Avengers Infinity War: 10/10
I am not giving it 10/10 for the sake of it as some of you probably expect me to do because I have given all the other Marvel films less in the past. This is by far the best out of all of them and perfect imho both in terms of technical achievement and the story/creativity in the film. With regards to the technical side of things, the special effects were superb. Normally in most films you watch something and you think "that looks good but I can tell it is fake smoke or a fake flame" but everything in this looked real and perfect and it needed to when you see how much CGI they have used.
On the important side of things though, the story is just excellent. I have been racking my brains out for weeks since I saw the first trailer wondering how they were going to bring everyone together without forcing it for the sake of them being together and fudging the story. They have done it so well, it all flows smoothly and just meshes perfectly. The other concern I had was with the film length. It is 2hrs 30 mins and I thought "this is going to be so good but with so many characters and the need for the Thanos story I want it to be 6hrs so we can cover everyone properly and spend enough time with each of the characters". I was worried that they were going to go into it knowing that we already know the characters and just go straight into the Thanos story but once again though what they have done and how they have done it is perfect. Yes there is a lot of action in it and combat but every single character is still given their own time to converse and interact with the other characters and it is brilliant to see how they all react to one another. There are more "lol" moments in this than any of the other Marvel films and it isn't forced or cheesy at all. I think it is an accidental by-product of brining everyone together and how they react to each other first time round.
I have spoken ad nauseam in the past about Marvel and how they manage to get that seemingly perfect balance in their films and this is the gold standard. This film has everything in it and is an emotional rollercoaster. We all love and are invested in the characters and there are a few times in the film, especially at the beginning when something happens and you say "**** yeah" (literally). There are so many funny one liners and it isn't forced and it isn't a comedy; it is just the people we know and love behaving naturally and reacting to their environment, especially Spiderman. Where Marvel gets it right is with the tone and balance. The circumstances in this story are dire and apocalyptic and the tone shifts when it needs to and you feel the tension in the film. You get punched in the stomach a few times and you feel it. I took a packet of tissues with me just in case but I was alright. I could hear someone at the back of the cinema balling their eyes out though.
The reason why I have given this 10/10 and not 9/10 or 9.5/10 is because absolutely nothing niggled at my realism factor. One thing was on my mind going into the film which started eating away at me the further we got into the film but they explain it perfectly which justifies the current set of events happening.
Spoiler:
I went into the film thinking that it doesn't really matter what happens because we know Dr Strange is in it and when things get bad surely he can just turn back time and they can repeat events over and over again until they get the right outcome. There are obviously plenty of opportunities for him to do this throughout the film and I am sure he could have fixed things right at the start if he wanted to but then we wouldn't have had a film
The one thing which really bugged me (like with The Last Jedi) was when Strange, Iron Man, Spider Man etc are on Titan towards the end of the film and they have devised a plan to immobilise Thanos and remove the gauntlet from his arm. It looked like they nearly had it until Peter blows it because he finds out Gamora is dead and starts attacking Thanos and inadvertently frees him. Something like this would normally do my nut in because although you feel his pain and his behaviour and reaction to the news is very genuine and realistic, I would like to think that given the gravity of the situation and the fact that they already had Thanos, common sense would be to let Iron Man and Spiderman remove the gauntlet first and then pummel him into the ground. I can easily let it go though because as annoying as it was, it was already pre-explained/justified in a way because Dr Strange said he had already looked at millions of future outcomes and there is only one where they win. He must have known that was going to happen and he allowed and needed it to happen as part of the desired course of events for them to ultimately win.
As an fyi, there is only
one post credits scene right at the very end of the credits and you need to stay for it. It is
pivotal to the story and not a teaser for a future Marvel film.