Avengers: Infinity WarAn unbreakable conviction may be the firmament of conquest, but runs counter to the values humanity upholds about life. Avengers: Infinity War is a superhero movie that brings to the forefront the long-awaited emergence of the most notorious supervillain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Thanos (Josh Brolin). The purpose of Thanos's cataclysmic invasion is to claim the panoply of "Infinity Stones", cosmic artifacts born from the creation of the universe, and his horrifying endgame is to assemble the stones and wipe out half of the life in the universe. The war that follows becomes as much a clash of ideologies as it is a fight for survival of epic proportions.
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Avengers: Infinity War is a culmination of the films that have preceded it, while defying conventions established from earlier entries. (As a capstone film for the long-running series of interconnected films, several events dramatically alter the face of the MCU, which I will avoid revealing.) It deals with complex and abstract themes like the inevitability of death in ways that few to no superhero movies approach. (Marvel Comics had a reputation for resurrecting characters so often that the joke was that the only character who stayed dead was Uncle Ben.) But Thanos's debut makes it evident that he is holding all of the cards, and makes or breaks the rules as he sees fit--it's already Thanos's universe, and everyone else is just living in it. His name is a derivation of "Thanatos", the Ancient Greek god of death, and Thanos believes it is his destiny and moral imperative to cull half of the population of the entire universe. His reasoning stems from a profound belief that overpopulation reduces the quality of life for all, and that maintaining his draconian perception of "balance" ensures that the survivors are able to enjoy a veritable paradise. Thanos is possesses a level of power that is beyond the capabilities of anyone to challenge--he is already a veritable god, and that doesn't even take his iconic "Infinity Gauntlet" into consideration, designed to house and control the gems he seeks. For all intents and purposes, Avengers: Infinity War treats Thanos as the embodiment of death--a challenge that the heroes are unprepared to face by conventional means. Even more than his overflowing power, what makes Thanos truly dangerous is his conviction that he is doing what is right. He sees himself as the hero in his own story, and subsequently avoids falling into supervillain cliches or rehashing the motivations of prior MCU antagonists.
One of the obvious challenges in portraying a gigantic, purple alien in shiny gold armor collecting space stones is how to do so in a way that not only avoids making him ridiculous, but also underscores what he represents in a meaningful way. Thanos is intelligent and yet soft-spoken for a villain, even full of regret and remorse for the "burden" he carries--the high cost of his ambition. Most surprising of all, Thanos has love in his heart, even if it is catastrophically misguided. He is a native of the planet of Titan--as opposed to Saturn's moon--where he witnessed his civilization crumble under the weight of its own populous. The MCU shares precious little about how Thanos rose to become the dark emperor of the stars, but it is reasonable to assume that his relentless will guided him to the power he desired to remake reality--reasonable in a universe where a man can install an arc reactor in his chest, or another can be thawed out after decades of cryogenic sleep. Despite its almost three hour running time, Avengers: Infinity War is a surprisingly lean movie. A few moments of interpersonal interactions between characters is just enough connective tissue to link together what is probably the most sophisticated display of computer-generated special effects ever produced for a movie. In the interest of avoiding any specifics--difficult with a beloved franchise in an age where spoilers abound--the earth-shattering aftermath of the film's climax emphasizes that the scale of power has escalated to a truly cosmic level. With few exceptions, all of the key players from the MCU fight against Thanos on whatever front they can, recalling "crossover events" that became milestone moments in Marvel Comics. Part of the excitement of this comes from seeing characters from one series team up with others in unforeseen ways, and shuffling rosters mean new ideas and input--sometimes advantageous, sometimes less so.
Thanos's campaign parallels the creation of the Avengers, employing his own quartet of super-powered subordinates--called the "Children of Thanos"--to harry Earth's mightiest heroes. Like Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Thanos is "cursed by knowledge", and has a mastery over his resources to make his vision a reality. And like Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), he fosters a cult of personality among his followers, ensuring their loyalty despite Thanos's mission to indiscriminately wipe out half of all life--potentially including them as well. Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Earth's defenders are in disarray; conversely, Thanos and his clan are organized and unified. The good guys are faced with fighting a war on multiple fronts, and are stretched thin from the beginning of Thanos's invasion. Each victory for Thanos--measured by the acquisition of a new Infinity Stone--makes their battle exponentially all the more impossible. Despair and failure are core motifs in Avengers: Infinity War, and constantly threaten to destabilize the Avengers et al at any given moment. Thanos's delivers the first of many demoralizing speeches with a beaten Thor (Chris Hemsworth), describing the terrible feeling of failure and how alarming it is to be confronted with defeat, despite the vindication one has in their convictions. In another superhero movie, this would foreshadow the villain's hubris, and be an ironic epitaph once good triumphs over evil. But Avengers: Infinity War is a cautionary tale about the consequences of ignoring atrocities on the horizon, like the one Thanos advocates. It is the same lack of foresight that has allowed some of history's most notorious tyrants and killers to flourish, including Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden. The Avengers "broke up" after the fallout from Captain America: Civil War, while other heroes like Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Bruce Banner a.k.a. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) faced their own individual demons. In that time, no one in the universe with the power to prevent Thanos's ascension did so, as they were so preoccupied with their individual concerns. This is why Thanos becomes an inevitable catastrophe or like a force of nature, ravaging the unprepared. And the relevance of these individual concerns are as dust when the welfare of the entire universe is confronted with such a primal and dispassionate entity--a literal god of death.
