#29 Avengers: Infinity War

In Summary

Two hours and forty minutes of fan service. Avengers: Infinity War cannot be enjoyed unless you've seen the 18 films that have preceded it.

As a standalone experience, Avengers: Infinity War barely functions as a film. It doesn't really have a protagonist or much of a narrative structure. It is simply a series of heavily computer-generated action set-pieces gathering apace before the final showdown.

The plot of Avengers: Infinity War is loosely gathered around the arch-villain, Thanos, going around the universe in order to seize the Infinity Stones, which will make him the master of the universe. His goal is to use the stones to reduce the universe's population by half because he is a Malthusian economist.

Thanos is already a hugely powerful figure, stronger than each of The Avengers put together. This means it is a case of when, not if, he will assemble the Infinity Stones and get the only power he lacks, the ability to make wishes with a snap of his fingers.

Meanwhile, The Avengers are still in conflict after the events of Captain America: Civil War but that is patched together pretty quickly. Also, Dr Strange and The Guardians of the Galaxy join the squad and Thor loses his hammer and has to forge a new weapon.

After an endless series of skirmishes, the film leads up to one massive final stand between The Avengers and Thanos' army. Just when all looks lost, another Avenger who for some reason wasn't participating in the battle steps up to turn things around, then things look lost again, and repeat.

Just when it seems Thanos is going to be stopped, he gets the final Infinity Stone, snaps his fingers and disappears half the universe's population - including several of the least useful Avengers.

A Memorable Quote

This universe is finite, its resources, finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correcting.

Things You May Not Know

• Many of the actors were given false scripts to avoid them accidentally revealing spoilers.
• The name 'Thanos' comes from the Greek 'Thanatos', which means Death.
• Josh Brolin based his performance of Thanos on General Kurtz from Apocalypse Now.

One of the Greatest of All Time?
I quite like a lot of the Marvel films, however, Avengers: Infinity War is everything that is bad about the franchise put into one film. From the lack of a narrative structure, the overly powerful heroes and villains, to the extensive use of CGI, I found it hard to feel a sense of what was at stake.

Avengers: Infinity War is regarded by many Marvel fans as the best film in the franchise due to its bold and dramatic ending. I found that I simply didn't care.

It's fair to say that Avengers: Infinity War just doesn't work as a standalone film. Even within a 22-film saga, I found this one of the weakest entries due to its overemphasis on over-the-top yet sterile CGI action.