This piece was supposed to go online very soon after my second (yay!) guest appearance on the Estonian radio programme Popkulturistid, where we discussed this very movie. That was a month ago. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said it’s been a bad time for blogging.

I was determined to write this for a very specific reason. When appearing on Popkulturistid for the first time, the lovely hosts kept referring to the movie reviews on my blog. Of which there was a grand total of ONE. I guess the poor guys were just trying to make me and the blog sound more interesting. The unintended consequence of this has been, however, that I’ve lived since March in constant terror, thinking of people who come to the blog for movie reviews and find … very little.

It seems I’m not destined to be a Great Reviewer of Films, as now it’s way too late to talk about Avengers – what with everybody having moved on to Solo and Deadpool already. I’m going to post this anyway, because a) I feel like it and b) surely my efforts to convince people to see this movie are especially needed with those individuals who still have not watched it.

So here we go, my top 5 reasons to see Infinity War:

1. The Ambition. You can say many things about the latest Avengers, but it’d be impossible to claim it lacks ambition. It’s an Event. 18 movies leading up to it, tens of stars, half a dozen story lines, insane stakes… I like ambition – nothing really great ever happens if one doesn´t have any. I find it rather impressive that with all those logistic, production, financial and creative challenges and constraints they managed not just to make a movie, but a good movie at that. And I feel that even if you don’t like it much, it’s interesting to see how it all comes together. They must have had the main storyline in mind at least since the first Avengers movie, probably long before that. Compared to this level of planning, the Illuminati seem like amateurs.

2. The bromance. The main reason I’ve always loved Avengers – and other ‘The Best Have Been Chosen’ type ensemble works – is what you can do with the character dynamics. It is an endless source of drama, comedy and feels. There are very few things I love more than difficult characters becoming a team in the face of a big threat: grudgingly admitting the others have useful qualities, learning to work together, being jealous of each other but in an endearing way. Infinity War has a fair share of this (although I could always use more), with Tony Stark and Doctor Strange thrown together, some ultimate Thor and Loki moments and a brief but perfect encounter between Captain America and Groot. It’s not always pure bromance, as a certain Mr Lord will amply demonstrate, but it’s always great to watch and makes me all warm inside. (Unfortunately, it really is mostly man-on-man action in this respect. The second Guardians of the Galaxy, not to mention Black Panther, were much better with female relationships.)

3. Thor’s muscles. If I had to pick one favourite character in the Marvelverse, I would probably almost die in the process, but ultimately go with Loki. The combination of the character and the genius casting of Tom Hiddleston brings me so much joy that it should possibly be illegal. I do, however, also have a soft spot for Thor – equally brilliantly cast in the person of Chris Hemsworth. Now, let me just state here that I’m not fond of Thor only because of his physical appearance: I like his fundamental decency and loyalty and Hemsworth’s comic timing is surprisingly great. That said, the muscles are magnificent and there is a scene in the movie that exploits that wonderful resource in an unexpected, knowing and funny way. I highly recommend not missing it.

4. Thanos. While I like almost everybody in the Marvel movies (seriously, I think I’m able to have a crush on all Avengers simultaneously), I did not expect to like Thanos. From what I had seen, I thought he’d be an uninspiring, boring villain, who would look ridiculous in his purple GCI skin. Not so. There was enough time spent on his backstory to make sense of his motives (as much as you can with a madman) and from the first minutes of the movie, he’s genuinely scary. Josh Brolin plays him much better than I expected and he looks natural and… strangely attractive.

5. The ending. Obviously, I will not tell you how the movie ends and I also don’t want to discuss it too long, as it might give you too many clues (although by now, I guess you have seen all the memes). Some say they found the ending emotionally cheap, others thought it painful, I personally was just not prepared for the end to arrive at the moment it did. Whatever you think about it, however, it is not an ending you would expect from a superhero movie and I think this deserves recognition and respect.

If you don’t usually watch superhero movies, this is probably not the place to start. If you haven’t seen Marvel’s previous output, the film is likely to be less enjoyable. It has faults. The women are still a weak point (with the exception of Gamora, but her story has its own problems), the romance is stilted, the changes in tonality can be too abrupt. I acknowledge this. I still say you should watch it.