Fast-paced, action-packed, cliff-hanging.... the epic comic film of 2018

Rating: 8/10 (2 July 2018)

Well, well, well... there's no messing around in the eagerly anticipated Avengers 4 movie is there. Straight into the action, picking up where we left off in other Marvel films including "Thor (3) - Ragnorak", "Black Panther" (Cpt America Civil War" and even "Guardians of the Galaxy 2". The Mad Titan, Thanos (Josh Brolin), and his minions are hunting down infinity stones - mystic gems which were formed at the beginning of the universe and which, when combined give their owner God-like powers. Thanos wants to reshape the universe. The only obstacles to him getting the stones and the power are Earth mightiest heroes, The Avengers (and friends).
PRO
With 31 Marvel movie's before this - Infinity War turned out to be an epic come together of (nearly) all the established Marvel characters. This throws up some interesting cross-over combinations and situations and with it some fun humour.
PRO
Sorry, this is a spoiler - but as I've left writing this review until the film was out of cinemas I'm sure you have heard far worse by now... it's nice to see the bad guys triumph. It gave me the same goose bumps that "Star Wars: Empire strikes back" did when I first saw that, many, many years ago.
You can't get bored - it's too quick and jam-packed to get bored. In this approach it was very comic book paced, it flitted from one scenario to another and then back again. Every frame is packed with something - from the opening to the close there is something to see or learn. By the same token this was also a negative. I'm not sure that the constant hopping around worked as well as it could have done in cinematic format, but I don't want to mark the film down on this because it was actually a bit unique in the way it handled this -with so many characters it was bound to do this to get everybody in but I have to ask, did it develop as much as it could do before moving on?. If the follow up film delivers on the situations which have been set up, then it may yet turn out to be a massive triumph.
CON
It wasn't like the comic version of Infinity Wars - motivations are different, and characters involved are different. Despite this I have to be realistic with myself - Lady Death would probably be hard to create without looking too CGI'd, as would the cosmic entity's that battle Thanos - they would probably look stupid floating through space.
CON
Occasionally felt a bit CGI - not on the level of DC films such as "Justice League", but for Marvel this felt a little less than excellent which they've predominantly done so well.

After reading a lot of other reviews people seem to be reacting negatively to the characters that die only to potentially be coming back - I didn't get this point of view I'm afraid. Doesn't that happen regularly in comic books? Don't characters face their doom countless times only to be resurrected? How many times has Captain America died in comic books for god sake?! How many times have Wolverine or Deadpool suffered wounds that would destroy them regardless of their healing powers? How many times has Tony Stark been captured and assumed dead, only for the shareholders trying to take over his business been disappointed that he was alive and well. It happens all the time. The way I see it is this, there's the Marvel multiverse - what happens in films isn't the same universe as the comics or the films aren't accurate in their portrayal. When somebody dies but the next episode or film they are back and there's no real explanation - it's probably just another reality or universe where everything is OK or never actually happened. If it isn't the case then all the normal humans populating earth are dumb as fudge ants that deserve to be stamped on by a might God-like entity. Anyway - I digress! Sorry.
The film was epic, fast paced, good fun and action packed. I would definitely watch it again, and probably will before I go the next installment at the cinema. I enjoyed this and haven't met anyone that didn't take some enjoyment out of it. The only people that seemingly didn't enjoy it are the keyboard warriors who like to give 0's and 1 star reviews on here rather than look for something positive.
I'm giving this 8 out of 10 - but I'm hanging on to a spare star till after the follow up. I solemnly promise that if all arcs are resolved and everything is placated then I will return and award that additional star, if this review says anything other than 8 - then I either haven't seen the next film yet, it's not been released yet, or it stunk!