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Avengers: Infinity War

So this, the penultimate episode of the Marvel Avengers series (the third phase at least), is pretty ballsy work. Discretion precludes me from spewing forth on all the stuff that goes on here, but if you don't mind the cat escaping the bag, the podcast below is full of spoilers. I reckon it's safe to say that the ballsiness of the story may well be softened by the end of the 4th film (whatever that may be called). But here, at the midpoint of the two films, misery and desolation rule the roost. Enough said for now. Onto the star of the film - Thanos.

This is the guy that has been hanging around in the background for most of the previous MCU films, at least while the Infinity Stones have been in play. He's been referred to, glimpsed, even had a line or two in post-credit stings. But in Infinity War he really gets his supernatural funky out down there (apologies to Cinema Prague). Thanos as a universal Malthusian Check is one of the neater conceits in the MCU. In fact, he's not merely an agent, the whole film is his. He gets some back-story, lots of lines, a couple of weighty emotional scenes and shed-loads of trickery and violence. The other 'heroes' are virtually bystanders, clearly this is their 'worst point' and as John Yorke says about that in his screenwriting book, Into the Woods,

It's not uncommon for the stench of literal or metaphorical death to cloud the air.

Well quite, Mr. Yorke. But again, this is really just the halfway point of a pair of cash cows for the studio. Let's wait and see what transpires next year.

So making Thanos the evil protagonist of their film gave the writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) and directors (The Russo brothers) less wriggle room for the panoply of heavyweights on the opposing side. For the most part, Stark/Iron Man and Thor share secondary billing here and most of the pressure sits on their shoulders. Rogers/Captain America gets just a few lines, Romanov/Black Widow and T'Challa/Black Panther, are saddled with even fewer. Ant-man and Hawkeye don't even get a rub-down in the change rooms. But I reckon the filmmakers did well just to find screen time for so many characters. It's a high stakes game - two characters are faced with the realisation that they must kill their partners and even Thanos is forced to make a surprising sacrifice. As Dimity mentioned in the pod below, almost everybody in this film fucks up in one way or another, with the possible exception of Nick Fury. This underlines how we should see Infinity War as the first two or three acts of a five act film with the next film wide open for them to make amends. It should be fun. Fire up the pod, rabbit.

See also:

Clearly, a whole bunch of MCU films, specifically those relating to the Infinity Stones if you're not up to speed. And David Fincher's Zodiac (2007) for Stark and Banner in other guises.

SPOILERS WITHIN PODCAST!!!

Listen to "Avengers: Infinity War" on Spreaker.

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