It was the year 2008 when the first Marvel Cinecomic came to the cinema. The arduous task of presenting the first Marvel Studios project to the world fell on the metal and strong shoulders of Iron Man, one of the most beloved heroes of comic book fans, played on that occasion and in the 10 years to come by an actor in search of a revival in the Hollywood scene, a Robert Downey Jr. who would later prove perfect for the role of Tony Stark.
Exactly 10 years have passed and with the third chapter dedicated to the Avengers, phase 3 of the mega-project concerning the cinematic universe Marvel is about to conclude, which will take place with the second part of Infinity War the year to come. After 18 films that have introduced and deepened some characters and brought together many of them in choral films such as Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron we arrived at the most anticipated appointment: Avengers: Infinity War.
The Expanded Universe: A Matter of Detail and Consistency If it is true, to paraphrase Spider Man, that from great power comes great responsibility, then Kevin Feige and the Russo brothers must have felt a pressure that few other authors and producers must have felt before in the history of cinema: to bring together an impressive number of stories and characters within one universe, one great story, one immense goal.
Scrolling through the album of memories of these 10 years of Marvel films and watching this Infinity War, one wonders if the real superheroes are not all those who made it all possible, the various directors and screenwriters who took turns in films dedicated to Thor or the Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America or Dr Strange, passing through Ant Man and Black Panther. To weave the ranks of all this there has always been Kevin Feige, supported by the entire Marvel coach and a marketing and technical department of absolute level, but if after 10 years we are here to celebrate Marvel (and not DC comics for example) we must recognize that everything starts and develops from this man who must be given credit for having created an expanded universe that sinks its strength in detail and strengthens at the release of each new film, expanding and at the same time keeping the universe itself within the tracks of the desired narrative.
What emerges from the vision of the first part of Infinity War (The second chapter will be released on May 5, 2019) is precisely the narrative force, the cohesion between the various storylines and the various characters, although they start from different worlds, sometimes different planets, and have unique and specific backgrounds and paths. Seeing them all at once doesn't clash, it never seems forced, there is no scene in which the viewer has the feeling of having already seen or smells something put there just right to create the famous Wow effect.
There's something else. Those who have seen the 18 previous movies will have enjoyed seeing small traces left here and there lead us straight to what was told in Infinity War, a sign of a painstaking work done in these 10 years on every single film, and rest assured that without someone to hold the reins sooner or later the carriage would have gone off track. Bringing together fifteen or so main characters, whose presence would be cumbersome for anyone and in any film, within the same film and managing to perfectly manage the weight that everyone must have in the overall picture of the story is something at least as incredible as the Hulk is.
The ultimate villain The masterpiece in the masterpiece resides without a shadow of a doubt in the characterization of the villain chosen to stage an endless war that would see all our heroes fighting against a common enemy to save humanity from universal genocide. The choice has fallen on Thanos, whose name evokes the personification of death itself and whose appearance arouses fear but it is not on the name or appearance that a true antagonist is built, one of those to be carved into the memory. Those who were at the helm of the film knew this very well and built a character who will remain in the annals not only of the genre but of cinematography as a whole. I would not be surprised to see the character of Thanos counted among the best characterized villains of the last 30 years of cinema.
Thanos isn't a villain and that's it, he doesn't muscle in and that's it, he doesn't forge on his power and that's it, he doesn't have any particular feelings of revenge and that's it. Thanos is rooted in the will to be strong enough to save the universe in his own way. Like any villain who respects his beliefs and his energies, he is violent, abusive and the high road he chooses is morally reprehensible and insane. But the leader of the Titans proves himself to be very human, very rooted in his convictions but capable of feeling pity, love and enough We'd hardly take part for such a ruthless character, so bent to his own will to exterminate half the population of the whole universe, yet for large parts of the film we can't detest Thanos, thanks also to the amazing performance of Josh Brolin who behind a mask made of CGI, visual effects and digital manipulations manages to give the Titan a very varied and stratified range of emotions.
We're all with the avengers during the movie, we obviously cheer for them, laugh with them and hope with them, but we're afraid of Thanos because he's not spotty, he's not a crazy and reckless villain driven by bloodlust and revenge but he's a very powerful and determined anti-hero who bases his inhuman actions on a solid foundation. That's why he scares us more, that's why he arouses an unhealthy respect in us and in all the Avengers, that's why we are afraid that this time no one can stop him.
The use of flashback to show us the dawn of the relationship between the "monster" and Gamora has been skillful and essential and has given the whole story a very marked and very well managed drama. Thanks to those few seconds, minutes in which the Russian brothers show us the nature of their bond, we can feel real pain for both in the tragic moment in which they are involved, victim and executioner are worthy of equal understanding. That gesture of Thanos increases our fear in him not because he is inhuman but precisely because the pain of the Titan is as human as possible and necessary to fulfill his destiny.
155 Minutes of pure drama and sincere smiles.
Who said drama can't make you smile? And who said a light film can't be tearful and tragic in the final analysis? Aren't great films the ones that can make you smile and despair at the same time?
Infinity War is not an auteur film, it doesn't want to be and can't be, but it is a great film, a film that is already a paradigm for everything that will come in the comic genre and not in the years to come. The purists of the seventh art will turn up their noses but in this film there are very few things that are wrong and a myriad of things well done, as well as, as mentioned above, an ability to unite the shards scattered in the other 18 films that is disarming. Just take for example the embarrassing way DC comics runs their franchise with a shoddy set of masked heroes ready to save the world without having solid characters, solid stories behind them. Marvel has done a great job on this, impossible to deny it.
