For ten years and 19 installments, Marvel has effectively been making the same film. With a couple of exceptions, notably Black Panther, each film has a wise-cracking hero saving the world from destruction by a power-mad villain. We always know who will win and who will live. Avengers: Infinity War uses largely the same playbook, but with the last few pages ripped out. Intended as a capper to everything that’s happened so far, a wipe of the Marvel Cinemantic Universe slate, Infinity War can kill as it pleases. And it pleases a lot.
The story, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, brings all the franchise's major heroes together in a mission to stop the destruction of everything by a big, purple, scrotal-chinned pain called Thanos. Thanos has loomed over the Marvel films since The Avengers and a mostly dull loom it’s been. He’s occasionally appeared from the shadows, assembled from gradually improving CG, to talk about gathering the "Infinity Stones" (jewels created in the Big Bang, which hold the power to control time, reality and everything else) in order to destroy Earth. We were told he is the scariest foe there is, but he didn’t seem it. Miraculously, drawn into the spotlight he’s exposed not as just another pixelated monster, but the best villain of the entire Marvel universe. As a CG creation he’s the most real since Lord Of The Rings’ Gollum, but it’s who he is that’s more interesting. Thanos has a plan to destroy “half the world” that is at once mad, vengeful and oddly charitable. He’s trying to save the world, in his mind, by breaking it. Helped by a weight-of-the-universe voice performance from Josh Brolin, Thanos is made into a character big and complex enough to anchor such a large film. He is its lead.
Making all of the current Marvel heroes into supporting characters has mixed, but mostly good, results. The first 90 minutes of the film have a mechanical feel, in terms of plotting. We need to see Thanos find each of the Infinity Stones and bring together the Avengers, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Wakandans, etc. That involves a lot of planet-hopping and battles we know won’t be won. The box-ticking is disguised by having a riotous amount of fun playing with new character combinations. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) snipe at each other in a constant genius-off. Starlord (Chris Pratt) pouts over his crew admiring Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) godly muscles. Okoye (Danai Gurira) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) become a fighting duo that needs its own spin-off. The actors are all so powerfully charismatic and the dialogue so good that it’s more fun just hanging out with them than watching them fight. A few get shortchanged, surprisingly including Captain America (Chris Evans), but most get their moment.
It’s in the last hour that Infinity War reaps the fruit of its labours. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War) construct an immensely exciting giant battle and distill years of investment into some heartbreaking deaths. One, losing a relatively minor character, is so sad the film needs a good ten minutes to recover. This might be considered a very minor spoiler, so stop here if especially sensitive, but it’s a shame that the fate of some characters in the otherwise emotional finale is undermined if you know anything about Marvel’s upcoming slate. It cushions the impact and gives us some unwanted clues to what will come in part two of this story, due in 2019. That fluff aside, this is Marvel doing the absolute best version of the formula it’s been criticised for overusing. They’ve blown it right up and now need to throw out that formula for good.
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