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Thursday, May 3, 2018

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS

How does one review a film 

like “Avengers: Infinity War?” To 
list the cast would take half the 
article. Describing the plot in any 
kind of detail would be viewed as 
a colossal spoiler. It’s not trying to 
sell itself to newcomers because, 
by now, the entire world likes 
superheroes. A movie this big, with 
this many characters, attempting 
to make good on ten years worth 
of promises, simply cannot be 
reviewed as though it is any other. 
It 
is 
wholly 

unique 
both 

in 
terms 
of 

the 
Marvel 

Cinematic 
Universe 
as 
well 
as 

filmmaking at 
large.

Here’s the basic plot: Thanos 

(played via motion capture by 
Josh Brolin of “Hail Caesar!” in a 
make-or-break performance for 
the movie) has finally decided to 
get off his ass and collect the six 
infinity stones, mystical artifacts 
that, when collected together, allow 
one to control all of reality, time 
and space. The Avengers — led by 
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr., “The 
Judge”), Thor (Chris Hemsworth, 
“12 Strong”) and Captain America 
(Chris Evans, “Gifted”) — must 
unite with old friends and new in 
order to save not just planet Earth, 
but the entire universe. There are 
anywhere from a dozen to twenty-
some major characters in this movie, 
depending on who’s counting.

The storyline is broken up into five 

or six different narrative threads, 
following various groupings of the 
Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy 
and others as they work to either 

help or hinder Thanos in his plans. 
This leads to a large portion of the 
movie feeling very segmented as we 
bounce around the universe, often 
leaving people alone for 40 to 50 
minutes before returning to them. 
It’s easy at times to forget Iron Man 
or Captain America are even in the 
movie, not to mention the scores of 
secondary and minor heroes and 
villains who crop up to fight, die 
and fight again. The sheer scope 
is impressive, although it’s truly 
impossible to say how the film will 
land with any given group of people.

Conservatively, it’s safe to say 

true enjoyment of this 
movie is almost entirely 
dependent 
on 
how 

invested one already is 
in the Marvel universe 
and these characters on 
a personal level. Outside 
of Thanos himself (who 

is arguably the true lead character 
of the movie), no one character 
gets much of an arc or any kind 
of typical character development. 
“Infinity War” doesn’t even try to 
give all of these characters a story, 
counting on the previous 18 films to 
do the heavy lifting. The people who 
made this movie clearly believe the 
amount of buildup will allay some 
of the narrative shortcomings of the 
actual movie.

Part of the problem, then, is that 

the buildup to this film has, for the 
most part, been incredibly poor. 
Despite appearing as early as the 
original “Avengers” movie in 2012, 
Thanos himself has never received 
an ounce of characterization prior 
to now. In fact, the first act of this 
movie largely revolves around the 
heroes discovering his identity and 
his motives. For a villian who has 
been the subject of all that buildup, 
they should already know.

The opening sequence of this film 

also feels strangely out of step with 
last year’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” taking 
place seemingly seconds after that 
movie ended, but totally upending 
and destroying the entire purpose 
of that film in the process. This kind 
of poor planning is the main thing 
holding “Infinity War” back. It feels 
like an Act Two without a true Act 
One.

The MCU has for a decade 

coasted by on minimal stakes, 
maximum jokes. Now here comes 
an ending and the filmmakers have 
decided to get back to telling an 
actual story. However, the elements 
necessary to make the story work 
are 
missing, 
including 
under-

developed relationships that cause 
the two biggest emotional beats of 
the film to fall flat. When a major 
storyline depends on how much we 
care about C-listers like The Vision 
and Scarlet Witch, the audience 
starts to lose interest. Keeping every 
other film in the MCU exactly the 
same, this story would’ve worked 
better spread across three films, not 
two.

Despite being marketed as the 

end to a decade-long saga, “Infinity 
War” is only half a story. Like so 
many Marvel movies before, until 
we find out if the payoff is worth 
it, it’s hard to truly judge the film 
on its own. For the most adamant 
“Avengers” fans, “Infinity War” 
might just be enough. For everyone 
else, they’ve still got another year 
before they find out whether or not 
they’ve wasted ten years. Regardless 
of the eventual outcome, it’s clear 
Marvel really tried with “Avengers: 
Infinity War.” They wanted to make 
an epic that will stand the test of 
time. Next May, the world will 
finally know if they succeeded. It’s 
doubtless that many are already 
thinking about getting their tickets 
— all according to Marvel’s plan.

