An Emotional Rollercoaster Ride for MCU Fans

Rating: 9/10 (27 April 2018)

This is what the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date was working towards. It's the culmination of 10 years of interwoven plots and character arcs. And boy, does Avengers: Infinity War deliver.
The movie manages to find an almost perfect balance of action, drama, and humour (there a couple of truly hilarious scenes). While the movie is long with 2 hours, 40 minutes of running time, it never feels so. If you are a fan of the past MCU installments, you will find this to be one of the best movies of the series, that will shake to you to the core.
But this leads me to essentially the biggest problem of the movie: it's pretty much exclusively targeted at hardcore fans of the MCU. While you (most likely) will be able to follow the plot, you will have a hard time to untangle the web of relationships between the heroes, to unstand how they got in their current situation, and in some cases even to identify them: a couple of major characters never even gets addressed by name once in the whole movie.
In addition, it will be difficult to feel emotional attached to the heroes. While every of the protagonists gets their moment to shine, there's very little characterisation or even development. A small number of crucial characters get a single emotional scene, or maybe two, but this is barely enough to make you sympathetic to their plight. Pretty much all of your investment in the heroes will have to come from the previous movies of the MCU.
On the other hand, the movies antagonist Thanos gets thoroughly characterised and fleshed out. This is what makes Avengers: Infinity War really special and standing out in the mass of MCU movies. A villain with true depth. While his actions are cruel and atrocious, he doesn't act out of a wanton lust for destruction but rather out of a twisted sense of duty and even a perverse way of... kindness. Josh Brolin's subtle motion-captured performance further helps to make Thanos despite his bloodthirsty savagery appear human and almost relatable.