Recommended for: Fans of the collective Marvel films first and foremost, as well as an audience predisposed to a film that combines Armageddon-level disasters with action, suspense, pathos, and even rare comedy in as tight of a package as they come. Fans of the long-running series of Marvel movies will no doubt be left aghast at the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War, unquestionably the bleakest chapter in the franchise.
One of the obvious challenges in portraying a gigantic, purple alien in shiny gold armor collecting space stones is how to do so in a way that not only avoids making him ridiculous, but also underscores what he represents in a meaningful way. Thanos is intelligent and yet soft-spoken for a villain, even full of regret and remorse for the "burden" he carries--the high cost of his ambition. Most surprising of all, Thanos has love in his heart, even if it is catastrophically misguided. He is a native of the planet of Titan--as opposed to Saturn's moon--where he witnessed his civilization crumble under the weight of its own populous. The MCU shares precious little about how Thanos rose to become the dark emperor of the stars, but it is reasonable to assume that his relentless will guided him to the power he desired to remake reality--reasonable in a universe where a man can install an arc reactor in his chest, or another can be thawed out after decades of cryogenic sleep. Despite its almost three hour running time, Avengers: Infinity War is a surprisingly lean movie. A few moments of interpersonal interactions between characters is just enough connective tissue to link together what is probably the most sophisticated display of computer-generated special effects ever produced for a movie. In the interest of avoiding any specifics--difficult with a beloved franchise in an age where spoilers abound--the earth-shattering aftermath of the film's climax emphasizes that the scale of power has escalated to a truly cosmic level. With few exceptions, all of the key players from the MCU fight against Thanos on whatever front they can, recalling "crossover events" that became milestone moments in Marvel Comics. Part of the excitement of this comes from seeing characters from one series team up with others in unforeseen ways, and shuffling rosters mean new ideas and input--sometimes advantageous, sometimes less so.
Thanos's campaign parallels the creation of the Avengers, employing his own quartet of super-powered subordinates--called the "Children of Thanos"--to harry Earth's mightiest heroes. Like Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Thanos is "cursed by knowledge", and has a mastery over his resources to make his vision a reality. And like Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), he fosters a cult of personality among his followers, ensuring their loyalty despite Thanos's mission to indiscriminately wipe out half of all life--potentially including them as well. Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Earth's defenders are in disarray; conversely, Thanos and his clan are organized and unified. The good guys are faced with fighting a war on multiple fronts, and are stretched thin from the beginning of Thanos's invasion. Each victory for Thanos--measured by the acquisition of a new Infinity Stone--makes their battle exponentially all the more impossible. Despair and failure are core motifs in Avengers: Infinity War, and constantly threaten to destabilize the Avengers et al at any given moment. Thanos's delivers the first of many demoralizing speeches with a beaten Thor (Chris Hemsworth), describing the terrible feeling of failure and how alarming it is to be confronted with defeat, despite the vindication one has in their convictions. In another superhero movie, this would foreshadow the villain's hubris, and be an ironic epitaph once good triumphs over evil. But Avengers: Infinity War is a cautionary tale about the consequences of ignoring atrocities on the horizon, like the one Thanos advocates. It is the same lack of foresight that has allowed some of history's most notorious tyrants and killers to flourish, including Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden. The Avengers "broke up" after the fallout from Captain America: Civil War, while other heroes like Peter Quill a.k.a. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Bruce Banner a.k.a. Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) faced their own individual demons. In that time, no one in the universe with the power to prevent Thanos's ascension did so, as they were so preoccupied with their individual concerns. This is why Thanos becomes an inevitable catastrophe or like a force of nature, ravaging the unprepared. And the relevance of these individual concerns are as dust when the welfare of the entire universe is confronted with such a primal and dispassionate entity--a literal god of death.
Recommended for: Fans of the collective Marvel films first and foremost, as well as an audience predisposed to a film that combines Armageddon-level disasters with action, suspense, pathos, and even rare comedy in as tight of a package as they come. Fans of the long-running series of Marvel movies will no doubt be left aghast at the aftermath of Avengers: Infinity War, unquestionably the bleakest chapter in the franchise.