Every once in a blue moon, you go and see a movie with an ending that just floors an audience into dead silence, leaving them sitting there, stunned, unable to believe what they've just seen.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that The Empire Strikes Back had that sort of reaction, but I was too young to have seen that one in theaters, at least not the first time around. (I did see the re-release, but I'd already seen it on home video/cable by then.)
More recently, A Quiet Place garnered that same sort of reaction- but not for long. In the screening I intended, the silence in that case was broken by a resounding- and hilarious- "Oh hell, no!" Understandable, given that the damn thing ends right in the middle of the action.
There was no such reaction at the Avengers screening. Instead, everyone sat in relative silence, and it became clear that everyone was waiting for a glimmer of hope in the ever-present post-credits bonus scenes. In the place of the traditional first bonus scene, there was nothing. Nada. Zilch.
The silence continued, getting ever more uncomfortable. Surely, there would be one, after all that? Right? After the endless scroll finally drew to a close, a bonus scene arrived...only to offer more of the same. Holy shit! They really went there!
To be fair, there was indeed a glimmer of hope, though some were likely confused by it in the moment. There was also a gratifying laugh, courtesy of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), who ended his time on earth with exactly the word you'd think he would, much to the amusement of many.
So, it wasn't a complete downer, but there was still no getting around the fact that they totally went there. Of course, there has to be catch. Isn't there always? But there's no denying that the bodies hit the floor in this one, from literally the first scene onward, and at least some of those people/aliens aren't coming back, I should think.
Hell, I'm not sure I'd want them all to, as it would be a cheat of monumental proportions. It's become a common thing, as of late, to "kill" off certain characters on a show, only to bring them back later on, typically with a lot of fanfare, but nonetheless, it's been done enough at this point, you can completely understand where some people would be a little, if not a lot, skeptical.
For me, the mother of all such scenes was the infamous "Buffy's dead" plot-line on Joss Whedon's seminal TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even back then, before such things were common, we all knew Buffy was coming back. After all, it wouldn't be much of a show without the titular heroine. But it was the way they did it that truly shocked.
(Spoiler alert for those unfamiliar- just skip the next couple of paragraphs if you want to maintain the twist. I'll let you know in bold type when it's over.)
As it turns out, there was no cheat- Buffy was unequivocally, undeniably dead. Deader than a door-nail, down to being buried in a coffin six feet under. So, when the gang used literal witchcraft to bring her back, they full-on brought her back from death in the process, and even more shocking- they dragged her out of Heaven to do it. And I do mean Heaven with a capital "H."
Needless to say, she wasn't pleased. And, not unlike the people (and creatures, of course) in the book/movie Pet Sematary, our beloved Buffy came back a little, shall we say, different. Wouldn't you, if you were dragged out of Heaven? Thanks for nothing, everyone!
Spoiler over!
Since then, we've seen variations of the same thing, with any number of beloved TV characters "dying," only to return a few episodes later, or, in the case of movies, a little later on in the movie, or, if it was an ongoing series, in a later movie, i.e. the Lord of the Rings.
Given that, I can see where some might be a little skeptical. I mean, for instance, are they really going to kill off, say, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), for good, just after he jump-started a billion-dollar franchise? Seems unlikely. Likewise, they just rebooted Spider-Man (Tom Holland), and it was the second-biggest ever film released in the franchise to date.
So, yeah, there's no way those two aren't coming back. But, in those cases, it's the journey, not the destination. In other words, we all know they're coming back, it's just a matter of how. And it's worth noting that, tellingly, among those left standing, are the core OG Avengers, seemingly in their entirety. (Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is elsewhere, completely MIA from the movie, so we don't know his fate- but if the rest of them being alive is any indication, he should be okay.)
That said, it does seem likely that those who died earlier in the film really are dead, unless they pull a Superman and "rewind" time- after all, Thanos (James Brolin) himself did it, so why can't they? But I suspect they won't go that far, and, at best, will only go back to the place in time before Thanos snapped his fingers and stop him before he does that.
(I should mention here that I think I have read the comics back in the day, but it's been a long time and I haven't read them since, so I genuinely can't remember one way or another, and I have no intention on going online and looking it up to find out- I can wait. Even if I did, I suspect they might tweak things just enough to surprise fans who think they know where all this is going.)
