It's the Mad Titan's universe, and we are all just paying rent.

Rating: 9/10 (27 April 2018)

A towering achievement in modern day blockbuster storytelling, Infinity War hits hard right out of the gate, and continues to pummel you with spectacle beyond compare throughout its nearly three hour run time.
While it's thrilling to see so many amazing characters meeting, and sharing the screen, make no mistake, this is very much a film about Thanos. Brolin's performance as the Mad Titan shines throughout the film. He is both bombastic and nuanced. Terrifying, and fallible. Thanos is now by far the MCU's most fantastic and interesting villain.
Weaving together so many characters and storylines could easily have gone horribly wrong, but the Russo brothers navigate it seamlessly as they take us through the story, and from planet to planet at an almost break neck speed. It's no surprise that it's thrilling and hilarious to see Tony Stark interact with Doctor Strange, or Thor banter with Star Lord. Every character gets their moment and their chance to shine a bit(Spiderman and Doctor Strange were both standouts for me personally)even if that's all they get. Because the film never really slows down, you shouldn't expect a lot of character growth, or deep narrative arcs for any of our heroes. We've had eighteen films for that, and this is about seeing them all play and interact in this world together. This is an event film after all, and can really only be judged in the context of the MCU's entirety. There's no denying that Infinity War's greatest weakness is its assumption that you are very invested in these characters and storylines. So when I sit back to judge its quality as a film, I do so as a fan of the franchise and as someone who has seen all the films many times. Basically what I'm saying is there is no way for this film to really stand alone. If you haven't seen or didn't like most of the other MCU films, you will be very confused right from the start.
In the end, this film absolutely belongs to Thanos, and we are all the better for it.
Grade: A-