Avengers: Infinity War Review (Spoiler Edition)

For the past 10 years, Marvel has come to dominate cinema and completely transform superhero movies as we know them. They have managed to build an entire universe within a set of 19 movies. When you consider that each of these movies tie into each other with the most intricate of details in a way that combines for one cohesive narrative, only then will you realise the scale that Marvel's movies have reached, and no movie emphasizes that more than their latest blockbuster, Infinity War.

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, the long awaited sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron features our heroes gearing up for the biggest threat they could possibly face: a visit from the Mad Titan, Thanos, who is on a quest to gather the six Infinity Stones, and he will stop at nothing to achieve the ultimate power that comes with possessing all of them. The Avengers travel all over the galaxy to ensure that the Stones remain out of Thanos' grasp, and he pursues them with power that far surpasses every hero.

This movie had a lot to live up to. Marvel has spent the past 10 years building this battle up. Ever since the first Avengers movie way back in 2012, Thanos has been hinted at as the strongest threat the Avengers will have to deal with. Everyone knew that it would take a lot more than a rag tag team of superheroes to beat him; it would take much, much more.

This is where Infinity Warseparates itself from other superhero movies. Instead focusing on a specific set of characters, this one ties everyone in, and I mean everyone. There are as many as 19 main heroes in the mix, with at least 4 or 5 of them sharing the screen at any given moment. What is truly astonishing is how well the Russo brothers juggle three main plot lines in a way that makes you truly believe that they're all happening at the same time, and when it all comes to head, its spectacular and breathtaking.

Unfortunately, that's all I can say without getting into spoiler territory, so this is your chance to turn away if you haven't seen the movie yet. It's a solid 9/10 and is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. A word of warning though: if you haven't seen all of the previous MCU movies, you might want to do that before watchingthis one, as it expects you to have seen everything. It's still eye candy regardless, but it will make for a more holisticexperience.

All right — spoiler time.

For starters, Thanos' character was phenomenal. Josh Brolin did a fantastic job in portraying a villain who is so single minded about his goal, that he will accomplish anything to achieve it, even killing his own daughter for the Soul Stone. Gamora's death both humanized and glorified Thanos at the same time: we feel for him as no parent should ever have to see their child die, much less kill them, but we also recognize that he palces the highest priority on bringing balance to the universe. More than the Avengers, this was Thanos' movie. He stole the scene every time he was on screen, and I was weirdly fascinated by the sheer amount of power he possessed at any time in the movie.

It also helped that he was a real threat.

Marvel has had a tendency to produce lacklustre baddies, but Thanos breaks that trend by snapping it just as easily as he does his fingers to kill. He is intelligent, charismatic and driven. We see this from the beginning, killing Loki, pummelling the Hulk into submission and blowing up Thor's ship. As an audience, we know that he means serious business, and this feeling only grows as he clashes with the Avengers multiple times.

Speaking of our heroes, while no single one is given priority due to the ensemble cast of the film, everyone plays their role to perfection. The level of character building Marvel has accomplished over the past 10 years comes to fruition here, as we can very clearly see the things these characters have been through over the years and therefore understand their actions and motivations without having the movie tell us. The heroes battle Thanos twice: once on his home planet, Titan and once in Wakanda, backed by T'Challa and his forces, along with Captain America and his team. Both battles give every hero a chance to shine, and once again, the battle sequences are astonishingly well choreographed and executed to near perfection. Standouts include Thor, who is given a badass new weapon and tons of comedic banter with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, who combats Thanos one on one with a slew of powers that had me reeling, and strangely enough, Spider Man. You always get the feeling that Peter Parker is out of place among the heroes, but he always throws himself into the fight, ready to prove himself. His role is tiny, but it stood out to me.

Which of course, makes it harder when the ending of the film occurs, and more than half of them are killed by Thanos, who, with the power of all six Infinity Stones, snaps his fingers and eliminates half of all life in the universe.

If you ask me, having Thanos wipe out half the universe with a mere snap of his fingers was a masterstroke by the Russo brothers for two reasons. Firstly, it was a pivotal part of the Infinity Gauntlet series of comics way back in 1995, so the movie would have felt incomplete without it, and secondly, it sets up the sequel, the currently untitled Avengers 4, perfectly. How will our heroes recover from the devastation unfurled upon them? I do have problem with the fact that they killed people like Black Panther, Spider Man, Star-Lord, and whatnot for the simple fact that Marvel has announced movies that star these heroes, so we know that one way or another, they'll be coming back. Based on the post credit scene of the movie, we'll be seeing Captain Marvel assist them in some way, presumably using the Time Stone.

All in all, Avengers: Infinity War, is bloody brilliant. It's not the best Marvel movie, but it is certainly the most monumental, in several ways. It is the darkest, most ambitious, and the one that could have gone so, so, so wrong. But it didn't, and that's something that Marvel can claim with pride.

Score: 9/10