A modern superhero film that's not afraid to take risks, while also delivering on the laughs, thrills and spectacle that audiences have come to expect from the genre.

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2018)

'Avengers: Infinity War' shouldn't have worked. It has over 20 major characters and only 149 minutes to fit them all into a cohesive story, but somehow Anthony and Joe Russo (along with screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus) managed to not only make it a good comic-book film, but one of the very best. The fact that it brings together multiple different franchises is a groundbreaking achievement in its own right, but the film actually accomplishes more than that. It's a film that's not afraid to take risks, one that takes audience expectations and completely smashes them, delivering something that stands out from the rest. The majority of characters are well balanced (apart from Steve Rogers, in my opinion) and the pacing never drags, aside from a couple of side-plots being slightly too long. The film also has a good handle on tone; it knows when to be funny, but never loses its sense of drama and fully delivers on its most serious moments. The action scenes (while mostly GCI driven) are all exciting and grand in scale, and the score by Alan Silvestri is one of his best in years. On top of all that, the film is always fun and has its fair share of epic goosebump-inducing moments. The ending of the film initially felt disappointing, but reflecting upon it made me realise that it was actually perfect and one of the things that makes the film so great. It's not the best film of the MCU, but the way in which it takes real risks and offers a genuinely unique experience elevates it to be one of the very best in its genre. 9/10