Avengers: Infinity War review – Enough exhilarating chaos to compensate for any confusion

Reviewing Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel cinematic universe’s most spectacular lurch into tightly controlled anarchic mayhem, presents a dilemma.

On the one hand, the studio seems keen I write nothing about this first of two parts (with the second due next year). That’s my impression, at least, after staring at the legend “Thanos demands your silence” on the iMax screen for an hour before it began.

Thanos being a genocidal demigod on the verge of acquiring pan-cosmic destructive power over all, the temptation to obey is strong. On the other hand, anyone expecting to read a review might be mystified by a large white gap in lieu of words.

The lazy solution would be to list the cast. This alliance between the Avengers (and associates) and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel’s other cash cow franchise, features more than enough major players to fill the space.

Iron Man, Black Panther, Thor, Hulk, Maybot, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, Sweep from Sooty and Sweep, Vision, Spiderman, Heimdall, Drax the Destroyer, Tinky Winky, Nebula, Rocket Racoon, Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan, Scarlet Witch, Groot, Toilet Duck, Star-Lord, Winter Soldier, Pepper Potts, Dr Strange, Dr Pepper… If I have imagined some of the above and missed out others who do appear, the deluge made it almost impossible to keep track.

For the Marvel mega fan, this avalanche of favourites risks creating a cinematic Stendhal Syndrome, whereby visitors to Florence are so overwhelmed by the abundance of beauty that they faint. So be wary of Stan Lee Syndrome (the old boy has his ritual cameo, driving a bus), and take the smelling salts just in case.

For those less schooled in all the backstories, Infinity War scatterguns enough laughs, thrilling digital effects and exhilarating chaos to compensate for any confusion.

Almost as mammoth in its scope and grandeur as its cast list, it bolsters the banter between mini-teams of newly acquainted heroes with the kind of intense family psychodramas that are seldom explored while existential war rages across the cosmos.

From New York and Edinburgh to distant planets Titan and Knowhere, via the Wakandan stronghold of Black Panther (Chadley Bosman), the heroes join in a desperate rearguard against the mauve-tinted Thanos.

Despite sporting chin grooves in which one could park a 747 and being a bit of a crybaby, he is in one respect your typical genocidal maniac. He regards himself as benign, and slaughtering half the population of an overcrowded universe as an act of mercy.

For that, he needs the six infinity stones scattered across the galaxy. With two, he’s a handful. If he ever pops all six into the jewel-sized holes in his gauntlet, he will have dominion over reality itself.

The road to the denouement is long, winding, frantic, exhausting, hugely entertaining, and punctuated by tonal shifts between the grave and the comic. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s script reserves the drollest joshing for a rumbling bitchfest between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and that sardonic master of the mystic arts, Dr Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Out in deep space, meanwhile, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is so intimidated by the unforced machismo of the wounded Thor (Chris Hemsworth) that he drops his voice towards the Asgardian king’s baritone. Most hilarious is Dave Bautista, brilliant again as the magnificently literal-minded Drax.

After 18 previous Marvel Cinematic Universe outings, there are sporadic stabs of boredom on finding them crashing into each other in this Hadron supercollider of a 19th. The movie acknowledges this by having its characters reflect the ennui.

Captain America (Chris Evans, with midlife crisis beard) is so sick of his work that he’s dropped the title, and reverted to Steve Rogers. Hulk feels the same. He’s ignoring pleas from genial host Dr Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to come out and play.

Yet amid the familiar is a sprinkling of novelties, none better than Peter Dinklage as Eitri, the blacksmith of Asgard who is charged with forging a magical axe for Thor (who lost his hammer in Ragnarok) from – what else? – the heart of a dying star.

Superheroes never die, but now and then they fade away. This torrent of high octane fantasy melodrama ends with the most startling climax in the genre’s history.

After 150 minutes spent greeting every newly introduced hero like Read Madrid fans cheering galacticos off the bench, the audience belatedly showed Thanos due respect, and fell silent.