Avengers:Infinity War is simply a marvel

It doesn’t seem like ten years since Marvel took a gamble on Iron Man (2008) and launched what became the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And let’s not forget that it was a gamble; Iron Man was not a big-selling character with little in the way of an external profile, and its star was a man with a history of substance abuse, imprisonment, and other issues that had made him almost unemployable.

It was a big win for all concerned. Marvel emerged as a major studio while Robert Downey Jr. became the highest paid star in Hollywood and the linchpin of what became known as the MCU. Simply put Iron Man was a game changer and now ten years and 19 films later Avengers: Infinity War changes the game again.

I had always felt that the audience would grow tired of superhero movies for their own sake. The tagline for Superman (1978) was ‘You’ll believe a man can fly’ and we did, and that was the appeal. The superb performance by Christopher Reeve was a bonus.

Now we believe not only that a man can fly but also that he can shoot webs, burst into flames, emit power beams from his eyes, and do all manner of things. And what’s more we are pretty well inured to the magic of CGI now too. However, this film does manage to test the bounds of credulity with one scene in which a train is seen running through Waverley Station late at night; I know this is fantasy but, come on.

Anyway, in some respects there are parallels here with early cinema. The first ten years of moving pictures is characterised by the film historian Tom Gunning as ‘The Cinema of Attractions’. Simply, audiences were fascinated merely by the fact that they could see things move. Very quickly the attraction paled and they wanted more; in this case narrative. So the story film was born and cinema as we know it developed from there.

That, to me, is pretty much where we are now with the MCU, the DCU and even the Star Wars Universe. We are all spectacled out, we have become bored with sensation and we want a bit of substance. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) was probably peak superhero for its own sake. I remember one scene in that film in which a whole country was being levitated and I neither knew why nor cared.

Now we want more; the super heroics are just another plot strand. Hence Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) becomes a high school movie, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) is a satirical comedy, and Black Panther (2018) is about racial empowerment.

In those terms Infinity War is the most ambitious and sophisticated film that Marvel has attempted. It is, for the most part, a triumph and the perfect way to mark the tenth anniversary of the MCU. It is a film about sacrifice and the nature of heroism; how much of what you love are you prepared to give up in achieving it?

What strikes you most is the scope and ambition of the piece. It is epic in almost every sense. Every significant MCU character is here – with two notable exceptions – and it’s a story that spans time and space. My fear for the film was that it would be over-stuffed but even with, by my count, 27 principal characters there’s little sense of people vying for screen time.

Credit must be given to screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley for the way they have handled the plot. The structure is an old-fashioned comic book trope in that the heroes are split into teams, sent across the universe on a quest, and then brought back for the big finale – Gardner Fox pioneered this in the Justice Society of America comics in the 40s and revived it with the Justice League in the Sixties. This makes the transitions between the scenes easier since the episodic nature and the fades to black mean you don’t have to worry too much about continuity editing; it’s like each quest is a mini movie.

The plot is essentially a treasure hunt. Thanos, the all-powerful ruler of Titan, wants control of the six Infinity Stones scattered across the galaxies – including parts of Edinburgh – so he can enact his plan to save the universe. Kudos to the production designers who have done a superb job in differentiating the locations, so you have no problem in orienting yourself; a major concern in a story this big.

The MCU has had a bit of an issue with satisfactory villains but Thanos delivers the goods. He’s a Nero-like figure; a tyrant who believes he is an artist and actually doing good. His lunatic plan has an underpinning of logic, albeit a twisted logic, and this allows Josh Brolin (above) to bring some nuance to the character. His Thanos operates with a great deal of forbearance; the Marvel heroes don’t really know what they’re doing in his eyes so they’re not wrong, just misguided.

The breadth and depth of the conflict throws up some surprises. Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) turns out to be a lot more pivotal than perhaps you might have thought, and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who has veered between a drunk and a blowhard in previous movies, is finally treated here with the power and majesty he deserves. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man also does well, and Mark Ruffalo brings an interesting dimension to his Hulk.

The pace of the film is impeccably managed. The rhythm of Markus and McFeeley’s script allows moments of humour and pathos between the action scenes. The battle sequences themselves are directed with deceptive ease by the Russo brothers in a manner that looks exactly like the best of Marvel’s comics output.

The two and a half hour running time flies in and even though this is only the first half of a longer story, there is a sense of completeness about it. There is the cliff-hanger to end all cliff-hangers but there is also hope which comes in a post-credits sequence which absolutely should not be missed.