10 years. We have been building towards this climax, this resolution, for a decade. Infinity Stones, teased in a handful of the previous 18 movies now movies take the principal McGuffin position and the villain hinted at in Marvel’s The Avengers, Thanos, mounts the stage in all his regal glory. Nearly every principal hero of the cinematic universe mans the field, a field that stretches from the boroughs of New York to the furthest end of the galaxy, in a bid to thwart Thanos’ mad objective. A couple of major heroes miss this fight and their absence is dealt with in a flash of dialogue that is all too easy to miss, but in general the mightiest team ever has been assembled, and they will be tested.

Infinity Warstarts shortly after where Thor: Ragnarokconcluded. The film blasts into the action and the terrible stakes at risk. There is very little fat or heavy exposition in the script; people who are not familiar with the MCU will undoubtedly be ‘at sea’ trying to understand the various threads that weave this tapestry. However, those who have been following the experiment since Iron Manin 2008 will be rewarded with a rich, intense, and highly emotional rollercoaster. Where other films in the MCU may have seemed a little light in the coasts to the heroes, Infinity Wardoes not flinch from the central concept that war always brings a hard, heavy, and terrible cost. There are moments of humor, many which are born of the alchemy created by clashing characters from the desperate domains of this vast canvas. There are appearances from nearly aspect of the MCU, except the television franchises, included one that very nearly elicited a cheer from me. (A quick check of IMDB indicates the original actor did not return but that was no evident in the performance.) There was also a major actor introduced a new character in the MCU and this character’s stature plays out as perhaps the subtle joke performed in an MCU movie. There is of course and obligatory Stan Lee cameo, but the directors correctly dispensed with this obligation quickly so that the beloved tradition would not break the movie’s spell at more important and a dramatic moment. (Yes, I am looking at you X-Men: Apocalypse.)

Originally this film was title Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, with next year’s release Part 2.The structure of the pair of films appears to be same with only the titles changed. So what is started here in the massive blockbuster will be concluded in 2019. Like so many franchises of late be prepared for an ending that while completes the plot of this particular franchise entry leaves much more unresolved than resolved. I will say that the ending is a bold risky choice and I have tremendous respect for Marvel Studios in rolling those dice. (Though the early box office is showing that Infinity Warhas already broken box office records.)

In effect Infinity Waracts as the culmination for a decade long narrative experiment and the real risk the studio ran was that it may have come off as anti-climatic. With this much build up it would be very easy of fail, fall short, and leave the audience with a sensation of ‘really, it was all just that?’ That is not what happened. Playing their best villain fully to his cosmic best, Infinity Warfulfills the promise when we started this journey. It is grand, it is fantastic, it is emotional, and the MCU has changed. The status will never be quo again.