Review/Analysis
DisneyBizJournal.com
August 23, 2018
DisneyBizJournal.com Movie Rating: 5 stars out of 5
DisneyBizJournal.com Box Office
Rating: $$$$ out of $$$$
Last week, Avengers: Infinity War arrived on DVD/Blu-ray, which gave me
another chance to watch this big, magnificent film.
And make no mistake, Infinity War is big in assorted ways.
First, it was monster big at the box office, raking in, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com,
more than $2 billion.
Second, Infinity War ranks as the big payoff that fanboys, fangirls and
general moviegoers have been waiting for after watching the first 18 movies in
the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Various threads are tied together, even
including a key point in how the first Captain America movie – Captain America: The First Avenger
(2011) – came to an end.
Third, Infinity War rates as big in terms of action, which stretches
around the globe and across the galaxy, and special effects.
Fourth, the movie is big in terms of
directorial achievement, as the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, ably and
coherently tell a sweeping, compelling story, while managing myriad characters.
After all, this is the story to which 18 previous movies were basically pointing.
It’s rather amazing that the moviegoer gets to see some quality screen time for
so many characters. While Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Bruce Banner/Hulk,
Vision, Scarlett Witch, Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy carry good chunks
of the story (I’m sure someone out there on the internet has tallied up lines
and screen time for each character), others – including Captain America, Black
Widow, and Black Panther – certainly don’t get lost in any way. In fact, for
Captain America fans such as myself, there’s a scene toward the end of the film
where Cap briefly squares off against the evil Thanos that captures the
importance of Captain America to the MCU without any dialogue.
Fifth, Infinity War serves up a big wallop regarding relationships between
certain characters that Marvel movie fans have come to love, and even among
some who perhaps weren’t exactly at the top of our hero lists coming into the
movie. That includes the brothers Thor and Loki; the love between Star-Lord and
Gamora, as well as between Scarlet Witch and Vision; sisters Nebula and Gamora;
and a kind of father-son relationship between Tony Stark/Iron Man and Peter
Parker/Spider-Man.
But even given all of this, the
sixth way that Infinity War is a big,
magnificent movie comes via its big villain, Thanos. After being teased about
Thanos in previous films, one had to wonder if the character could live up to expectations.
But Thanos actually surpassed those expectations. In fact, and I know this will
stir up an argument amongst aficionados, in my estimation, Thanos ranks as the
greatest villain of any superhero story to reach the silver screen. He is
anything but the one-dimensional evildoer who often pops up in movies like this.
A big question with the villain of
any story is: Why? Why does Thanos do what he does? We find the answer in the
work of a long discredited 19th century economist. Thomas Robert
Malthus basically argued that humanity would only experience misery as
population growth would outstrip the production of food. Thanos is Malthus, but
with staggering power and a will to “solve” the Malthusian dilemma. Of course, Thanos
was as wrong as Malthus was. And if anyone doubts that ideas have consequences,
Thanos is the villain who believes that the ends justify murderous means, and
that the evil he is perpetrating is necessary to bring about something he deems
to be the common good. As Gamora says to him, “You kill and torture, and call
it mercy.” In fact, Thanos is even willing to experience his own heartache to
carry out his twisted solution.
History unfortunately is familiar
with this kind of villain, and in Infinity
War, we see how a twisted, yet brilliant mind can rationalize breathtaking
evil. Thanos offers the worst example of what happens when human reason, if you
will, is unanchored from anything greater, or higher.
At the end of Infinity War, moviegoers are left with two big desires. We long for
the still untitled Avengers 4 sequel coming in May 2019. And we wonder will Avengers: Infinity War get Oscar
recognition, given that the Academy Awards will be adding a new category this
coming year for the best “popular film”? (See DisneyBizJournal’s analysis on this new Oscar.) As it turns out, Infinity War became the big superhero
movie in assorted, wondrous and unexpected ways.
Ray Keating is the editor, publisher
and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant
novels, with the two latest books being Reagan Country: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel and Heroes and Villains: A Pastor Stephen Grant Short
Story. He can be
contacted at raykeating@keatingreports.com.
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