NEW ‘AVENGERS’ IS JUST TOO MUCH
There’s so much about “Avengers: Infinity War,” the heavily anticipated Marvel supergroup superhero movie, that’s simply too, too much.
There are too many characters. It’s too long. And there’s too much world-destroying, soul-crushing CGI.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, whose “Captain America: Civil War” is one of the best of the Marvel franchise because it’s electric with a coursing humanity beneath the destruction, pull out all the special-effects stops this time around, knowing they need to top the recent success of “Black Panther.”
Yet, just when it looks as if all hope is smothered under the heavy weight of global fan expectations, a reported $300 million budget and the corporate Disney desire to be the film of this weekend and all those that follow through the summer — the 149 minute-movie seriously sags in the middle — it comes roaring to life with a wake-’em-up battle on the fields of Wakanda and a surprising, quietly spectacular, sobering ending that will have Marvel fans talking for months.
The basic plot is simple. Just about all of the Marvel superheroes — including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), SpiderMan (Tom Holland), Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), White Wolf (Sebastian Stan), Captain America (Chris Evans), Star Lord (Chris Pratt), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Vision (Paul Bettany) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) — have assembled to thwart the latest threat to Earth, a giant supervillain named Thanos ( Josh Brolin). After all these heroes have been through, some of them don’t like each other very much but, when the fate of the planet is hanging in the balance, you do
what you gotta do.
This is what all the previous “Avengers” movies have been building to.
Thanos has to collect the six magic stones that keep the universe in balance so that he can recreate all of creation in his monstrous image. He plans to kill most of humanity and crush the living under his bootheel. He has two stones in his possession and — like new homeowners who are anxious to use the Bed Bath & Beyond coupon they just got in the mail — he wants the complete set.
With such a large cast, it’s tough to build anything like character development and much of the “Guardians of the Galaxy”/“Iron Man”-style banter often feels forced. There’s a certain paint-by-numbers approach that makes “Infinity War” feel like the latest model off the assembly line, especially for casual moviegoers who don’t really know or care about the characters in the first place. Unlike “Black Panther” or “Captain America: Civil War,” “Infinity War” isn’t grounded in real-world issues, an element that helped those films transcend an predictable genre.
Still, the end manages to pack an emotional punch that is impressive in its eerie calm, a forceful counterpoint to all the clatter of what has come before. “Avengers: Infinity War” may indulge in excess but it’s at its best when it achieves its power through restraint.
Of course, as is always the case with a Marvel film, there’s a scene tucked at the end of the credits that’s worth staying through, even if those credits seem like a list of everyone who has ever been born. Like the rest of the film, it’s all just a little too much.