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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
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