Over the last decade, Marvel Studios has redefined the blockbuster world with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite an apparent formula at work, most of the 18 individual films still managed to surprise audiences to some degree.
Which is why it's mildly disappointing to report that for the most part, Avengers: Infinity War does what it says on the box, and little else.
Don't get me wrong – this is a hugely entertaining film-going experience stuffed to the brim with everything we've come to expect from MCU movies – inventive action set-pieces, witty interplay, nimble dialogue, epic clashes, fist-pumping moments of heroism – but the issue is just that: we've come to expect all these elements. The film lives up to the high standard set by its predecessors, but fails to build on it in any significant manner, and doesn't contain any big surprises for the majority of its running time.
How the film ends, however, is another story. But that cannot be discussed in this review.
As has been teased repeatedly throughout the previous movies, the plot of Infinity War concerns big purple alien Thanos (Josh Brolin in a CGI-assisted motion-capture performance) and his quest to gather together the Infinity Stones, which will grant him the power to fulfill his goal of eliminating half of all life that exists, which in his mind will bring balance to the universe.
