Works if you just try and enjoy it as one long visual spectacle, without looking at anything else

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2018)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
The mighty, evil Thanos (Josh Brolin) is in need of one more 'infinity stone' to place on his giant glove in order to control the universe. In New York, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is approached by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his ally Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) in order that they reunite to battle him, and gets treated to a big demonstration of his powers in a massive city battle, during which young buck Peter Parker (Tom Holland) makes his presence known as his Spider-Man alter ego. As the old gang reunite, they cross paths with Skylord (Chris Pratt) and his gang...
After an endless stream of singular Marvel universe entries where individual characters have faced their battles and revealed their back stories, directors The Russo Brothers have here decided the next logical step is to create a big, all out spectacle of a film, where the stand alone characters meet up with the Guardians of the Galaxy characters, and combine their powers to take down an epic super villain. It's no doubt something the die hard fans of the series will have been looking forward to, and will have been on the cards for a while given the huge box office takings. But, while it's as big a visual splendour as all the others, in the end it sadly works best only on a superficial level.
The central plot is paper thin, and not nearly strong enough to sustain a movie of its length and scope. Not only that, it's also overly reliant on the viewer having an extensive knowledge of all the previous films, rendering it a benign mystery to anyone who's casually chosen to see it. The original Avengers Assemble film (now unbelievably over five years old!) managed to get all the featured characters to gel together well, but this seems over eager to examine all the characters back story and relationships with others, and all together here, there's too much to take in, in a plot that goes nowhere and drags on for far too long.
Overlong, overblown and over-ambitious, this will end up over-whelming even the most ardent Marvel fan. It just about manages to succeed by being as colourful and visually exciting as all the rest, with dazzling special effects and thrill a minute action sequences. But this, sadly, is pretty much the best it has to offer. ***