Best movie based on comics ... really captures a comic book event

Rating: 10/10 (1 September 2018)

World-shaking events are kid stuff in "Avengers: Infinity War," the first installment of a two-part sequel to "The Avengers" and "Avengers: Age of Ultron." The whole universe is under attack from Thanos, an infinitely villainous villain sporting a multicleft, prognathous chin. Universe-shaking throwdowns succeed one another with truly stupefying regularity as the Avengers and their Guardians of the Galaxy allies take turns rising to the challenge. But moments that touch the heart are few and far between in this almost-culmination of a decade of Marvel Comics movies. The finale, scheduled for release in May 2019, may well bring the adventure to fittingly grand fruition. What's on screen now, however, is table-setting for events to come, a groaning board of superheroes, a superabundance of undifferentiated superpowers, and an ending that's more exciting than anything that precedes it.