New Rule: No More Superhero Teams
By now, you’ve seen that Infinity War’s reviews are…well, good. Not great. Not Black Panther great or Civil War great. Not Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor: Ragnarak great. Just good. Like, Spiderman: Homecoming good or Dr. Strange good. I think it’s a great idea to temper your expectations going in. Remember, all the Marvel movies have been leading up to this movie, and this movie is actually largely a lead up to the sequel next year. Regardless, if you have seen any Marvel movie in the last ten years, you’ll see that hero (or villain) show up here. But, as happy as you’ll be to see them, you’re going to be disappointed. They show up, maybe have some rushed character development, and the movie’s over before you get any significant time with them. Something about being on a superhero team seems to sap the magic of your hero such that the whole is less than the sum of its parts. So here’s what I want to see: no more superhero teams.
Each of you are less fun here than you are in your own movies. Well, except Tony Stark. He’s always pretty fun.
I think it’s impossible to watch Infinity War and not wish you were watching a different movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy appear and you wish you could watch another movie with just them (and that movie is coming!). Black Panther shows up and you wish you could spend the whole movie with his cool heroism and fascinating civilization (that movie is coming too). In their own movies, these characters get room to breathe, a chance to be both funny and heroic, and plenty of time to be themselves. Here, they are all competing for limited space and everything feels ridiculously hurried. It’s amazing that a movie that’s almost three hours long feels this rushed, but it definitely does (going to see it? Here’s a tip: When Thanos and Gamorra are on a mountain, that’s your chance to run to the bathroom). But I felt the same way about Wonder Woman and Superman in last year’s Justice League. I even felt the same way about Jessica Jones, who felt shoe-horned into The Defenders. When superheroes team up, they seem to have a lot less time to just be themselves.
This movie definitely belongs to Thanos. Good thing Josh Brolin is awesome.
No, to be clear, there should be some limited teamups. Thor and Hulk together last year was amazing. Superman and Flash had some great chemistry in Justice League. Pairing two heroes together seems to work well, at least in limited contexts. But we need to limit the number of superheroes invited into each movie because there is a pretty steep cliff. More than three or four seems to lead to problems. Luke Cage and Iron Fist works well, but the Defenders were a bit of a mess. Man of Steel was pretty good, but Batman v. Superman (and Wonder Woman) was godawful. I really did like Justice League, but I think I would have liked a movie about Batman and Aquaman or The Flash and Superman even more. And, of course, the Avengers even worked really well, but Infinity War feels like a hurried story with too much to do in even three hours. The more heroes you add, the less time you have to enjoy any of them.
Damn straight we deserve a better movie. But there’s a proper sequel on the way, no worries.
Heck, if the need to have these characters in Infinity War is the reason they each got their own movies, then I’ll admit that we are better for it. I really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor: Ragnorak and Black Panther, and I enjoyed them considerably more than this movie. I really like superhero movies, but – at the end of the day – I’m sick of superhero teams. Batman v. Superman (featuring our first Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman teamup) was just horrible. The Defenders started strong but ultimately was less than each of the superhero series that preceded it (except for the disastrous Iron Fist). Justice League was good but Wonder Woman and even Man of Steel were much better. And Infinity War is good but not nearly as good as each of the Marvel movies that preceded it. Maybe we need to wait and see how this wraps up in the sequel next year, but – for now – I’m willing to say that I’m sick of super hero teams. The whole is just always so much less than the sum of the parts.