So, going by that logic, those that died early on in the film are legitimately dead, and won't be coming back, and that's still a pretty sizable list. We're talking Heimdall (Idris Elba), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), presumably The Collector (Benecio del Toro) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana), plus maybe Vision (Paul Bettany), though they could "rewind" things just enough to save him, at least. I don't know that they'll go back any further than that.
The other option is that those killed in Thanos' actions at the end aren't really dead in the first place, but rather have been "taken" elsewhere, by which I mean they disintegrated on Earth, but reappeared somewhere else in the universe, or on an alternate Earth- think the recent "Earth X" story-line on the CW's DC-verse shows, in which there are, I think, some 52 different Earths, each with their own versions of the main characters, all of which have done things somewhat differently.
In Avengers- Infinity War, Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) mentions that there are millions of potential futures, but only one in which good triumphs over evil, or rather, in which Thanos is defeated. I make the distinction because, as I pointed out in my review of Black Panther, the villain here actually means well, to a certain extent, it's just the way he goes about it that's evil.
When you think about it, Thanos really wants to save the universe, not destroy it, in order to preserve it from the full-on destruction that would ensue if the population was left unchecked. By making the hard choice to half the population, he saves the universe, not completely destroys it, and that's an important distinction, as it makes him oddly sympathetic in a way.
In other words, Thanos isn't a villain, per se, so much as his actions are villainous at times- see what I mean? I mean, don't get me wrong, he can definitely be an evil dude- look at the way he tortures Nebula (Karen Gillan), for example. He doesn't care who he tortures or kills in pursuit of his goal- even his own stepdaughter.
That makes him more evil than good, obviously, but his ultimate goal is indeed noble, as crazy as the way he goes about it is. It's those types of distinctions and strong writing and plotting that sets Marvel movies apart from the rest of the pack, and is the reason Marvel is often cited as having the superior films of those making this sort of thing, which is to say, comic book-based films.
(On a side note, as much crap as DC gets for fumbling the ball in terms of the writing and plotting in their films as of late, oddly enough, where they fail on the big screen, they excel on the small one. While Marvel can be hit (Legion, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, The Gifted) or miss (Iron Fist, the oft-spotty Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), in this area, DC has been pretty consistent, with something for everyone, from the lighter tone of The Flash, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow to the more serious, gritty Gotham, Arrow, and Black Lightning.)
Getting back to the ending, it's hard to say what the solution to the problem that Thanos' actions represent is, but one thing is indeed made clear- there is one. Like, literally just one. The film makes it a point to acknowledge that there is only a one-in-millions chance for the heroes to succeed, but there is at least one, which is something.
What that method is remains to be seen, but I do think Dr. Strange knew what he was doing when he handed over his stone to Thanos to save Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.). I don't know about you, but after the earlier deaths in the film, and with rumblings that Downey's time with the franchise was limited, I thought his character might be a goner, but then what happened, happened- and I think it happened for a reason.
I think that Stark is crucial to whatever the plan is to save those that were lost, and Dr. Strange knew that, which is why he made the trade to save Stark in exchange for the stone, even against Stark's protests. I also think Dr. Strange knew that he had to die, along with everyone else who did, to make things happen the way they needed to in order for this one-in-millions chance to succeed.
So, there's definitely a method to this madness, and I think it not only involves Stark, but all of the core Avengers. I think that, with them collaborating together to solve the problem, and only them, can Thanos be defeated, and I think Dr. Strange knew that, too, and just had to trust that he would be brought back after death by their actions.
Of course, there's the other option I mentioned as well, which is that no one who died in Thanos' massacre is really dead, but rather re-routed elsewhere. Or perhaps just Dr. Strange. After all, he has the power to use and bend other universes to his will, and the ability to cross over to other dimensions. Perhaps this ability was key to saving himself and will come into play in the future installment. Either way, I think he knew exactly what he was doing.
