Let’s be honest, directors Anthony and Joe Russo as well as producer Kevin Feige have painted themselves into a corner where Avengers: Infinity War is concerned. What with an 18 movie run-up to this event and more than 20 superheroes to juggle in a single film, is there really anyway this could live up to the lofty expectations they built?
The answer is a bit “yes” and a bit “no,” as this movie stumbles out of the gate with some clumsy exposition and prolonged fight scenes that awkwardly bring characters back on screen in clumsy team-ups and delay us from getting to the heart of the matter. The pace of the first hour is off, as much of it is empty bombast with all too brief moments to catch our breath. The secret to the success of the Marvel superhero movies is that they never give characterization short shrift. We care about the folks in the suits because we get to know them, see what makes them tick and come to care for them as a result. The Russo’s don’t get to scenes such as these until the final 90 minutes when “Infinity” finds its legs and gives us the poignancy we’ve come to expect from these films.
Thanos (Josh Brolin), the big bad who’s been lurking in the shadows throughout the Marvel movies, finally takes center stage and his quest is very simple. He’s in search of the six Infinity Stones that were birthed during the creation of the universe. Once in possession of them, he will be able to reshape reality, his intention being to kill half of its living beings in order to achieve balance. Haunted by his inaction in the past, he reasons that our resources are finite and that overpopulation will drain them far too fast.
What with the stones scattered across the universe, various combinations of heroes take off to get them before Thanos and his minions can. Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Rocket Raccoon (voice by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) take off in one direction, Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista) head off on another, while Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson), the Vision (Paul Bettany) and the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) get together to defend the Earth and the two stones present there.
The stakes are higher here and the tone is much darker than previous Marvel movies, making the jokes we’ve come to expect in them seem out of place. Many meetings we’ve longed for land with a thud as the irreverent humor that has become a trademark of these movies simply falls flat. As a result, Star Lord’s charm and Thor’s goofy persona don’t fit here and any attempts to include them and other humorous moments should have been abandoned.