And to be fair, there is a story here. It’s about Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones and our heroes, in all their shapes and sizes, attempting to stop him. If that sounds thin, it’s because it sort of is: this is the first Marvel film that isn’t at all about character in any material way. In the past, the studio’s philosophy has been to put the journey at the heart of all they do, with varying degrees of success. Infinity War dispenses with personal growth or ideological conflict and instead says “you know these characters, we know these characters… let’s just have some fun watching them bounce off another.” The structure of the film relies heavily on unlikely team-ups and side-quests, but there’s so much glee in simply spending time with the characters that it never remotely wears thin. Meanwhile Thanos, a villain worthy of his stature, swaggers around the screen pursuing his goal so sincerely and doggedly that you almost start to root for him. Even when he wants nothing more than to quit, Thanos is driven to assemble the stones, and he’s got such dedication that part of you will secretly want him to do it. It’s true that Infinity War is every bit the sequel Avengers has always deserved, which isn’t to disparage Avengers: Age of Ultron, but to say that this one does everything The Avengers did only bigger and better. It wastes no time on introductions – it wastes no time period – it’s wall-to-wall jokes, punctuated by feats of extreme coolness, beautiful character beats and surprise after surprise. If you’re a Marvel fan at all, you won’t be at all disappointed by the density of jokes and action, and whoever your favourite character in the movie is, you’ll see them get their moment. Even if your favourite character is Mantis. The one thing common to every part of the movie, though, is Thanos. After a six-year build-up Marvel were under pressure to make him worth the wait, and he absolutely is. Considering that he looks like a CGI purple Bruce Willis, the fact that he’s so charismatic, interesting – almost sympathetic at times – is a real achievement. Marvel has (not undeservedly) earned the reputation of being the studio with villain problems, but the last few movies are anything to go by they may yet shake it. You may love Thanos, you may hate him, but you’ll come out of the movie knowing both who he is and what he wants, and maybe even caring about it too. The most exciting thing about Infinity War, however, is that it’s like someone finally put an event comic on screen. Though often derided as shallow and facile, the best event stories work because you care about who makes it out of them, and are worried for what they might lose along the way, even though you know they’re going to win. Like an event comic, Avengers: Infinity War is epic and operatic, with scope and ambition. It’ll leave you simultaneously breathless and emotionally devastated – and when you’ve pulled yourself together, you’ll want to do it all over again.
