I admit I was not the most eager to see Disney’s Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War as most. By this point I have become largely numb to the franchise. Not because I don’t enjoy them, but rather because they aren’t doing anything new. They aren’t pushing the boundaries of storytelling. I thought Black Panther was very well done, but it wasn't enough to get me excited to see Infinity War.
I saw the movie because I felt like I had to. I wanted to stay culturally relevant. I didn’t want to miss out on the discussion of the film among my peers and on the internet. I didn’t want to feel left out. I expressed these same concerns about Solo: A Star Wars Story, and to that my good friend said, “What a sad day when you watch a Star Wars just to be culturally relevant. Star Wars feels like required reading in high school.” Too true.
The days leading up to my viewing I found myself becoming increasingly eager to see the film. It was getting positive reviews, and my friends seemed to enjoy it. I was looking forward to seeing how they were going to tie in 20 or so different characters into one film. It was “the most ambitious crossover event in history” after all. If anyone could do it, I knew it would be Marvel. Also the memes. I had to understand the memes.
So I saw the film, and I found it incredibly dull. Full spoilers to follow.
I found myself bored, practically counting the minutes until it was over. But how? The movie was jam packed with energy. Thor was forging an axe from the heart of a star, the Avengers were frighting a hoard of monsters in Wakanda, all while Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Star-Lord were battling Thanos on the destroyed planet of Titan. The editing was impeccable and I got just enough of each character to feel satisfied with their time in the film.
So why was I so indifferent about the events of the film? As always, it come down to the big C-word: Character. I argue that there were no characters in the film except one: Thanos. Let’s talk about Thanos.
The scenes in which I did not feel my overwhelming sense of apathy were those involving our antagonist, Thanos. Who knew that I could feel such sympathy towards a giant purple CGI space alien. Thanos was the most interesting character in the film. He had wants, desires, and an ideology. He had relationships to other characters, a troubled past, and he had to make some tough choices. He had a journey, and against all odds, he prevailed. He defeated the Avengers and wiped out half of the universe. The hero succeeds.
So why did Thanos work as a character while everyone else was left to the wayside? The big D-word: Decision. Decision is character and character is decision. I read that in a screenwriting book once and its always resonated with me. When a character makes a decision it shows their true colors. It shows what kind of person they are and what they value. The best example of this was when Thanos chose to kill his adopted daughter, Gamora.
In this scene, Thanos was tested. His ideology was tested. His relationship was tested. His entire life was being tested in this moment. He had to decide between the love he felt for his daughter and his lifelong goal of restoring balance to the universe. And he made a decision. Thanos chose to murder his daughter for the sake of his mission. It tore him apart but he did it anyways. The needs of the many out way the needs of the few, or the one. This showed us, as an audience, that Thanos had become truly mad, and that nothing would stop him from accomplishing his goal.
This scene was incredibly compelling because Thanos had to make a decision that would define him for the rest of the film. This decision related to his dramatic need and allowed him to grow as a character. So what decisions did the Avengers make in the film?
I counted two decisions from the Avengers in the film, and both related to our man Thanos. The first was when Peter had to decide to kill Gamora to save her from Thanos, and the second was when Wanda decided to kill Vision to destroy the Mind Stone. Both were interesting scenes to watch because those characters were tested, and the choices they made informed who they were as people. Other than that, not a single character driven decision was made.
Every other character in the film were just vessels for action. Steve, Natasha, Thor, Bruce, etc. had nothing of substance to do in this film besides fight. Sure, they had moments of characterization, with Thor’s sadness over the loss of his entire family, with Peter Parker’s never ending determination to help the Avengers and Tony, and with Steve’s unwavering moral compass that told him to not trade lives. However, none of these characterizations were ever paid off in the film. No one’s ideology was tested. No one had to make any decisions. People simply fought because they had to for the sake of the plot. They had to stop Thanos. They had to protect the Infinity Stones. They had to work together as a team. Fighting for the sake of fighting is not interesting. We’ve seen the Avengers fight massive battles before. Seeing it again was just repetitive. Show me something new.
One argument that can be made is that we’ve had ten years to develop these characters and reveal their true nature. They’ve each had stand alone films where they went on their own hero’s journey and we learned something about what makes them tick. When watching Infinity War one needs to infer the characterizations that were established in the other films just as one needs to infer some of the plot points from the other films. This movie does not stand on its own so its okay that we did not spend time on characterization in this film.
I hear that argument, but I disagree. When I watch a film I want to be in the moment. I don’t want to be thinking of other films. I want to be taken on a journey with these characters now, not just get references to the character driven journeys they went on in a separate films. Otherwise, it’s just not worth my time. It is for these reasons that the movie ultimately fails.
So what can be done to salvage Infinity War’s character problem? How can we make a meaningful character driven story when there are so many different characters? I have some suggestions. None are perfect but I think they get the film moving in the right direction.
Choose a protagonist. Infinity War did not have a protagonist. Choose someone, it doesn’t matter who, and make them the center of attention. It can be Steve, Tony, Peter Parker, Strange, etc. Everyone else can still be in the film but significantly cut their screen time. Focus on a central character, test them, and have them make decisions like Thanos did. Captain America: Civil War comes to mind. It was an ensemble movie yet it focused on Steve Rogers.
Establish a theme. As I see it the movie does not have a central theme, so let’s choose one. Let’s choose the theme of sacrifice. It is clear that Thanos is fine with sacrificing lives for the sake of restoring balance to the universe, so what if every other character had to grapple with that idea throughout the film? What if Steve, our moral compass, had to make a tough choice on sacrificing lives in order to defeat Thanos? This would play off of Thanos and create and interesting protagonist/antagonist relationship. Give the other characters the chance to be tested by relating it back to the theme of what are you willing to do to win the day? What are you willing to sacrifice?
Cut characters. I know this is debatable because if you cut characters then how are you going to have “the most ambitious crossover event in history.” But what if we handpicked a few of the people across the Marvel universe and sent them on a mission? We’ll have Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange all go on a quest to defeat Thanos. That way we can focus on just those characters and have more time explore them individually.
That pretty much sums up my thoughts on Infinity War in relation to the film’s characters. I left the theater feeling the need to apologize to people when I told them I did not like the movie, as there is a real social pressure to enjoy it. Especially among young people these films are adored and I don’t want to seem like a snooty film minor who thinks he knows everything about how films should be made. I definitely don’t know everything about storytelling and film. What I do know is a good character when I see one, and the absence of one when one is non-existent. Good characters make stories memorable and allow them to stand the test of time. Without good characters, these movies will be forgotten and be blown away in the wind, just like poor Peter Parker.