Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War – Since the creation of the universe, the Infinity Stones have represented all the forces holding existence together. He who wields them will have power over all creation. Thanos, a mighty creature who believes that the only way to save the universe is to kill half the people in it, already has one Infinity Stone and is closing in on the remaining five. But with two on Earth and him closing in on the others, can a fractured group of superheroes and guardians come together enough to stop him becoming the most powerful, and deadly, foe that all of time has ever seen?

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) – Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53151892

Rating: 12

Running Length: 149 mins

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Josh Brolin

Genre: Comic Book, Action

REVIEW: ‘AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR’

Marvel has been playing the long game with ‘Infinity War’. The central plot concepts – the extremely powerful villain of Thanos and the existence and gradual location of the mighty ‘Infinity Stones’ – have been seeded into most Marvel movies since ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ way back in 2011. In the intervening time significant work has gone into selling that all Marvel movies take place in the same universe. So after introducing so many characters, heroes, Avengers or otherwise, since Iron Man in 2008, Infinity War gathers together everything that Marvel has for one all out, stakes-could-not-be-higher bonanza. And yes, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ was never going to make every fan of every character satisfied, but despite who gets the most (or least) screen time, what ‘Infinity War’ finally nails hard is a game changing yet charismatic villain, and some real emotional gravitas.

Whereas ‘Avengers Assemble’ was about the gang coming together for one glorious moment of teamwork, ‘Infinity War’ is more about moving chess pieces around the gravity well of Thanos. Indeed, it could be argued that ‘Infinity War’ is Thanos’ movie much more than it is the ‘heroes’. Through make up and CGI, Josh Brolin gives a real believability to this alien megalomania. Unlike other villains, he doesn’t want power for power’s sake. He genuinely believes that the universe will be better off with half the population gone, it is to Brolin’s credit that each scene with him brings more depth out of the characters. He is at times conflicted and weary, but yet always resolute. And when he shows his vulnerable side it is so unexpectedly genuine that cutting back to another roster of characters can leave you feeling cheated.

Talking of vulnerability, almost every major characters struggles in ‘Infinity War’. Atypically, the movie doesn’t open with fun and games but instead immediately and painfully ups the stakes. In the comic book world it’s hard to presume that anything you see will be permanently true, but ‘Infinity War’ immediately sets the tone as an entry that will make any fan’s jaw drop with ‘I can’t believe they did that’ shock! And once the various elements get into gear we are certainly faced with a jigsaw of a movie. Forget ‘Avengers Assemble’. There is no big gathering of all characters here. Some go the whole movie without meeting up, whereas others mush together in gloriously fun ways. The Guardians Of The Galaxy cast slot in nicely (with Groot and Drax getting many welcome laughs) and the ego maniac mash-up of Tony Stark and Dr. Strange sharing scenes lights up the screen, as does anything with the irrepressibly chirpy teen, Spider-Man.

The problem with superhero mash-ups is that it can easily degenerate into ‘whose blue energy beam is stronger than whose yellow laser blast’ which ‘Infinity War’ certainly falls foul of from time to time. And with so many characters and plot points in the air the movie struggles to give any one set scenario the time to breathe beyond immediacy. But regardless, with the compelling Thanos as a gravity point, the orbiting elements rotate nicely around his universe destroying head. And when the best that Earth and its allies have to offer are left wanting, the movie ends with such a flurry of punches that we (and many others) were left stunned: unable to quite process what we had seen. The universe is at stake and those defending may not be strong enough, but with Marvel showing all competitors how to hook and enthrall an audience the demand for the next Avengers movie will be astronomical, and rightly so.

CONTENT: IS ‘AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

A ship broadcasts a distress signal stating it is a not a war vehicle and that families are aboard. It is attacked anyway. The scene cuts to the aftermath of the attack with a room strewn with bodies of the dead or dying. One is stabbed in the chest by an attack scanning for survivors. They grunt and die. This is shown in the mid-ground of shot with no detail. One character’s life is threatened and they yell in agony as they are tortured. Later, an established character is strangled. Their face bulges and is in close up in shot. A crunch noise is heard and the prone body is carried for a few steps before being dropped lifeless to the floor. Another previously established character is stabbed in the chest whilst they lie prone and is killed. A main character cries out in grief for both of these deaths. A wide shot shows the ship exploding into nothingness. This is all in the opening scene.

Thanos’ henchmen refer to themselves as the Children of Thanos. One character gives speeches about how their opponents should be pleased to ‘die at the hands of the Children of Thanos’.

A space ship comes across the exploded remains of the ship in the initial scene. There are many visible bodies floating though space. This is followed by a jump scare as one such body hits the ‘windshield’ of the ship and makes the occupants jump.