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ 
is expansive, yet patchy

FILM REVIEW

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES

Ono’s debut is 
filled with spirit

Straight from the title, “Lion 

Cross Point” places high literary 
stock in animals. Birds, mammals 
and sea creatures populate its pages, 
enclosed by prose in this paper zoo. 
Monkeys stumble around backyards 
and graveyards, dolphins escape to 
the open ocean and an octopus is col-
orfully gutted and boiled. In up-and-
coming Japanese author Masatsugu 
Ono’s latest, the featured animals are 
more prevalent and intricate than 
most human characters.

The common bond that unites 

all animals of the novel is mystery: 
They are painted as 
murky, unknown sym-
bols obscured by the 
realities of life. As the 
reader puzzles over 
their 
significance, 

so does Takeru, the 
young protagonist of 
“Lion Cross Point.” 
Surprisingly 
and 

stoically silent for a fourth grader, 
Takeru spends the summer in the 
home village of his mother, living 
with his new caretaker Mitsuko 
and befriending his plucky neigh-
bor, the even younger Saki. While 
this sounds like the setup to a heart-
warming coming-of-age story, the 
weighty narrative is grounded in 
solemnity and poignancy.

Superficially, Takeru is a caring 

yet shy boy who loves Pokémon and 
baseball and is almost never seen 
without his FC Barcelona or Man-
chester United cap. However, the 
real Takeru, the Takeru who hides 
behind a façade of silence, is a child 
who’s been forced to grow up too 
fast. He’s been forced to bear wit-
ness to terrible domestic abuse and 
the psychological destruction of his 
mother who seemingly abandoned 
him. He’s been forced to assume the 
caretaker role for his older brother, 
who seems the younger because of 
his undetermined mental disability. 
Takeru is wrought by grief, anger, 
shame and regret, unable to over-
come his trauma due to his inno-
cence.

Perhaps that is why Takeru muses 

about animals so often — they are 
constant in their obscurity, unlike 
the people in his life who puzzle 
and confuse him with their oscillat-
ing decisions and personalities. The 

behavior of animals is essentially 
explained, but their purpose is not, 
leading Takeru to associate meaning 
however he sees fit. He dreams of 
an aquarium dolphin named John-
nie with purported healing powers 
and seeks comfort in a future trip 
to the idyllic “Dolphin Village.” He 
feels secure in a playground referred 
to as “Zebra Park” because of the 
presence of a plastic zebra next to 
the swings. He identifies two junior-
high girls with an alpaca and an owl 
as they unintentionally bring him to 
the verge of tears parroting about 
Johnnie’s disappearance from the 
aquarium. For Takeru, animals are a 
way to both liven his distressing life 

and soften the con-
stant fear he faces.

Translated spar-

ingly into English by 
Angus Turvill, the 
language of “Lion 
Cross Point” is at 
times 
strikingly 

minimalist 
and 

devoid of definition. 

Often a paragraph will be lost on the 
reader, floating away after initial 
consumption and clouding the sub-
stance of the writing. Ono also flirts 
with the premise of a supernatural 
ghost story at times as a strange fig-
ure by the name of Bunji inhabits 
Takeru’s memories and observa-
tions. This Bunji may or may not be 
the shade of a delicate youth who 
vanished long ago at the titular loca-
tion and eerily mirrors the brother 
of Takeru. This phantom narrative 
thread is never fully developed due 
to Ono’s conservative style, so it 
mostly ends up obfuscating the plot. 
Another source of confusion comes 
in the way Takeru is focalized; how 
the omniscient narrator relates his 
thoughts and actions and how he 
deals with hardships makes Takeru 
frequently seem like a middle-aged 
protagonist better suited for the oeu-
vre of Kenzaburo Oe.

While most of the novel’s prob-

lems stem from a lack of discernible 
detail, at points it purely clicks and 
introspective clarity is achieved from 
simplicity. There may be no hopeful 
future or happy ending in sight for 
Takeru — really, there’s no ending at 
all.

BOOK REVIEW

ROBERT MANSUETTI
Summer Senior Arts Editor

IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Writer

“Avengers: 
Infinity War”

Walt Disney 

Studios

Rave Cinemas 

“Lion Cross 

Point”

Masatsugu Ono

Two Lines Press

April 10

Read more at 
MichiganDaily.com

