Guest Writer: Lloyd Chandler- Avengers: Infinity War – Review (spoilers)

So ok, anyone who is a fan of the superhero genre has been sat in the corner of a room rocking back and forth mumbling under their breathe…Thanos is coming!Thanos is coming! And after a decade wait, baring the odd end credit clip, Thanos arrives in Infinity War. But let’s be clear, and this is important, this is NOT an Avengers film. This is a stand-alone Thanos film which stars the Avengers. Once you understand and accept that then what follows makes sense and for me is one of the finest sci fi films ever.
I’ll not spend a great deal of this review on plot (however it will include spoilers) but I will detail why I think so highly of this film.
If you have read the two reviews that my friends at BensNerdWords have generously posted you will realise, as have I, that villains are my thing. They come in all shapes and sizes from virus to Kaiju and everything in between. Heroes need foes equal to the deeds demanded for a hero to be worthy of being called a superhero. That means in the pantheon of superheroes there is a side annex where the super villains reside. The best villains have light and shade and are fully rounded characters.They are driven, clear of purpose, ambitious beyond reason, prepared to make huge sacrifices and quite, quite mad. Thanos (Josh Brolin) is mad, hence in the Marvel comics his nomenclature is The Mad Titan. Josh Brolin is somewhat special if not unique in playing simultaneously two Marvel characters in major Hollywood movies as he is also starring as Cable in Deadpool 2 [2018]. But to just say Thanos is mad would be to do him a disservice the size of his ambition. Put simply Thanos’ goal is to kill half of all life in the universe. Told you he was mad. However his reasoning is entirely logical, the universe has finite resources so life left unchecked puts strain and then unbalances the order of things so Thanos decides to rebalance the universe by wiping half of it from existence. Told you he was ambitious. Little background for the ‘anti-hero’ of this piece. Thanos is from a now dead planet called Titan where at the moment of tipping point for its population and resources its leaders asked for solutions and Thanos argued to kill half the population and to choose the half to die in a random lottery system. Titan’s leaders disagree, called him mad and banished him from the planet. However Thanos is right, the planet’s systems and ecology collapsed under the weight of its population and now Thanos is the last of his race.
So Thanos gathers an army and moves from planet to planet wiping half of the population out and then leaving. In this you would have to say he’s the ultimate eco-terrorist balancing whole planetary systems by reducing the demand on scarce resources. Told you he was driven.
So now we come to Infinity War, Thanos pursues the six Infinity Stones that brought the universe into being, Power, Mind, Time, Soul, Reality and Space respectively. The aim is to hold all six and essentially have the power of a god over all life everywhere in the universe and then to end half of that life with a click of the figures. Now holding an infinity stone is no mean feat, it requires a being of immense strength and will to hold one, let alone control it. Thanos quickly proves to be such a being as after only a dozen (and I do mean literally 12) blows has beaten the Hulk unconscious. His will is never in question as in order to retrieve the final missing Soul stone Thanos is asked to pay a heavy personal price. It’s here where this film shows itself to be amongst the finest of its type. The price is a soul of a loved one for the Soul stone. Thanos is heartbroken, yep there it is our villain emotes and actually sheds tears as he throws Gamora (Zoe Saldana), his daughter from a cliff to her death. This really hurts Thanos and this event shifts the paradigm a new level as now he must fulfill is mission or Gamora’s death will have been for nothing. He even manages to empathise with Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) as she mourns the death of her lover(that is a spoiler!) and then uses the Time Stone, goes back a few minutes, lets Scarlet Witch watch the death again and then promptly wipes half the universe out…some stones (forgive the pun) on this Thanos fella you know!
At this point Thanos is waist deep in his own mythology. He cannot turn back but here’s the thing and largely why I described this film as not being an Avengers film but a Thanos film which stars the Avengers. Thanos IS the hero of this film, from his perspective, and heroes are right all of the time and so it is with Thanos. You see I have a theory that a great villain must always see themselves as the hero in there own story. Take for example the recent superb villain in Black Panther [2018] Erik Killmonger (Michael B Jordan). He sees himself as the hero…why I hear you ask. Because he is righting the great injustice done to him of having his father killed by the king of Wakanda. He feels the righteous anger that any hero would feel in the same situation. Just look at Conan the Barbarian [2011] for proof, young Conan witnesses the death of his father Corin (Ron Perlman), this sets Conan (Jason Momoa) on the legendary path heroes must take towards righting a wrong. Or from a different perspective, revenge, a bread and butter movie emotion to drive a character to do the spectacular again and again. So who do you root for more? Erik or Conan? Fatherless sons but heroes both if you stand in their shoes.
So Thanos is complex which is great, it means as the watcher you are at times conflicted about what he does. It gives the light and shade needed for a villain but because of what Thanos is planning and the extraordinary lengths he is willing to go to in order to achieve it this is also a dark film. You realise at about two thirds in there will be no happy ever after…accept (huge spoiler alert go to the next paragraph to avoid) for Thanos it is. He even gets the ‘hero’s rest’ money shot. As Thanos steps from a simple wooden hut and looks out across a beautifully verdant valley vista with a soothing background accompaniment of birdsong and a glorious sunset, he smiles to himself and you see the satisfaction of a job well done on his face. But hold the phone! half the life in the universe has gone! And I do mean gone as if it never existed and that includes a good number of the assembled heroes.
It is testament to the the directors Anthony and Joe Russo’s ability and confidence to have the chops to make the first half of this two parter as dark as Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back [1980]. As with that film our heroes are literally scattered to the four winds with, on first glance, no hope. It takes a keen eye and a whole heap of belief to find the thread that leads back to redemption, salvation and ultimately victory for our heroes.
It is within this particular sub-genre probably the finest movie yet produced. As of the time of writing the worldwide gross is $1.6billion and is on track to join the rarified air of the $2billion film club. The characters, the script, music and visuals are amazing. The cameos are cast superbly and well placed, have a look at Ben’s review for a taste of the surprise appearances HERE. If there is a criticism it is the non-appearances of two huge characters, Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock. Both, in Marvel comic book story arcs have played a crucial role in defeating Thanos. Now this could be due to the upcoming appearances for both. Captain Marvel is slated for a stand-alone film Feb 2019 and Adam Warlock is likely to play a big part in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, if the post-credit scene at the end of Guardians Vol 2 is to be believed. The Russo’s may well be saving Captain Marvel as the big gun to put Thanos down once and for all in the as yet untitled Avengers 4. It does need a large chunk of sand and cement to plug the plot hole in this and a number of other films in the MCU. If Captain Marvel is one of the strongest beings in the universe and is from Earth then where has she been? Battle of New York? Civil War? Ultron? To name just three. She must have had a pretty full schedule to simply not show up for the potential destruction of her home planet, that will be an interesting conversation with Stark, Banner and Rogers as and when she does show! And as for Adam Warlock, as we know he exists in this story arc it safe to assume that he too would be aware of Thanos. And certainly know that half the life in the universe just went up in smoke, he might be interested in putting that right you would think?
But those plot holes in my lawn still do not take the shine off this master class in modern movie making. It shows what can be achieved if a few brave decisions are made with a long term goal. It is in no small thanks to Marvel Studios commitment to bringing their best characters to life on the big screen. Not quite the end of Phase 3 it has started to signpost the way ahead into Phase 4 (most of which is still under wraps). But not only that I simply enjoyed this film on every level. So I suggest you get down to your local cinema, get the DVD and even buy the limited edition 4K Blu-ray Disc set with the 60 minute behind the scenes featurette (I’m sure there will be one!) because you need to watch it again…I booked my ticket while still in the lobby as I was leaving the cinema after just watching it!