A terrified child holds onto their mother whilst they are in hiding. The child looks around 6 years old and she sobs in fear. The cover is ripped off and she screams. The scene cuts to her crying for her mother. Thanos appears to comfort her although she asks ‘where is my mother?’. In the background Thanos’ men separate out everyone into two group and then open fire on one, killing half of all people present. The child begins to turn at the noise but Thanos keeps her attention on him so she doesn’t see.

In a scene at Knowhere, one character suddenly attacks another, inflicting stab wounds to the neck and chest. The character slumps and says ‘why? why you?’ The attacker sobs with emotion, but the scene takes a different turn. The attacker begs another main character to kill them as they promised in an earlier scene. They deliberate for a long time, fighting back their feelings, before firing. Just before this, two other established characters are magically turned into blocks that crumble, and slices that drop onto the floor respectively before matters resolve themselves. This is a very emotional scene with moments of high tension that lists around 10 minutes.

Dr Stange is suspended in mid-air and surrounded by lots of needle thin sharp blades that are described as designed for microsurgery. They slowly dig into his body and face. There is no injury detail per se but his face glows as the needles push into his cheek and he cries out in pain.

Whenever the Guardians of the Galaxy are on-screen the language and tone gets somewhat cruder with language such as ‘booty call’, ‘horsesh!t’ and ‘nutsack’ used.

One established character from previous movies is tortured. They are held suspended and segmented. Force is used to pull them apart more and they scream in agony. Another character who is related to them cries out for the torture to stop. This is not gory and there is no blood but the segmentation is shown graphically. However, this character can take this kind of punishment, even if it hurts.

Thor recounts his family history and although he tries to bluster that he is ok, the cumulative toll of recent events are shown to be upsetting him. He has tears in his eyes as he tries to pretend he is ok, before sobbing for a moment. Later he is given a false eye to use as he lost one in the events of ‘Thor: Ragnarok’. He holds open his empty socket and pushes the false one in. This is shown in full shot and lasts for a few seconds.

One character talks about how they did what Thanos wanted because they thought he would spare everyone but that Thanos killed them all anyway and took the character’s hands. Instead he has fixed metal false hands which we see.

Thanos has a choice to make that, whilst he makes the choice readily, hurts him emotionally. He cries, and we see the aftermath of that decision. The moment is shown in slow motion and lasts for several seconds. This may upset as scenes leading up to this have been emotionally charged also.

Wakanda is attacked by a huge horde of large dog-like aliens that are very aggressive. They snarl and slather at the camera in ferocious fighting scenes. Some are dismembered by an energy shield or disintegrate on impact. One baddie character is hit by machinery and killed. Blue blood spatters on a good character’s face who says ‘well, that was disgusting’.

After an intense and desperate fight on the planet Titan one character is stabbed and they whimper in surprise and pain. They slump backwards and blood pools out of their mouth.

One established character begs another to destroy something that may or may not kill them. The moment is shown over 30 seconds in slow motions and is very emotional as these two characters have a strong connection. Immediately after the moment is much more brutal, with the sympathetic character shown dead on the floor and part of their skull missing. Other characters are distraught.

We don’t wish to give any spoilers about the ending as it is surprising. However, we would say that the whole last 10 minutes of the movie are very emotional and many characters suffer whilst others react and cry out in anguish. One particular character hugs another and cries out that they don’t want what is happening to happen. Many characters are left shell-shocked. There is no relief to this and the movie ends. If your children have been struggling with the movie up to this point we would recommend strong caution for the ending.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR’ FOR KIDS?

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is Marvel honed to perfection. Whilst some depth is lost due to trying to fit so much on-screen, the movie pulls hard on the heart-strings by making many popular characters suffer. We feel that due to the somewhat constant moderate bad language and the string of upsetting moments, that Infinity War is not suitable for children aged under 8 years old depending on your child’s sensibilities.

• Violence: 3/5 (minimal blood but moments of ‘magical’ injury and lots of weighty and violent fights)
• Emotional Distress: 5/5 (many characters have strong emotional scenes of upset and grieving)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (Thanos is imposing and may scare because of the threat he poses although he is not overly scary himself)
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (some mild innuendo)
• Bad Language: 3/5 (some coarse cursing and insults. One character is cut off half way through saying ‘motherfu….. Another character says ‘Chill the F out’)
• Dialogue: 4/5 (many threats and talk of genocide or family murder. Minor blasphemy as one character dismissively says “What am I supposed to say? Jesus?”
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of loyalty, overpopulation, genocide, loss of family, protecting people, revenge, and sacrifice for your goals.)

Words by Mike Record

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