Note: No spoilers are detailed in this review, but a barebones outline for the first third-ish of the plot is contained within. Due to the overwhelming secrecy surrounding this film, this may be considered spoiler territory for some so caution is advised if that’s the case for you.

Avengers: Infinity War is a lot to take in. I don’t mean that in a hyperbolic sense, I mean, objectively, this is a whole heck of a lot of cinema to process. Numerous storylines spanning everywhere from Scotland to the deepest far reaches of Space crop up with various corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe getting explored, each with their distinct tones intact. Holding everything together as connective tissue is the constant presence of the villainous Thanos (Josh Brolin), but this is still an expansive story in scope. In handling such a vast story, Avengers: Infinity War comes up short compared to other recent MCU movies (it’s no Black Panther, that’s for sure) but it manages to juggle all these plates in the air remarkably well. The fact that a movie with this much on its agenda manages to be far more exhilarating than exhausting does feel like a total victory.

Now, while the producers of these Marvel movies have maintained that they can be enjoyed even if you haven’t seen prior Marvel Cinematic Universe features (something very much true for the likes of Black Panther and the first Avengers), Infinity War does seem like something that requires having seen prior Marvel films to fully understand, we just start in media res with bloodshed already in progress and never stop. Roger Ebert put it best in the last sentence of his review of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: “Ordinary viewers may be excused for feeling baffled some of the time”. On the other hand, drawing so heavily on past Marvel films does make it a treat for aficionados of this franchise like yours truly as Infinity War truly pulls out all the stops in its gleeful merriment of smashing together the various corners of this wide universe.

Since we’re doing a spoiler-free review here, I’ll offer the barest amount of plot details here. As the rampant marketing has made clear, Thanos wants to collect all six Infinity Stones so that he’ll have the power to wipe out half of the population of the universe, thus bringing what he perceives to be balance to existence itself. The clock is ticking to stop him and a number of separate subplots emerge following various Marvel superheroes trying to stop Thanos, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) being forced to team up with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) running into the Guardians of The Galaxy.

This complex plot is handled with surprising grace that manages to imbue things with an appropriate sense of grandeur that sweeps one up in the grand scale of events transpiring in this cosmic quest to stop Thanos. The presence of that villain is also nicely felt in the story even when he’s not on-screen, the carnage this guy can wreck and the fear he can inspire is palpable throughout the story and that lends things a sense of transfixing urgency. Best of all about this story though is that it offers up the chance for various Marvel superheroes to engage in some mightily entertaining conversations. The simple act of getting to see all of these characters interact is a whole lot of fun, especially since writers Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFreely do a wonderful job coming up with scenarios allowing the personalities of individual characters to shine through as they interact with heretofore unknown superheroes.

I would have been perfectly fine just letting Infinity War be a Richard Linklater movie like Dazed & Confused that depicts the various Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes just bouncing off one another at a party, it’s just so much to watch these assorted temperaments rub up against each other. Thor is especially fun in his interactions with any of the Guardians especially since it allows Chris Hemsworth the chance to flex his comedic chop that made Thor: Ragnarok such a delight. Watching fresh dynamics emerge between various superheroes meeting for the first time is a whole lot of fun, but I wish Infinity War had more time for the kind of quiet character moments that made the most recent MCU films so engrossing. This film is paced like a locomotive, it just keeps chugging and chugging, which is good in a lot of respects but that does leave little time for certain MCU mainstays like Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) or Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to even get extensive pieces of dialogue let alone moments of characterization.

Then again, that may be an intentional facet of the production since it seems like the majority of the quiet character moments have been relegated to our primary villain, Thanos. Thanos is an interesting creation in the pantheon of comic book villainy. Though this muscular purple extra-terrestrial seems to be the quintessential comic book movie baddie in his physical appearance, Thanos break apart from convention any time he opens his mouth. Though Josh Brolin gives the character an intimidating deep voice, Thanos rarely, if ever, raises his voice and speaks more like a normal person rather than a bombastic adversary. More than anything else, Thanos comes across as heavily weary in the way he composes himself, allowing him to come off like an Old West sheriff who wants to bring Law & Order to a ceaselessly chaotic land. While he’s still a plenty intimidating presence with horrific goals of galactic genocide on his plate, Thanos is such a unique and well-done creation because of the way he bucks so many conventions of what a comic book villain is supposed to act like.

This particular character is brought to life with some wonderfully realized motion-capture animation that makes Josh Brolin’s face a clearly visible part of the character without dipping into that dreaded Uncanny Valley effect. His fight scenes with the assorted MCU superheroes are similarly pleasing to the eye, there’s lots of fun to be had in watching various differing power sets being used in tandem to take on this Mad Titan. Directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo have thankfully kept their sharp eye for executing exciting superhero fight scenes from the two Captain America sequels they also helmed while they’ve also carried over their penchant for giving superheroes like Spider-Man memorable introductory shots, I love the bombastic visual stylings that flows through these guys Marvel Cinematic Universe work. They seem to recognize these larger-than-life characters deserve similarly larger-than-life imagery.

While Infinity War isn’t quite as excellent as the last two Marvel Cinematic Universe movies Anthony Russo and Joe Russo directed (though I’m still processing this film as I’m writing this review so who knows how I’ll feel in the future), this is still a highly well-made piece of entertainment that swings for the fences (and even swings for areas beyond that fence) and manages to mostly hit home runs. Ambition is the name of the game for Infinity War and it certainly goes all out in terms of the scope of its storytelling in a manner that proves to be oh so exciting. Interestingly though, its best aspects come in the form of small-scale elements like memorable dialogue exchanges between characters and the unique approach to giving Thanos some potent depth as a character.

For a spoiler-filled look at pivotal moments of Avengers: Infinity War, click here.