Avengers: Infinity War

All 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have led up to this point. After a build-up spanning 18 films, Avengers: Infinity War has finally hit theaters, promising the greatest on-screen superhero extravaganza yet. Dozens of Marvel heroes are slated to take on Thanos, the biggest, baddest villain in the series who has slowly increased his sinister presence as the MCU has progressed. So, does this film live up to the hype? Have the years of build-up led to a satisfying conclusion?

At the most basic level, the answer to this question is yes. As we’ve come to expect from Marvel, they’ve churned out yet another competently directed and well acted superhero film. We get to see all our favorite heroes come together on-screen, and watch as they combine their powers to take on a common villain. Skirmishes and small battles happen throughout that lead to an epic climax, and you get fair doses of humor injected throughout (though more hit-or-miss than in recent films) that you’ve come to expect from the MCU. With all these elements one would expect an entertaining film, and for the most part it is, but there is something noticeably lacking in the film that makes the overall experience feel hollow. That something is a lack of character development.

A lack of character development is not all that surprising for a movie of this scope. When there are this many characters in a film and only a limited amount of screen time, it is nearly impossible to add any characterization and depth to the heroes. Take Black Panther for example, a character who recently debuted his own solo film. While that movie spent two hours developing him as a capable but troubled character, in Infinity War he is reduced to shouting war chants as he leads his people to war. Just like many other heroes in the film he is just another token in the grand array of characters, and as a result there is less emotional impact when the more emotionally stirring scenes start to roll. In fact, in some cases I found myself not caring outright what happened to a character.

Thanos is a mediocre villain as well. Though there has been some setup for him in the post-credits scenes of previous Marvel films, it has been far from enough, and when he shows up in the first scene of the film we barely get any introduction of him save repeated forced statements from different characters stating that he can “destroy half the universe at a snap of his fingers.” For most of the film we see him taking a back seat as he sends his minions after the Infinity Stones, and when he does show up there is nothing besides his gauntlet that makes him come off as intimidating. In fact, the use of the gauntlet decreases the stakes in a way as there is an inevitable sense that he will come out victorious. You feel at times that there is no point for the heroes to fight at all.

Overall though, this is probably as good a job as could have been done. When making a spectacle such as Infinity War with so many different parts and pieces needing to come together, it is unavoidable to sacrifice certain elements of standard film-making, and in this film character development is given up to accommodate the array of characters. Even though this film isn’t a brilliant piece of story and characterization, it wasn’t conceived to be so, and I’m sure fans will walk home ignoring this and feeling satisfied by yet another outing of their favorite heroes.

Grade: B-

Photo credits: http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Avengers:_Infinity_War