Arts & Life, Film & Television

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ delivers amusing action despite annoying mistakes

The newest output from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not likely to convert anyone who detests superhero movies. “Avengers: Infinity War” is, for the most part, more of the same from Marvel Studios; enjoyable but frustratingly flawed.

It begins at the end of a battle as Thanos, a large and grimacing computer effect played by Josh Brolin, is on the attack in search of the Infinity Stones — six gems which grant unlimited power to any being who wields them all simultaneously. His goal with this power is to wipe out half of the life across all existence, a move which Thanos claims will improve life on every planet.

To my surprise, Thanos ends up being much more complicated than Marvel’s previous villains.

Like Erik Stevens in “Black Panther,” Thanos has been set off by a real problem. He claims there are too many mouths to feed and not enough resources to go around. Thanos is the good guy in his story, and those are the best villains because they’re thought provoking. He’s still a villain though, because of that whole mass murder thing.

This threat draws the attention of nearly every Avenger, so if you have a favorite you’re in luck — almost all of them show up ready for a superpowered smackdown. The filmmakers do a good job at giving everyone a moment to shine in the fight, but not so much at actually developing anyone except Thanos. They can afford to get away with the lack of character development because this movie’s predecessors did most of that work for them. Viewers are here for payoff in the form of a two-hour spectacle, and at that it delivers.

There are attempts to flesh out some of other the characters, such as Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord, but his arc feels like a rehash of what was done in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” This movie is at its best when characters are split off into fighting bad guys alongside heroes they’ve never interacted with before. The movie benefits from the novelty of odd sights such as seeing a Norse god, a talking raccoon and his sentient tree sidekick going on a side-quest in space.

“Infinity War” works because it rewards the audience for being attentive viewers of this and every other Marvel movie. Sights that would otherwise draw a shrug are exciting because of the previous eighteen installments.

Its status as “yet another Marvel movie” is a strength in these respects. The producers have the resources to draw world-class talent behind and in front of the camera. Peter Dinklage is the only person who noticeably appeared bored, sounding as if he were instructed to read lines off of a paper with no direction beyond “do a really deep voice” for his role as a giant dwarf.

Unfortunately that status is also to its detriment. “Infinity War” manages to have an interesting villain, but every other Marvel movie trope is proudly on display. The most irritating of these tropes are the jokes.

As per usual, important scenes are interrupted for the sake of humor. I didn’t find many of these attempts at comedy very funny, but others may disagree. Regardless, plenty of these jokes are unnecessary, killing drama for the sake of a meaningless laugh. This is most evident with Stan Lee’s cameo, which derails an entire scene for a punchline before awkwardly attempting to shift back to the action.

What happens in the movie is largely good though. Everything looks nice, the action scenes are easy to follow and the film ends with some major changes that were breathtaking and brutal. Whether I feel the same way about this movie will depend on how the next Avengers film builds upon what happened in “Infinity War,” as the two were announced and produced as a two-part film.

It’s a shame that the filmmakers continue to present fighting as the only way to solving an issue, but that’s to be expected. Thanos brings up an issue which, if solved through something such as science or magic, could get rid of the threat he poses. That could be addressed in the follow-up Avengers movie but for now it just feels like a missed opportunity at doing something different in one of these movies. “Infinity War” delivers at being a fun action flick, but don’t expect it to bypass most of the usual critiques for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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