World-shaking events are kid stuff in “Avengers: Infinity War,” the first installment of a two-part sequel to “The Avengers” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” The whole universe is under attack from Thanos, an infinitely villainous villain sporting a multicleft, prognathous chin. Universe-shaking throwdowns succeed one another with truly stupefying regularity as the Avengers and their Guardians of the Galaxy allies take turns rising to the challenge. But moments that touch the heart are few and far between in this almost-culmination of a decade of Marvel Comics movies. The finale, scheduled for release in May 2019, may well bring the adventure to fittingly grand fruition. What’s on screen now, however, is table-setting for events to come, a groaning board of superheroes, a superabundance of undifferentiated superpowers, and an ending that’s more exciting than anything that precedes it.
If you stop to think about it—though the pounding pace of “Infinity War” doesn’t give you much time to think about anything—Marvel has populated this picture with a remarkable profusion of characters who have already made their multiplex marks. After Thanos, impressive at umpteen feet tall and eloquently voiced by Josh Brolin, the list of returnees includes Chris Hemsworth as Thor; Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/ Iron Man ; Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/ex-Captain America; Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther (who got cheers from my preview audience, thanks to the recent triumph of “Black Panther” the movie); Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk; Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man; Zoe Saldana as Gamora; and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. And those are only the stars of the bunch. Lesser lights shine almost as bright. Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximov/Scarlett Witch has a touchingly tragic demeanor, and good reason for it in her present circumstances.
Yet this diversity, plus a comparable density of incident—battle after battle after battle—leads to narrative sprawl on an epic scale. The story, bopping around the universe, is unified only by the villain’s determination to acquire all six Infinity Stones, or glowing keys to the cosmic kingdom. (Thanos seems to be driven by a conviction that the regular universe, unlike the Marvel Comics Universe, has finite resources, and must be saved from itself by his murderous intercession.)
When the story begins— Anthony Russo and Joe Russo directed from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely —the Avengers are in disarray. (That’s news to Bruce, who’s baffled by the notion that the group broke up. “Like a band?” he asks. “Like the Beatles?”) Iron Man, for his part, has been on the outs with Captain America, but the threat from Thanos is so great that Tony decides to enlist Steve’s help, and calls him on his little flip-phone.
Flip is one of the movie’s two main modes, the other being full-bore mayhem. “Infinity War” is often very funny, in a self-deprecating vein, and not just thanks to Mr. Downey, who can get a laugh with a conjunction, or Mr. Pratt, who charms with a raised eyebrow. Bruce sweats and strains, to no avail at first, as he tries to transform into Hulk. (It’s the flip side of anger management.) Spidey, the new boy on the block (played by Mr. Holland, the new actor in the role), swings his way into Thanos’s doughnut-shaped space ship, with an inner ring that rotates like the magnet in a gigantic MRI, and says it smells like a new car. “I’m Doctor Steven Strange, ” announces Doctor Strange, who makes a theatrical entrance worthy of a stage magician in a ring of fire in New York’s Central Park. (His sententiousness is witty for a while, then wears thin.)
In between the humor and the action sequences—the best of the latter involves clangorous combat in Washington Square Park—the film does find time for real feelings, just not a lot of them. The most affecting encounter brings Gamora together with Thanos, who raised her; the most elating moment comes when Thor, who’s been without a hammer, gets a replacement; Chris Hemsworth may not be the world’s greatest actor, but he’s invincibly likable. There are shocking deaths to be reported, but certainly not here, and especially since you can never be sure if those who’ve died will stay dead from one chapter to another.
Of all the developments in “Infinity War,” one is genuinely stunning, eerily moving and so crucial to the climax that it can’t be revealed. I’ll say only that it calls into question everything that may happen next time around, which is exactly what a climactic development should do. As for everything that happens this time around, it’s a function—or malfunction—of the sequel’s two-part structure. The problem is penultimateness, too much setup and too little payoff. The solution comes, presumably, around the same time next year.
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