in good hands

Rating: 8/10 (11 May 2018)

The Avengers face their most powerful opponent yet in Thanos. Thanos is collecting the six Infinity Gems for his Infinity Gauntlet to execute his evil plan. The heroes of the MCU struggle to stop him.
It is amazing that this works as well as it does. This could be best described as The Empire Strikes Back portion of the MCU so far. The heroes get their butts kicked from one end of the universe to the other. It ends with a mass disintegration which is honestly even sadder and much darker than TESB. TESB ends bittersweet but this is just dark. Although anybody with a brain would see that the snap will be reversed in some way. There are many deaths that cannot happen which does diminishes the shock value of the ending. They can't kill off Spider-Man because the MCU doesn't even own him. Sony would never let it happen. They also can't kill off Black Panther due to his future movie and more importantly, his new popularity. Obviously, some characters will not make it but I think the vast majority will rise from the dead. The constant death reversals in the MCU saps away the shock value and that's probably this movie's main drawback. If they picked different characters to disintegrate, I might have doubts about reversing it.
The advantage of the MCU is that these characters are so familiar that none of them needs introduction. In fact, this one starts from the end of Thor: Ragnarok and is no worst off by it. The relationships are well established. It's great fun to have them run into other heroes they've never met. Thor joining the Guardians generates a whole lot of hilarity. Drax is especially funny. Quill's insecurities is fun. There is an interesting pairing of Stark and Dr. Strange with Spider-Man as a fun sidekick. Relationships continue to be the strength of this franchise. The heroes are so well defined that the movie can spend its time with the villain. One of this franchise's weakness has always been the lackluster villains but Thanos is allowed to have his character development. His view points and his love for his daughter Gamora give him real depth. In many ways, this is Thanos' movie and it is more compelling due to the development.
I do have some other minor issues. The giant Dinklage may be oddly cute at first but it's just odd. That section doesn't have the same action as Wakanda. Thor holding open the iris is not much of an action scene. I'd rather have that section finish quicker without flipping back and forth there. I would push that section back into the middle. The plan for Vision's stone seems like a low percentage play and his reasoning for sacrificing himself seems much more poetic. There has to be a way to do a "needs of the many" scene earlier and end in the same place anyways.
Overall, this is well-constructed, well-conceived, and well-made. Despite the darkness, it still has its fun. The plot never stalls. The villains are great. The heroes are never in doubt. The franchise continues to be in good hands.