How can this be so good?

Rating: Null/10 (21 June 2018)

Quite honestly this shouldn't work. Marvel has been approaching its breaking point for a while now. By conventional wisdom there are too many characters, too many storylines, too many warring threats and points of interest. We could even kind of see it in The Age of Ultron. Too many plot points, too vast a scale, too far-reaching a scope.
But somehow Marvel broke through. This is an amazing movie. It is everything that was promised and more. A third installment that actually manages to raise the stakes, to deliver something that feels bigger, grander, more epic than anything we've seen before. And keeping in mind that this is Marvel, and that we have seen some truly astonishing things already, that is saying something.
So what exactly did they do to pull this off? Well, for one, they absolutely nailed the villain. Thanos (Josh Brolin) had already been teased multiple times in previous films, but he had always been a big question mark for us. Would he truly be that threatening? Would he actually have the menace, the charisma and the ambition to stand as the biggest threat the Avengers had ever faced? I'm glad to report that he does exactly that, and more. Thanos might very well be the best villain Marvel has ever produced. That is not as high a bar as it perhaps should be, but it's still plenty assuring.
The usual tricks are also in full display and they work marvelously. Beautiful CGI, good character moments, lush backgrounds, fun character interactions and a real sense of adventure. Granted, the storyline is one of the grimmest yet seen in Marvel, but that merely makes it all seem worth more.
Now, to be fair, this is only the first part. The Infinity War will continue in the next Avengers film. But this is one of those rare Part Ones that manages leave you begging for more. That ending... We will be talking about that ending for decades to come.