But if there's a distinctive trait of the big M's cinecomics it's surely that of having been able to infuse everyone, or almost everyone, their characters with a patina of sympathy and irony that has always managed to act as a comic relief to all the films and this is certainly no exception, indeed.
The scene that presents the Guardians of the Galaxy to the Avengers is very representative of this. Although in a desperate situation and at the dawn of a potential destruction of the known universe we see funny dialogues between Thor and Peter Quill with the raccoon rabbit as sparring partner. Hilarious exchanges of hilarious jokes that serve as a backdrop to far more dramatic events. Same thing we can say for what happens in the dynamics between Stark and Dr.Strange or in the events related to the Hulk. With the Guardians of the Galaxy he pushes strongly on the accelerator of the humorous component and it could not be otherwise, given the gloomy and ironic imprint that impregnated the 2 chapters related to the Guardians. And also on this aspect we find a great victory of Marvel that has been able not to distort the individual characters while at the same time managing to put them at the service of the story but to adapt the tenor of the story to the peculiarities of the individual components of this huge and varied freak show.
At the same time, the film exudes epicity and drama. The air is full of tension, of sincere fear for the fate of our heroes, of concern for how things will evolve. It's the climate that is soaked with anticipation, spasmodic waiting that consumes you and takes you to the beautiful finale, where for 15-20 minutes we are transported to Wakanda, New York, Titan. We're everywhere, we're with our heroes, we're with Steve Rogers and his beard copied from Thor's to hope for a happy ending. It's real drama, it's not just wild action on the hunt for an epilogue, but a dramatic, very light and flowing film that uses visual effects and continuous action to dictate the rhythm and not vice versa, and here too the challenge is won.
To build a compelling, spectacular, colorful, funny film without losing the compass, without expiring in the blur, without ever ending in ridicule, without being trivial or obvious, without ever suggesting what will happen but always showing us what could happen as something possible, among the infinite possible situations. The spectator like Dr.Strange explores a thousand possible universes in search of what can guarantee a happy ending and like Dr.Strange we too are amazed at the invincibility of that giant Thanos.
The beginning and the end A movie like this could start and end a million ways. On leaving the cinema, we feel as if we have seen the only film possible, with the perfect ending and the perfect start. The initial cold open immediately takes us into the middle of the action, in a ship torn apart by gods ready to clash and with the Thanos hunt open and already in the thick of the action. Not a random choice. They could have shown us an antecedent or a flashback, take us into the serene lives of our heroes before the storm or show us a Thanos intent on planning his diabolical plan, surprise us with some special effects particularly thunderous or connect to the last hero appeared on the screen or Black Phanter, and instead choose to immerse us completely in something that has already happened, in the heart of a clash already happened to show us the end of that clash, the tragic epilogue and its consequences. The choice is surgical because after 18 films we know all the protagonists well, we have been well prepared for the arrival of Thanos and we are in complete harmony with the heroes we have known in the last decade, so we don't need to be presented with anything, we don't need an introduction on what we are going to see. We are ready for the final confrontation, we are immersed in the film before we even sit in the audience and then we are prepared to plunge into a ship devastated by Thanos and his children and ready to suffer with Thor, ready to pay with blood.
And if the beginning was deflagrant the end was no less and was able to close the circle, reap what sown in these 10 years and emotionally played with the viewer, devastating the soul over and over again. The courage shown by the authors is not negligible, reaching such an inevitable ending making us hope that some stroke of genius would have saved the situation has been appreciable and much more complex than you might think. Each character had a fundamental role, despite the fact that each one of them had to make do with a minute, forced, risicato. Without Captain America we wouldn't have had the connection to Wakanda and Black Panther. Without Loki and Heimdall we wouldn't have had the Hulk on earth and without him we wouldn't have the meeting between Dr. Strange and Tony Stark and without the latter and what we sowed in Spider Man: Homecoming we wouldn't have Peter Parker, without Black Widow and Cap we wouldn't have Vision and Scarlet Witch in the fray, without the Galaxy Guardians Thor would have broken against his destiny and so on. A series of interlocks and cross-references that led us to the final 15 minutes, convulsive minutes, smeared on parallel planes and locations that all came together in one big moment, that snap of fingers that froze the viewer and stopped the heartbeat of each fan.
Everything that has been built in these years has generated Avengers: Infinity War that like a centuries-old plant owes its prosperity, its bright green to the seeds planted years earlier and the strong roots grown over time.
10 years ago we rejoiced at the advent of cinecomics on the film scene. Many had predicted that after a few years of peaks and box office successes everything would deflate. After a decade we can say that not only did the announced crisis not come but with Avengers: Infinity War we reached a new peak at the box office and in terms of quality. The film by the Russian brothers is without doubt the most complete and exciting film shown since Marvel and we can bet that from now on it will be the benchmark, the new paradigm for the films to come, at least the genre ones, at least the fantasy and action ones.
After 19 films and with others in development, it's time for balance sheets and the pot weighs more, much more towards the direction taken by Marvel, aware of its own means and capable of creating something gigantic and unprecedented out of nothing. There will never be awards at film festivals around the world to certify it or enthusiastic criticism of the purists of the seventh art and it is only right that it is so for products of pure entertainment that aspire to something else, aspire to get to the top without necessarily wanting to teach something or demonstrate something except that man can go far, very far, towards the gems of infinity.