If you watched Captain America: Civil War (2016) and wondered what sort of a superhero war takes place in the parking lot of a strip mall with a handful of characters pushing each other around like school boys having a quarrel at break time, then rest assured that Avengers: Infinity War is Marvel Studios rising to the occasion. The body count is heavy, with Green Lantern dying a particularly brutal death, and the consequences are powerful enough to send reverberations across the Marvel universe (by the way, the Green Lantern thing is a joke; he is not a Marvel character). The cliff-hanger ending in particular left an audience that had until then loudly cheered every piece of fan service, shocked into silence.

On both viewings, I found Avengers: Infinity War to be remarkable, all things considered. For a film that features over a dozen multilayered Marvel superheroes, from the old Avengers gang to Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) to T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) to the Guardians of the Galaxy led by Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), with their rich characterisation and various interpersonal relationships, Avengers: Infinity War gives each superhero as fair a shake as can be expected.

Of course, there are some exceptions as well with scenes that lack finesse. For instance, when Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) meets Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) the film reminds us that the two were in a relationship with a quip that comes across as heavy-handed. Thankfully, these missteps are rare.

Marvel has painstakingly built up its cinematic universe and, with Avengers: Infinity War, the viewers are reaping the rewards

Overall, Avengers: Infinity War does well to pack what could have been twice as long a story into two-and-a-half hours. It does this by functioning as an installment rather than a standalone film. After all, this is one of the closing chapters in a series that began 18 films ago in 2008 with Iron Man. Every other Marvel film has raked in box office gold, often to a record-breaking degree. So, it was safe for veteran Marvel screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to assume that the audience was coming here with a deep familiarity with the characters.

Avengers: Infinity War focuses on the supervillain Thanos (Josh Brolin), giving him more screen time than anyone else. It also gives us a fascinating look at the love-hate relationship with his daughter Gamora (Zoe Saldana), whose people he massacred.

At the core of the film is a regular Marvel movie trope — a bad guy with a powerful weapon fighting against egoistical superheroes who must put their differences aside to stop him. The deadly weapon here is the Infinity Gauntlet that, when powered by all six Infinity Stones, carries the strength to end life with a snap of the fingers.

Marvel films usually feature forgettable villains but Thanos is more engaging than any bad guy in their cinematic universe, save for perhaps Loki (Tom Hiddleston). In a nutshell, Thanos is a genocidal maniac who believes that in order for the universe to thrive with its limited resources, half the world’s people must die. By trying to gain all the stones for his Infinity Gauntlet, he plans to realise his goal without as much bloodshed. As the world’s mightiest heroes stand in his way, we, the audience are treated to fantastic action sequences powered by some gorgeous cinematography and excellent special effects that bring exotic alien worlds to life. We are also treated to some of the funniest moments in a Marvel movie. The chemistry between Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Chris Pratt in particular is great, and the two could certainly headline a comedy on their own.

As far as comic book fans are concerned, the last 10 years have been a wild ride from Marvel. Brick by brick, they’ve laid the foundation for their cinematic universe, giving their characters the depth and nuance they deserve by slowly developing them before our very eyes. Marvel Studios’ greatest superpower has been patience and, as viewers, we are reaping the rewards.

Rated PG13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 6th, 2018