AVENGERS INFINITY WAR Review by Lisa Johnson Mandell

Take all your theories, predictions, hopes, dreams, wishes and fears for Avengers: Infinity Wars, multiply them by ten, and you still won’t come close to what directing brothers Anthony and Joe Russo release on the superhero world. Avengers: Infinity War is the Kraken of all super hero flicks, but surprisingly enough, this epic force also has a broad sense of humor. You’ll be laughing at the wry jokes and the winking self deprecation right up to the last 10 minutes or so, when a darker note takes over, and you and the rest of the audience will be left scrambling to pick up your jaws off the floor.

As you can tell from the poster, this time around almost everyone in the Marvel Universe, from the Guardians of the Galaxy to the Avengers to Dr. Strange to the entire population of Wakanda, team up to defeat the evil and ultra powerful Thanos, played with a surprising amount of pathos by Josh Brolin. His aim is to balance the universe, which in theory is not a bad idea, but his practical method of application is outrageously cruel.

In order to fulfill his quest, Thanos must collect all six Infinity Stones, at which point he will be virtually  omnipotent. Only the biggest, brightest team of superheroes ever assembled can stop him. Or can they?

To reveal too much about the film would be an obscene disservice—no matter how curious you are, don’t let anyone tell you where it’s headed, and don’t try to pry the info out of them. Just know that for all the speculating about which superheroes would meet their untimely (or timely) end, no one, not one person outside of the production crew, got it 100% right.

It’s something you have to see to believe, and once you see it, you still won’t believe it. That’s all I’m saying.

Rated PG-13

2 hours 36 minutes

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AVENGERS INFINITY WAR Review by Lisa Johnson Mandell