Destiny has arrived...

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2018)

After a decade of spectacular films and cast of characters, the culmination of the entire MARVEL Cinematic Universe has led to this. 'Avengers: Infinity War' marks the first-half of what is to be a monumental cinematic event. With years of hype, does this film deliver and meet every expectation we've been hoping for?
1. This review is SPOILER FREE , but there will be mentions of certain sequences, however, I assure you there won't be any reveals. To make things simple, the mad titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) has finally decided to scour the universe in a hunt for all six infinity stones and deliver a balance to life and death that he sees fit. Blood will be shed and fear spreads as a fractured Avengers face their greatest threat as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. In all honesty, this film delivered on everything I wanted to see all whilst exceeding my expectations at the same time. One must remember that to fully appreciate this film, you had to have seen every MCU film prior to this. If you've missed films in between or if this in your first MCU experience, I'd heavily recommend that you catch up as soon as you can before seeing 'Infinity War' because you'd be utterly confused viewing this on its own.
2. Although all the characters are in one film, they're not all together (if you know what I mean). Certain Avengers are handling things in different places across the galaxy, so don't expect a unified team-up on this one. Everything has its place and I continue to stress that this is part one of two in the 'Infinity War' and Thanos' story. The three leading heroes (Captain America, Iron Man & Thor) are all on their respective quests until the ultimate convergence during the climax. Personally, the more intriguing story was Captain America's (Chris Evans) quest and the defensive actions in Wakanda, as well as Gamora's (Zoe Saldana) relationship with her adopted father Thanos. Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and the Guardians' plot is a close second while Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) was the least compelling. Not to say having three different story-lines is a bad thing, rather than which is more entertaining to follow.
3. Thanos is by far the greatest CGI creation I've seen come alive on-screen since Gollum. The effects are impeccable and Josh Brolin delivers an outstanding motion-capture performance as the mad Titan himself. There is an ere of sympathy to Thanos that I found interesting and all credit goes to the writers. He is (most certainly) a force to be reckoned with and can definitely be placed in the category of the greatest cinematic villains in history. What was equally impressive were Thanos' minions/followers, 'The Black Order'. Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw & Cull Obsidian respectively, are badass characters all of whom I'm dying to see more of. The action is spectacular and some of which I've never seen before. It was hard to contain my inner nerd the more the movie progressed closer and closer to that spectacular climax. So as far as action goes......no complaints whatsoever.
4. The one thing I found a little campy and I guess the only flaw of this film is that Vision (Paul Bettany) and Scarlett Witch's (Elizabeth Olsen) relationship. As seen in the trailers, Vision has evolved to the point in which he can now generate a human appearance. It's insinuated that both he and Wanda are intimate (having sex), and that's just awkward and somewhat gross to think about considering Vision is still a robot/machine of sorts despite his intellect. Besides that, I must warn audiences who've been spoiled by the happy/hopeful/humorous MCU endings thus far, because 'Infinity War' has a rather dark ending. When it was all over, I was unable to move from my seat and just sat there for a few minutes to wrap my head around the final event and realization of the films climax. Its somewhat of a cliffhanger but not entirely, because the film does have a legit conclusion.
I felt fear and shed tears for certain characters as there is so much emotion tied into this film. Some sequences are truly heartbreaking despite the amazing action and moments of humor. Kudos to the direction of the Russo brothers and writers Markus & McFeeley, because 'Avengers: Infinity War' is truly one for the ages and a spectacle of a film. It it so fantastic that MARVEL has indeed succeeded the likes of DC and even Star Wars, as this is easily in the higher rankings of best comic-book films ever made.