'Avengers: Infinity War' is Marvel's most ambitious, and bizarre, movie yet

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe can't miss Avengers: Infinity War. Everyone else, read this advisory first

Too many cooks spoil the broth, they say. But when you have the Russo brothers calling the shots behind the camera, too many superheroes may just be a good thing, a great thing even. Avengers: Infinity War is Marvel’s most ambitious, and bizarre, movie yet. It could also be its darkest and most heartbreaking one. What it isn’t is Marvel’s best.

With more than 15 superhero characters, the Russo brothers had their hands full, as did writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus. But the director-writer team is experienced at this sort of superhero-coterie outing, having worked on 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, and it shows. Even at 2.5 hours, the film does not feel stretched or dull for a moment.

Do some characters get more screen time than others? Yes. But for a movie juggling so many characters, that was inevitable. Where Infinity War scores is in telling parallel stories. From multiple locations on earth to space and beyond, the narrative is near-seamless. The movie flits from endearing to funny to heartbreaking in swift frames with equal ease.

The first hour of the movie is especially delightful as it takes off almost exactly where Thor: Ragnarok left off. The audience knows from the get-go that this movie is different from the first Avengers film or its successor, Age of Ultron. The stakes are high, the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy know it, and so does the audience.

Perhaps one of the biggest criticisms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the Disneyfication of all movies — where death is not forever and there’s always a happy ending. Infinity War seems almost brutal in this light. Deaths (no spoilers here) were to be expected, but which particular ones come as a surprise, and likely to cause some heartache to fans. At least for now, the MCU embraces the fact that war has casualties. (But a lot could be undone in the untitled Avengers 4 which will release next year.)

The MCU may have gone over to the dark side, but it hasn’t lost its sense of humour and penchant for one-liners. And how could it when it features some of the smartest and snarkiest superheroes, all in one movie? Whether it’s Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Junior) “parenting” Peter Parker/Spiderman (Tom Holland) or Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) competing with Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the audience gets the laughs it associates with Marvel movies. Ironman and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) could vie for the most arrogant superhero award, as they bicker and banter, and all of it is delightful. Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner continues to impress with his comic timing. Teenage Groot may not be as cute as Baby Groot, but he is angsty and stubborn and just as lovable.

Thanos, the big bad guy of the MCU who appeared only teasingly since 2012’s Avengers, finally makes a full-fledged appearance. And a commendable one. In many ways, this is more a Thanos movie than an Avengers one, in that the film explores more nuances of his character — from his eccentricity and madness to his near-humaneness.

His absolute conviction he is helping the universe by destroying the six infinity stones is chilling. It should not have worked, but somehow it does.

With all the good, there is the not so good too. The 18th movie in the MCU, Infinity War takes a lot for granted. This is the first time that the Avengers, and their disbanding, is mentioned since Civil War, and only fleetingly. Yes, there is a bigger threat, but this seems to merely undo all the place-setting that Civil War achieved in terms of the ideological differences between the world’s mightiest heroes. Many plots from recent films, fresh in the memory of the audience, are not addressed or dealt with almost flippantly.

If you’re an MCU fan, this is an unmissable movie. If you’re looking for a Marvel movie that dares to flirt with darkness, this is a movie for you. If you want to see great action sequences, brilliant CGI, witty quips and some edge-of-the-seat surprises, go for it. But if you’re looking for a movie which develops each character and relationship in complex, lingering detail, this is not it. And that is perhaps what keeps it from being Marvel’s best.