So here we are; nineteen films into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and quite unexpectedly Avengers: Infinity War, the biggest team-up to date and part one of the supposed culmination to the overarching story, is not a total disaster. In fact, far from it. The most telling reason why is the presence of the Guardians of the Galaxy cast and their prominence in the film – they're not the lead characters, no-one is really, but considering their previous separate existence they get a solid amount of screen time here. Expectedly this thoroughly ups the entertainment factor, providing loads of humour and allowing for more fantastical off-Earth scenes. Most of the Marvel films have become oh so serious, so the presence of Rocket, Groot, Drax, Star Lord and Gamora just raises the spirits of the viewer (unless you actually dislike these characters!), offering more snarky wit. Equally, the involvement of Dr Stephen Strange adds another dimension that was never previously present, and having now properly established the Spider-Man character in Homecoming ensures his role here is welcomed (rather than that awkward attempt to shoe-horn him in last time solely because the source material demanded it – one of the many failings of Civil War).
Whilst having all these characters on-board totally lifts Infinity War, it really emphasises just how unexciting it's become watching (almost all of) the core Avengers. Both Iron Man/Tony Stark and Captain America/Steve Rogers have become utterly boring characters – long gone is the joie de vivre and inspiring sense of duty. Now they're just tiredly written and tiredly acted, with both Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans clearly just going through the motions – a position they've been forced into over recent films. Thankfully they're overshadowed here. Similarly both Falcon and Rhodey, who were quickly assimilated into the group, offer little of anything, whilst Red Witch and Vision still seem out of place having never been portrayed interestingly. The ploy of playing Hulk/Bruce Banner off against how he was used in Thor: Ragnarok does work, and speaking of Thor, he still remains the best and most interesting of this group.
The big surprise here is Thanos. The way things usually roll with anthropomorphised-but-not-quite-human CGI villains is an awkward attempt at believability, thus they lack any real perception of threat let alone anything for the viewer to grasp onto. Something about this character still doesn't seem right visually, however he's really well written and voiced – Josh Brolin offers a strong sense of pathos that makes him a little more erudite and thoughtful than the bombastic all-destroying villain he'd been billed as. This makes him all the more interesting as it's possible to see his point of view, taking it beyond the usual megalomania of ruling the world and destroying it just because.
The big surprise here is Thanos. The way things usually roll with anthropomorphised-but-not-quite-human CGI villains is an awkward attempt at believability, thus they lack any real perception of threat let alone anything for the viewer to grasp onto. Something about this character still doesn't seem right visually, however he's really well written and voiced – Josh Brolin offers a strong sense of pathos that makes him a little more erudite and thoughtful than the bombastic all-destroying villain he'd been billed as. This makes him all the more interesting as it's possible to see his point of view, taking it beyond the usual megalomania of ruling the world and destroying it just because.
Infinity War is a film led by a continual march of action scenes, none of which astound or offer anything new, but all prove enjoyable (typical modern blockbuster!). However it's when it pulls back to the characters new to the Avengers films that it really flies. It's just a shame that since the first phase of films the core Earth-bound characters have been written into such dull story lines that they've become a chore to watch (yes there is something interesting in the relevance of heroes and who they are accountable too, just not in the approach that's been taken). And the problem with this number of characters means the newer ones whom people might want to see, like Black Panther / King T'Challa, are given short thrift. Nonetheless Infinity War proves to be the most enjoyable team-up yet in this series, concluding in the way you don't actually expect it will, even if the ultimate resolution in next year's part four is kind of obvious. So it's third time lucky for the Russo brothers making an interesting film in this series – but had Joss Whedon gotten a third go, would he have been blessed with such luck too?
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