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.
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