Avengers: Infinity War

I enjoyed Avengers: Infinity War, but not unreservedly. It has brilliant, beautiful moments, and it does some daring and wonderful things with character and story, but there are reasons why audiences are not exuberantly cheering on their way out of the theater.

I want to make a recommendation, but I can't do so without brushing right up against the threshold of spoilers and pointing at some interesting footprints on the other side of that line. Here's the line.

And here's my recommendation: If you're an adult with kids who love the Marvel movies, you should see Infinity War without them before deciding to see it with them. This film is about 75% what you expect from an Avengers film, but that other 25% is definitely not what you expect. It might be more convenient for you, as a parent, to have already processed those bits before you have to process them with small people.

Avengers: Infinity War marks the point where the Marvel Cinematic Universe fully and finally commits to being a collection of blockbuster films that are also serial installments, with everything that the word "serial" implies. It does not cross my Threshold of Awesome yet. I hold out hope that it will do so in 2019"