‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is Marvel’s most audacious movie yet
You are not prepared for “Avengers: Infinity War.”
You may think you are. You may have spent the past week binge-watching all 18 previous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You may even be Stan Lee.
But unless your brain has spent considerable time in a blender, your cerebral cortex simply isn’t ready for what it will experience when the Avengers reassemble for the first time since splintering in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.”
As the villain who’s been pulling the strings for years, including masterminding the attack that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) led on New York in 2012’s “The Avengers,” Thanos (Josh Brolin) wastes little time demonstrating that he’s the fiercest adversary in the MCU. Gamora’s (Zoe Saldana) adoptive/abductive father manhandles Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) right off the bat, placing everyone and everything you’ve ever loved about the franchise in serious jeopardy before the opening credits.
Despite his massive purple frame and formidable strength, Thanos is, at what passes for his heart, an ecoterrorist who goes around killing half the population of various planets to reset the balance of their resources. He’s basically the bad guy in Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” sequel “Inferno” — only, you know, scary.
With Thanos seeking to possess the Infinity Stones, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong) offer a refresher course on the artifacts that have been floating around the periphary of the MCU since the Tesseract in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” After all, the pair are sworn to protect the Time Stone, which rests inside Strange’s amulet, The Eye of Agamotto.
If Thanos gets his hands on all six Infinity Stones, which he collects on a blinged-out glove that looks like something Beyonce might have debuted at Coachella, he’ll be able to wipe out half the universe with the snap of a finger.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War”) from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (all three “Captain America” movies, plus “Thor: The Dark World”), “Infinity War” is Marvel’s most audacious movie yet. And it isn’t even close.
For the first time, there’s actual peril in the usually freewheeling Marvel movies, and the Russos wield that uncertainty like a scattergun. That makes “Infinity War” something darker — not DC dark by any means — than fans have come to expect. But the filmmakers have made sure to include some much-needed moments of levity in the getting-to-know-you interactions that hark back to the original “Avengers.”
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Strange go goatee to goatee over who can be the most obnoxious know-it-all. The Peters, Quill (Chris Pratt) and Parker (Tom Holland), briefly bond over “Footloose.” The post-“Ragnarok,” out-of-his-shell Thor finds a new ally in Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), whom he’s convinced is a rabbit. And when the newly excitable Bruce Banner has performance anxiety and can’t Hulk out in front of Strange and Wong, Stark can barely hide his humiliation. (“Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards.”)
The filmmakers ensured themselves several more Quinjets full of cash by setting much of the “Infinity War” action — led by Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) — in Wakanda, giving moviegoers a speedy reunion with T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and the rest of the “Black Panther” cast.
There’s a lot going on in “Infinity War,” including actual suffering, sacrifice and real emotions, most of which won’t sink in until the end credits roll.
There’s even more that’s simply impossible to talk about or even vaguely reference.
Seriously, if you even think you might possibly want to see “Infinity War” someday, do it before some jackweasel on your Facebook page ruins it for you.
Once you do, while you’re picking your jaw off the theater’s soda-and-who-knows-what-else-stained floor, remember, the next “Avengers” movie is only a year away.
Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.
Review
Movie: “Avengers: Infinity War”
Running time: 149 minutes
Rating: PG-13; intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references
Grade: B
Now playing: At multiple locations
