Thanos: A Villain's Journey

Rating: 9/10 (30 April 2018)

Avengers: Infinity War
Film review
By Nelson Nantanapibul
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Josh Brolin...
The MCU as it's known is 10 years old and has achieved massive financial and critical success which has culminated in the mother of all crossover events in Avengers: Infinity War. Now even though I admire the MCU and what it has accomplished (at least for me) not every film has hit it out of the park story wise and yet most of their films across the board seem to garner near identical critical praise with some rare exceptions. I loved the first Avengers film and saw it eight times in theaters during its original theatrical run. Age of Ultron fell far short of my expectations and in my opinion was their first major misstep narratively and yet that film still made over a billion dollars worldwide and appeared to be critic proof.
Then Civil War came along helmed by the Russo Bros and and though it was billed as a Captain America film it was essentially The Avengers 2.5. I'm guessing that was a trial run for the Russos to see if they were worthy of taking over the next major chapter in the Avengers saga and they do not disappoint.
Infinity War has the emotional depth that I find lacking in the majority of MCU films and they give us a villain in Thanos who is not only worthy enough to face off against earth's mightiest heroes but is the centerpiece of this film. This is his story all the way through with our heroes serving as the supporting cast. Most MCU villains are completely lackluster and quite frankly have not been all that interesting save for a few such as Loki, Red Skull and the Vulture.
Thanos is billed as "The Mad Titan" in the comics but in Josh Brolin's performance he comes off as anything but. There is a method to Thanos' madness in the film and he (at least in his own mind) is the hero of this epic story. The best villains in cinema and literature are the ones who do not act purely out of evil intent but who feel as if what they are doing is just and cause and cannot understand why others cannot see things as they do.
Thanos has a twisted sense of love and loyalty but he does possess those emotions and they are in full display in this film. Thanos is a fully realized character and has an arc in this film usually reserved for the heroes of the MCU. The Russos have taken the template of the MCU films which had started to become predictable and bland (at least for me) and completely do their own thing under the watchful eye of Kevin Feige to be sure.
This film is full of surprises and doesn't always go the way viewers expect it to and in one instance they kind of psyche you out in thinking one thing will happen and pull the rug out from under you. I cannot elaborate without spoiling what the scene is but it definitely had the audience at my screening audibly gasp out loud. For the first time in a long time I have actually felt like there were actual stakes in an MCU film where just about anything could happen and they set up those expectations from the get go. The Russos do not waste time in getting us into the action and they stomp their foot on the gas up until the very end.
This film had the usual brand of MCU style humor but didn't overstaurate the viewers with it the way I feel other films in the universe have begun to overly rely on it in lieu of character and plot development. The film also has great emotional depth and resonance that I have not felt within the MCU for a very long time. There were some moments in the film where I thought, I can't believe they actually went there. There was only one time in the film where I felt that they played it safe in terms of the fate of a character where if they had followed through on it would have really thrown viewers for a loop.
Marvel has delivered something amazing with this film. The MCU could go in any direction from here on out. Actually if this were to be the last film in the MCU franchise (it's not) it would be a satisfying if somewhat dark and dreary way to end things but it could end. I highly recommend this film and what has been accomplished by the Fiege braintrust is nothing short of amazing and (almost) unheard of. The shared cinematic universe is not a new concept but it has not been accomplished on a scale of this size and it has yet to be successfully emulated by other studios. Definitely see this film and see how seamlessly the Russos intertwine so many characters together with Thanos serving as the thread that ties everything together from one scene to the next.