With so many characters to cover, directors Anthony and Joe Russo have no time to develop any of them, and the action set pieces are all by the numbers.

Infinity War didn't wear me down in the way that Age of Ultron did, it didn't give me the high of the first Avengers either. Like I said, manage expectations and you'll be just fine.

The film's risk comes from the inherent need to 'balance' a myriad of characters' storylines, yet the story itself is nothing more than those same MCU building blocks.

If some pacing issues and the occasional bloat prevent it from quite reaching the upper echelons of the MCU, there's still more than enough here to keep viewers sated, saturated, and salivating over what's certain to be a poignant and potent Part Deux.