Runtime: 149mins | Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo | Rating: 5 Stars





10 years.





10 years I had been waiting for this film.





As you can imagine, after waiting such a long time for this film to be released both my expectations and excitement for it were ludicrously high.





In many ways though, this was a curse. As with each day the film edged closer, so did my growing concerns that my expectations were too high and, as a result, could never be met.





Luckily, within 5 minutes of the film starting, I knew I had nothing to worry about.





Avengers: Infinity War is the first of two films which signal the culmination of three phases of Marvel films spanning 10 years. Thanos (Josh Brolin), the mad titan, continues his search for the infinity stones in the hope of collecting them all to wield in his infinity gauntlet – the most powerful weapon in the Marvel universe. If he collects them, he can destroy half the universe with a snap of his fingers. In an attempt to stop him, the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and other defenders of Earth unite.







With so much good to say about this film, it is hard to know where to begin. To me though, the most obvious is the joy derived from finally seeing all your favourite characters interacting (albeit under the worst of circumstances).





If you’re an existing fan of the franchise you probably have a good idea of what some of these interactions may be – that being said, there are many instances where characters you wouldn’t expect to be joined up are and provide moments of cinematic gold. A personal favourite of mine was Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) – a group I never would have imagined together but work brilliantly.









Another concern I had before seeing Infinity War was that the inevitable merging of characters would dilute the unique and quirky aspects each of them had previously established. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case.





Due to the cinematic genius of both the Russo brothers and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (the scriptwriters), each character retains their uniqueness and stylisation you have come to love them for. Throughout the film, you can still very much feel the influence of Marvel directors past shining through – not just the Russo brothers.





A great example of this is that despite the significantly ramped up tension and darker nature of Infinity War compared to past Marvel films, when the Guardians of the Galaxy are first introduced, we see them cruising through the multi-coloured cosmos whilst lip-syncing to varying degrees of enthusiasm the Detroit Spinners’ ‘Rubberband Man’.





Of course, Guardians of the Galaxy has always had a strong tie to music, so it was nice to see a nod to the direction James Gunn took them in.









Infinity War is a much darker film than we’ve seen before in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one which will have long-lasting, consequences. And, this is solely down to the long-awaited introduction of Thanos.





It is no secret that most superhero films, bar a few exceptions, have always struggled with creating villains, and Marvel is no exception.





Thanos, however, is the perfect villain, and that is no exaggeration.





You may think you’re prepared for Thanos after such a long wait – I’m here to tell you that you aren’t.









Thanos is mad, he is power-hungry, and he is merciless. Despite this, he isn’t heartless and throughout Infinity War shows many instances of genuine, relatable emotion.





Whilst the way he goes about it is abominable, his motive for the destruction of half the universe is somewhat noble, and honestly, understandable. His home world, Titan, once a beautiful and civilised place was destroyed due to overpopulation and a lack of resources. When he saw what happened, he realised that if there were only half the people in the universe, the remaining half could have a significantly better quality of life – no-one would need for anything. Whilst this is obviously flawed, and the exact need for 50% of life to be wiped is dubious at best, the sentiment is rooted in warped but good intention.





Unlike previous megalomaniacal villains who sought out destruction for seemingly nothing other than pleasure, Thanos instead only engages in violence, and indeed death, when absolutely necessary.





He knows his actions are atrocious, but he also knows he is the only one with the will and determination necessary to do it for the ‘greater good’. As a result, if he kills, it is usually because someone else has made the mistake of trying to kill him first. Something that is refreshing to see.









In short – Thanos is the villain every film should aspire to have. And, this is largely in part due to the acting prowess of Josh Brolin. Whether he is crushing a moon by closing his fist or standing still in the middle of a monologue he is captivating from start to finish – you can’t take your eyes off of him.



Ultimately though, Avengers: Infinity War’s greatest success is managing to collate all the individual storylines accrued through the past 10 years and weave them together seamlessly to create arguably the greatest comic book film to date.





It is dark, it is heart-breaking, it is extremely funny, but most of all, it will leave you reeling.





This is not a film to be missed.





