Avengers: Infinity War

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2018)

SPOILER: The Marvel Cinematic Universe movie series has been fantastic, many fans including me were happy to see it celebrating its tenth anniversary, this next instalment in the Avengers series, bringing together over twenty Marvel superheroes, was the most ambitious and high anticipation, directed by the Russo brothers (Welcome to Collinwood, You, Me and Dupree, Captain America: The Winter Soldier & Civil War). Basically Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his lieutenants - Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon), Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw) and Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary) - have acquired the Power Stone. They intercept the ship carrying the survivors of Asgard's destruction, they extract the Space Stone from the Tesseract. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is subdued and Thanos kills Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and overpowers Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Heimdall (Idris Elba) transports Hulk to Earth before being killed, then Thanos and his lieutenants leave and the ship is destroyed. Hulk crash-lands at the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York City, reverting to Bruce Banner, there he meets Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong) and warns them of Thanos' plan to kill half of all life in the universe, so Strange recruits Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). Maw and Obsidian arrive to retrieve the Time Stone from Strange, drawing the attention of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Maw fails to take the Time Stone due to an enchantment, but captures Strange. Stark and Parker pursue Maw's spaceship, while Banner contacts Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans), and Wong stays behind to guard the Sanctum. In Scotland, Midnight and Glaive ambush Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) in-order to retrieve the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead. Rogers, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Sam Wilson aka Falcon (Anthony Mackie) rescue them and shelter with James Rhodes aka War Machine (Don Cheadle) at the Avengers Compound. Vision offers to sacrifice himself, to have the Mind Stone destroyed to keep Thanos from retrieving it, Rogers suggests they travel to Wakanda, which may have the resources to remove the stone without destroying Vision. The Guardians of the Galaxy respond to a distress call from the Asgardian ship and rescue Thor, he surmises Thanos seeks the Reality Stone, which is in the possession of the Collector (Benicio Del Toro) on Knowhere. Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Groot (Vin Diesel) accompany Thor to Nidavellir, Thor is also given a new eye, on the now deserted planet they and Eitri, King of the Dwarves (Peter Dinklage), create an enchanted battle-axe called Stormbreaker capable of killing Thanos. On Knowhere, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (ZoÃ« Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) find Thanos who has already got the Reality Stone in his possession. Thanos kidnaps Gamora, his adoptive daughter, she is forced to reveal the location of the Soul Stone as her captive adoptive sister Nebula (Doctor Who's Karen Gillan) is being tortured. Thanos and Gamora travel to Vormir, where Red Skull (Ross Marquand), keeper of the Soul Stone, informs him the stone can only be retrieved by sacrificing someone he loves, Thanos reluctantly throws Gamora off a cliff, granting him the Soul Stone. Nebula escapes captivity and asks the remaining Guardians to meet her on Titan, Thanos' destroyed homeworld, Stark and Parker have rescued Strange and killed Maw, ejecting him from his ship, they land at Titan and meet Quill, Drax, and Mantis. The group forms a plan to remove Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet, while Strange looks into the future, he finds only one in millions of possible futures in which Thanos loses. Thanos arrives, justifying his plan is necessary to ensure the survival of a universe threatened by overpopulation, the group manage to subdue him, until Nebula deduces that he killed Gamora. Quill is enraged and retaliates, allowing Thanos to break away and overpower the group, Strange surrenders the Time Stone in exchange for Thanos sparing Stark, Thanos then departs for Earth. In Wakanda, Rogers reunites with Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) before Thanos and his army invade, the Avengers, alongside T'Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the Wakandan forces, mount a defence while Shuri (Letitia Wright) works to extract the Mind Stone from Vision. Banner is unable to transform into the Hulk, he fights in Stark's Hulkbuster armour; Thor, Rocket, and Groot arrive to reinforce the defenders, while Midnight, Obsidian, and Glaive are killed, and their army is routed. Maximoff attempts to destroy the Mind Stone, but Thanos arrives and retrieves the stone from Vision, destroying him, Thor severely wounds Thanos, but with all stones completing the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos activates it, clicking his fingers and teleporting away. Thanos' plan succeeds, as a result, half of all life across the universe disintegrates, including Barnes, T'Challa, Groot, Maximoff, Wilson, Mantis, Drax, Quill, Strange, and Parker; Stark and Nebula remain on Titan, while Banner, Okoye (Danai Gurira), Rhodes, Rocket, Rogers, Romanoff, M'Baku (Winston Duke), and Thor are left on Wakanda, meanwhile Thanos rests and recuperates on another planet. After the credits, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) witness many people disintegrating, causing destruction, Fury is able to transmit a distress signal before he and Hill disintegrate, the device displays a star insignia on a red-and-blue background (meaning Captain Marvel). Also starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, William Hurt as Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross and Stan Lee as the Bus Driver. All of the cast as the superheroes are fantastic as usual, and Brolin is brilliant as the malevolent supervillain, there is a lot going on at once, but thankfully I followed it all, the special effects are spectacular, and the constant explosions and fight sequences are exciting, I wasn't expecting to end so dramatically and sombre, I cannot wait to see what happens next and how the heroes will be returned, overall this is a fantastic fantasy action adventure. It was nominated for Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects. Very good!