This is a Thanos movie, not an Avengers movie. Boldest MCU Film to date!

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2018)

First of, this film is not for casual movie goers. This is for the fans, for the people who watched every single MCU film since 2008 and anticipated for this to happen. You cannot watch this movie without having to watch atleast 8 of the previous films, in order to understand and decipher the character's progression and development.
Everything that we've been watching has been leading to this moment. Us, seeing Thanos go after the Infinity Stones to fulfill his "purpose". The movie formally introduced us to Thanos. Majority of the film is about him and his background and motivation for wanting to annihilate half of the universe. Some might "sympathize" with him, but the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy know better. Thanos' backstory was great, but Thanos' children (Black Order) could've used more character development. The movie showed how powerful and vulnerable Thanos was, which makes it more interesting. It's raising the stakes even more, to get a better pay off in the end. Thanos definitely is the star of the show. He doesn't kill to hate, he kills to let people live. The way he interacted with the heroes was sympathetic and genuine, as he praised Star-Lord, admired Iron Man and Doctor Strange and sympathized with Scarlet Witch. He was a complicated character. He didn't want the infinity stones to rule the world, but rather "fix" it, same with Ultron's motives, but the way they developed both characters were very different. That's what makes Thanos a far better villain than Ultron or anyone else.
The film perfectly ties up all previous films with hilarious and dark moments. The new "team ups" have great chemistry, Thor-Rocket-Groot and Doctor Strange-Iron Man-Spider Man-GoTG. The action sequences in the movie were thrilling, especially the fight in Wakanda and every Captain America fighting scene. Okoye and Black Widow are the female team up to beat. Bruce Banner is the funniest character, next to Thor. Iron Man and Doctor Strange's banters are everything we ever dreamed off. Star-Lord and Drax were a bit of a disappointment. Gamora finally got her moment. Black Panther, Falcon, Winter Soldier were side-lined. Vision was vulnerable and Scarlet Witch was unstable.
Doctor Strange and Thor were the best heroes in the film, followed by Iron Man. Captain America shines during the ending, showing how defeated he felt as he saw his friend slowly disappear.
The ending was perfect. It was hard to absorb at first but it made perfect sense. Thanos fulfilled his purpose and he doesn't have to work anymore, so he finally retires. But the remaining Avengers know that they still have to find a way to bring back their friends and families. It sets up the next movie (Avengers: Secret Wars) perfectly.
With the weight of everything that's happening, the pacing was not perfect but it was okay. I would've liked to see the Soul Stone make a bigger impact in the movie. We saw all of the other stones' power and capabilities but after years of waiting for the Soul Stone, it simply didn't deliver a dramatic representation of what it could really do.
The Avengers were defeated but we know that they will find a way to undo everything that Thanos did in this movie. Maybe we will get to see a timeline reset. The lack of Ant-Man and Hawkeye were so unfortunate for the heroes because they would've been so much help in fighting Thanos.
We will have to wait for a year to see what happens next to the remaining Avengers. Avengers: Infinity War may not be the best MCU film in my opinion, but it delivers what we wanted to see and it's the boldest MCU film to date!