AVENGERS GET UPSIZED
Too much of a good thing? Marvel and Disney have never heard of the concept. As executors of the everexpanding MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), it wasn’t enough that this has been declared the “Year of Marvel”: huge box office for the likeably light and nutty
Thor: Ragnarok was followed by even huger box office for Black Panther, surprising everybody just a little; and this was then followed by another Avengers movie in April, Avengers: Infinity
War, which, if you’re keeping track, now includes about 24 main superhero characters ricocheting across the screen in various combinations.
Already declared the “biggest opening film” in Philippine history (occupying every single cinema in Manila kind of guarantees that), Infinity
War takes up where Ragnarok left off: the recently reconciled Thor and Loki, along with Bruce Banner, beset by the ships of Thanos and his army in space. Thanos (voiced by Josh Brolin) is perhaps the biggest threat to the Avengers — and the universe — yet. In his quest to recover the six Infinity Stones, which would grant him infinite power over the universe, Thanos crosses paths with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in New York City; then the action ping-pongs to the Guardians of the Galaxy crew on a distant spaceship to Knowhere; meanwhile Thanos’ minions muck things up in Scotland for the mini flash mob of Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), Captain America (Chris Evans), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Vision (Paul Bettany) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). That precious stone embedded in Vision’s forehead takes the team to Wakanda, which has the technology to extract it, so cue T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and all the rest.
What’s Thanos so interested in infinite power for? He sees the universe as finite in resources, and wishes to initiate a great mass culling: randomly killing about half the population of the universe so that the rest can survive (who knew the universe was so crowded?). So as Thanos acquires each precious stone, multiplying his power exponentially, he becomes essentially God-like, capable of enacting a great Rapture at will, if you will. Culling is very much on the mind of Thanos, as it is on the minds of screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and it’s good that they have fun criss- crossing these Marvel characters in different combos for much of Infinity War’s 238-minute length, because the movie’s a cliffhanger of sorts, and it’s a bummer cliffhanger at that. (No spoilers required.)
Without going into details, rapturing people left and right is not exactly a time-tested feel-good approach in Marvel movies (especially following the light-as-air tone of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok and the exuberance of Black Panther). Fortunately, there are plenty of lighter moments to ease the blow. We at least get to see Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) suffer an embarrassing failure to launch his inner Hulk at several points, and some amusing ego-testing banter arises between Doctor Strange and Tony Stark, who sport virtually identical facial hair. It’s fun to see the gang from Black
Panther flexing their formerly hidden skills to help save Earth, and the Guardians are at various turns amusing and annoying. But ultimately, despite its huge, spectacular scale (it took two Russo brothers to direct and lasso all of the action) this is a grim enterprise, because Thanos is a relentless, take-no-prisoners kind of villain. Though not terribly interesting physically, he does (in the guise of Brolin) offer almost Shakespearean, tragic overtones to the standard bad guy riff. Only those who read the Infinity Gauntlet trilogy of Marvel comics are likely to know where this guy is headed next.
With so many faces, though, it reminds one of those road trip cartoons from the ‘70s with a hundred crossover characters like Wacky Racers, or those Universal horror movies that featured not only Dracula and Frankenstein, but the Wolfman to boot. More bang for your buck! (Though at a budget of $300-$400 million,
Avengers: Infinity War is under intense pressure to deliver a lot of bang.)
One can even imagine the combined properties of Disney/LucasFilm/Marvel crossing over even more of their licensed characters in future. Will we eventually see Goofy hanging around with Tony Stark at Mos Eisley Cantina onscreen, bantering with Pepper Potts? And what would it take to get Wonder Woman to jump ship to Marvel? Stay tuned.