As to what part each of the surviving Avengers will play in the movie to come, it's impossible to say, but I do think each of them will play a crucial part in their own way, and that each of their abilities will be key to fulfilling the task at hand. We'll just have to wait and see what that is, and what they will do to resurrect (or whatever) our fallen heroes- not to mention everyone else who died/crossed over to another dimension.
As for the movie as a whole, I thought it did a really good job of juggling all the characters, which was a tricky bit of business, to be sure. I heard some critics complain that there wasn't enough "character development" for their liking. What the what? Nineteen movies' worth of character development isn't enough for you? Jesus.
Sure, some characters are newer than others, and as such, have less development than the others do, but overall, I thought the writers have done a masterful job of holding all this insanity together. I mean, it cannot be easy making sure the continuity and through-lines to all this is kept straight and logical, but I think they've done a pretty solid job.
Take a look at some of the dubious plotting in the more recent X-Men movies in contrast, and tell me this group of writers hasn't done a better job than theirs has, and they've only had eleven films in comparison- less if you count the more recent entries, beginning with First Class, as a sort of soft "reboot." (And mind you, I dig those films, in spite of that. Well, okay, maybe not The Last Stand and the first two Wolverines.)
In short, the Avengers films are less about strong character development that the adventures of characters you already know and love. We don't need extensive character development for people we already know, right? We just need a brief update on where they're at, at this given moment, within the given ongoing story-lines, and we get that here.
I mean, granted, in some cases, it's decidedly brief, as some characters show up right in the middle of the action, and there isn't a lot of time to play catch-up, but damn, it's already a two-and-a-half-hour movie, do we really need it to be longer just to sneak in some stuff of that nature? I don't think so. We'll get to that after the current crisis is dealt with.
I do think that the next Avengers movie will have more character development than this one, simply by default. After all, there will be that much less characters to deal with. As such, the writers can't help but have more wiggle room in that regard, so hang in there, haters. You'll get your development in the next film, I expect.
In the meantime, there's the current release Ant-Man and the Wasp, which we'll get to at a later date, and the forthcoming Captain Marvel, set to be released on March 8th, 2019, with the next Avengers flick due shortly thereafter on May 3rd, 2019, which closes out the so-called Phase Three of the MCU. (I'm not 100% sure on where the also-forthcoming next entries in the Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises fall, Phase-wise, but their very existence would seem to suggest the characters in those respective films will return, so there's that.)
Please also note that, for those in the know, this film ended with an Easter Egg of sorts in that the last thing that Nick Fury did before his death was to send out a message to Captain Marvel. I'm sure even those who were confused by that know by now what it meant, but obviously, it indicates that the story begun here will dovetail somehow with that film.
My guess would be that, as the story-line from that film (as in Captain Marvel, the movie) wraps up, Captain Marvel, the character, will receive the text (or distress signal or whatever) at the end, possibly in a post-credit scene, and make her way to the point in time this film is set, somehow. How she does that is open to interpretation, but I've no doubt it will happen. (I should mention here that I'm less familiar with Captain Marvel as a character, so I'm not entirely sure about the exact nature of her powers beyond being one of the strongest superheroes in the comics, period.)
So, there you have it. I thought Avengers- Infinity War was a fine entry in the ongoing franchise, and if it was lacking some of former Avengers scribe (and Buffy creator, I might add, going back to what I talking about earlier) Joss Whedon's trademark humor, it wasn't really trying to be that kind of film, either.
This isn't meant to be a "fun" film, at least in the broader sense of the term, but rather more of a serious one, in order to drive home how high the stakes are. As such, I think the more sober-minded writing here was fine, and it's not as if the film was completely without a sense of humor or fun, it's just that it was meant to be more of an intense adventure than some of the previous entries in the MCU, which is fine.
There's no harm in the occasional straight-forward entry in the series, when you know that a more "fun" one is just around the corner, as it was with Ant-Man and the Wasp. I also think that Captain Marvel will be a little more light-hearted as well, before the second part of this one hopefully finishes the current story-line with both humor and heart, albeit likely with more intensity than either of those films, given where this one leaves off.
Either way, I enjoyed Avengers- Infinity War tremendously, and my only complaint is that we have to wait until next summer to find out how it ends! ðŸ˜
No comments:
Post a Comment