ANTHONY RUSSO, JOE RUSSO

Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBB.5

USA, 2019.  Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Pictures.  Screenplay by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and the comic book by Jim Starlin.  Cinematography by Trent Opaloch.  Produced by Kevin Feige.  Music by Alan Silvestri.  Production Design by Charles Wood.  Costume Design by Judianna Makovsky.  Film Editing by Jeffrey Ford, Matthew Schmidt.

After ending the previous film by collecting all six Cracker Jack prizes and using them to wipe out half the population of planet Earth, evil Thanos (Josh Brolin) has flown off to his retirement planet and the members of the Avengers superhero team who remain need to figure out their next plan of action. It’s been five years since the devastating event, and Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) comes up with a theory involving quantum physics that he believes could be used to turn back time and undo all the damage, but the now happily retired family man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) isn’t sure he’s up for it; he could help restore billions of people back to life, but he would also be giving up the daughter he loves so dearly.

Gathering help from a new “integrated” Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and seeking out the now chubby and alcoholic Thor (Chris Hemsworth), then reuniting with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), “War Machine” (Don Cheadle) and Captain America (Chris Evans), the team splits in three groups and heads back to three different times and places in an effort to recover the universally powerful stones before Thanos gets his hands on them. The plotting is mainly taken up with the winding roads that precede these goals, then culminates, as all these films insufferably do, in a loud sequence of combat, in which characters with magical abilities still need to work out their issues in hand to hand combat for the sake of a paying audience.

The exuberance that kept the last one so fun is weighed down by too much emphasis on dark drama and brooding, while actors who are forced to get into peak physical shape have their characters’ energies deadened by this genre’s complete terror of human sexuality (even Ingmar Bergman’s ruminations on morality and death allowed his characters the pleasure of a little nookie every once in a while).

A sense of individuality beyond these characters’ powers would help keep the film from being so flavourless, and could make the excessive three-hour running time go by a bit faster.

Academy Award Nomination:  Best Visual Effects

Critics Choice Awards: Best Visual Effects; Best Action Movie
Nomination: Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie

Screen Actors Guild Award:  Best Stunt Ensemble