Ragnarok - he is trying to find who he is, and his efforts to obtain the Stormbreaker and almost deny Thanos a chance at rest curtails what was uptil the end phrase an interesting revenge and redemption drama. A continuation of this may occur in the next movie with the Thunder God’s survival, but for now it is at a pause.

Hulk and Bruce Banner though come across as contrived from the start. Early on, Hulk is bested by Thanos and retreats, never coming out again over the entire movie. We are meant to take this as a sign of Thanos’s power but it is odd that the Powerhouse of the Avengers goes out so meekly. It is nice to see Puny Banner Smash for a few minutes in the Hulkbuster suit, but the moment never comes across as earned.

Now I come to Peter Quill and Gamora, probably the two most important chess pieces in this movie, and both are not favorably seen. While the Guardians suffer a lot throughout the movie, with flat humour, Peter bears the worst of it. He’s petulant, jealous, idiotic and undermines the entire storyline becoming a plot device that ensures Thanos’s victory. Gamora is a wonderful revelation though it's more about how she is relevant to other people that defines her - Thanos’s and Peter's love for her, her death shows how intertwined she is to the Titan’s journey. Do not be surprised if Nebula plays a crucial role in the ending to the next movie - we got hints that she tried to kill Thanos and almost succeeded and the sisterly bond has grown stronger. I wouldn’t expect Gamora to come back, especially when the Soul Stone is concerned as there are interesting stories to explore. The next GOG movie needs to explore Peter’s destructive actions in this movie and guilt over her death will help.

The others are just there to make up the numbers, with no proper character plot involved. Black Widow, Black Panther, Cap, Falcon, War Machine, Winter Soldier (now White Wolf) on Earth, Spiderman on Titan and most of the Guardians are just there for some good action moments and quips.

Coming to the villains, beyond Thanos - the movie is notorious in how it deals with his minions. One dimensional, they are just there to delay the inevitable and somehow fails which begets the story again of our journey till here, why does Thanos trust anyone to do anything when he does everything in the end. The Black Order is served terribly in the movie.

But what this movie shows is that it’s possible to take something that seems to have been unfilmable, and if not that, niche at best - into a blockbuster raking in billions of dollars across the globe while getting critical acclaim.

THE COMIC BOOK READER’S THOUGHTS

The placement of the remaining heroes is intriguing and in some respects meta. It’s almost all the original Avengers who remain, with anyone introduced post the first Avengers movie turning to dust - a swansong in the next movie for this team may be at hand. I expect Loki and Heimdall to remain dead post the next movie, as Asgard mythos is discarded but that makes me intrigued to see where Thor goes from here. Maybe we will see Jane Foster again?

Tom Hiddleton was wonderful as Loki, but I think it’s time to say goodbye. He completed his heroic journey and it was sad to see him go - and that’s how it should be. As for Gamora, I fully believe she is now trapped in the Soul World (inside the Soul Gem) and given what I know of the Soul World and Adam Warlock, I can predict a bit about what the next GOG movie will involve. So nope, Gamora is not revived at the end of the next movie. All three main non-Gauntlet deaths are permanent in my book.

Coming to the dust deaths, I did like how Peter got vaporised. Even though we know all of these deaths will be reversed, it was saddening to see my favorite superhero cry out in hopeless anguish even as he faded away in front of his horrified ‘Avengers dad’ Tony Stark.

I was always expecting Nebula to survive (as she was key in the comic book event to stopping Thanos) and Thanos to kill half the universe by the end of the movie, but the journey changed in intriguing directions and made it that much interesting. There will be more deaths in the follow up (I expect either Tony or Steve to bite it, or both) which will be permanent - but as this movie has shown, the journey takes importance. And that is where it will shine.

IN SUMMARY

This is the first comic book event movie of all time. And in that, praise can never be high enough. I am glad Marvel came to this juncture, and whether or not the film is a masterpiece is irrelevant…it is a milestone for the comic book industry and movie industry.

I would give this a 8 out of 10

+Thanos is wonderfully multi dimensional
+Interplay between some characters (especially Stark and Strange) was wonderful
+Beautiful action scenes, especially the ones on Titan
+Stephen Strange proves to be the MVP of the movie and carries it well

-It was a little cramped, with emotional moments feeling unearned and rushed
-EVERYTHING STARLORD DID (horribly used plot device at times)
-Hulk’s journey felt contrived
-The Black Order could have been developed better