Avengers: Infinity War marks an important point in the evolution of Hollywood. After watching it, I can give you strong recommendation: take your money, subscribe to Crunchyroll, and stream some anime (e.g., “Darling in the Franxx“). Hollywood is played out as a creative force in films, while anime has evolved from teen fun to serious drama (it’s still good teen fun).
Disney spent $300 to $400 million making Infinity War. It’s all on the screen: excellent CGI and a troupe of skilled actors. For a little more money Disney could have hired more skilled writers. Much of the plot makes no sense. Key points are idiotic. The dialog is painfully stilted. The characters are engaged in a desperate race against the clock to save half the population of the galaxy. Occasionally they pause to crack wise, much as in the Sound of Music
To see a film with a large cast of top actors engaged in heroics, watch The Longest Day
There are brief dramatic moments in it, but they fall flat unless you have a relationship with the characters from past films.
A: IW shows Hollywood’s obsession with CGI and disinterest in stories. It has a slapdash feel to it, despite the massive budget. Much of the action makes little sense. Heroes and villains clash with fisticuffs and the occasional red beams from the hands. People with no special powers fight villains alongside heroes with superpowers – with no difference in the fights. The non-super heroes should be smashed to jelly, but are unscathed. Heroes have super jewels of power, but they are seldom used. Experienced warriors forget how to fight, making stupid mistakes.
People act totally out of character. People make bold declarations, then do the opposite. People make weird decisions (bad decisions drive the plot).
Aliens with a starship the size of a city fight earthlings, much as if the Custer commanded a regiment of Abrams tanks with air support at the Little Big Horn. The fight should last one minute, but goes on and on – with the primitive natives doing quite well.
If you do see A: IW, count the oddities. Then post your count in the comments. I could not stay awake to do so during a second viewing. Especially last third, which was 50 minutes of fighting!
The bottom line
A: IW will probably have a multi-billion dollar box office, as superhero films dominate the US film industry. Why? By comparison with A: IW, John Wayne’s b-grade cowboy flicks look like PBS documentaries, and his WWII films look like The Iliad. These “tent-box-office superhero films are the Twinkies of entertainment. Soulless, manufactured like widgets. What in them appeals to us?
How do these stories shape us? Do they inspire us to be stronger – or pander to our fears and weaknesses? Do they challenge our hearts, minds, and imagination – or deaden them?
I enjoyed reading comic books as a child. I enjoyed many of the early superhero films (e.g., Batman Begins, the first Spiderman trilogy, the first X-Men, the first two Iron Man, and the first Avengers). But something has gone sour in this genre. Or perhaps they have drilled down into the emptiness in our souls.
Meanwhile, anime has grown. With the time burned watching the 19 Marvel superhero films, you could have watched almost two seasons of a good anime series. You would have seen provocative characters, countless plot surprises, innovative imagery, and strange new things. This might be the equivalent of the 1960s automobile industry. The US dominates with its large boring products while Japan innovates beneath their notice.
- See the top anime in each genre at Reel Rundown. IMDB has a list of the top 50 anime. Crunchybase shows their 1000 anime by genre.
A good Leftist at The Guardian admires genocide
“What if superheroes aren’t really the good guys?” by Steve Rose. As usual, barely hidden love for psychopathic genocidal murder for good Leftist causes. No matter how many times Paul Ehrlich and his clones are wrong, the Left still believes their doomster forecasts.
“This brings us up to Infinity War’s villain, Thanos. With a name like that, you know he’s not a good guy. But nor is he textbook evil. He doesn’t want to build an empire or amass wealth or any of the usual despotic bad-guy things. He just wants to restore balance to the universe, indiscriminately. You could call him a Malthusian extremist. ‘The universe is finite, its resources are finite. If left unchecked it will cease to exist,’ he explains. ‘So many mouths and not enough to go round.’ You wouldn’t call that evil if David Attenborough had said it.
“Thanos’s methods are hardly humane, but there is a logic to his argument: climate change and environmental destruction are inarguable threats. Human existence is unsustainable.”
Insightful comments from critics
“{Marvel} needs to move beyond climax after climax with unremarkable, repetitive violence.” – Alan Zilberman.
“All of the explosions, chases and pretty colors that bombard your eyes and ears feel repetitive and tiresome after a while, and their returns are diminishing. 99% of the dialogue is either shallow or just there for the sake of exposition.” – NYC Movie Guru.
“As Thanos edges closer to ultimate power, the heroes joke around as merrily as lacrosse players on the bus to Chapel Hill. …Marvel fans seem to love this, but the joshing and the action nullify each other. …Banter keeps dissolving the dread like a bar of soap in a bubble bath.” – Kyle Smith.
“Thanos is an idiot, but neither he nor the filmmakers know this.” – Rubin Safaya.
For More Information
Ideas! For shopping ideas see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
For more info, see “The Ultimate Guide to Marvel Comics Movies, In and Out of the MCU” by Joshua M. Patton at the Comic Years website.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all TV and film reviews, all posts about heroes, and especially these…
- We want heroes, not leaders. When that changes it will become possible to reform America.
- Are our film heroes leading us to the future, or signaling despair?
- We like superheroes because we’re weak. Let’s use other myths to become strong.
- Hollywood’s Hero Deficit – both a cause and symptom of our weakness.
- An America without heroes. We’ll miss them.
Trailer for Infinity War
