Some time into the new Avengers: Infinity War, we switch to a location in deep space, where Marvel Cinematic Universe’s resident surgeon-turned-wizard, Dr Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is being held hostage by one of the villain’s minions, at risk of being acupunctured to death by a cloud of sharp daggery objects. Only thing is, I’d completely forgotten about that particular subplot until just then.

And this happens quite a lot in the film, directed by siblings Joe and Anthony Russo (who were behind the last two Captain America installments); there’s just so much going on at any given point that your attention is stretched to its absolute limit. Of course—as the culmination of 18 previous superhero blockbusters that were released over the best part of a decade, and tasked with tying together a vast jumble of storylines—no one could reasonably expect Infinity War to be small-scale. But when a movie is so overstuffed, so maniacally busy that you forget a key character is in grave peril, it’s really not a good sign. Indeed, rather than a ‘film’ in the regular sense of the term, this latest clash of caped titans is comparable to a deluxe box set, something that will have fans clamoring to plonk it on their shelves, but which functions more to repackage existing material, with some added ‘special edition’ type features.

Partly because of the limited space afforded to me by this column (but mostly because I just can’t be bothered regurgitating it all), I will make do with outlining the very bare basics of the plot. We discover that Thanos (Josh Brolin)—that intergalactic super-baddie of the CGI musculature and distinctive corrugated chin whom we’ve briefly met a few times before—is making worrying progress on his bid to collect all six “Infinity Stones” scattered across the universe. These, of course, refer to those shiny gems that have popped up regularly throughout these films, each with a special, albeit vague, purpose, but which together (in the tradition of the rings in LOTR, or even Voldemort’s Horcruxes) will grant the possessor the power to basically bend all of space, time and reality to his/her will. And what exactly does Thanos plan to do with them? Convinced that the universe has become seriously overpopulated, he believes the only way to preserve the finite resources that remain is to destroy approximately half of all life.

Okay, then.

Putting a stop to this Malthusian madman will require the efforts of all our super-friends: Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), the aforementioned wizard, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and her beau Vision (Paul Bettany), Falcon (Anthony Mackie), War Machine (Don Cheadle) and all the Guardians of the Galaxy (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel and newbie Pom Klementieff)—phew, that’s a mouthful and a half! However, if you’ll remember from previous Avengers outings, getting all these outsize egos to coexist in one space is difficult enough, let alone convincing them to join forces. But time is running out, and all tiffs and resentments will have to be swept aside if they are to have any chance of preventing Thanos from unleashing his dark vision upon all of man- and alien-kind.

The fact that about 20 percent of the plot summary above has been taken up in listing the characters and actors reflects the film’s own composition—in fact, introductions probably consume double that proportion of actual running time. To be fair, we can imagine the kind of pressure screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely must have been under, the challenge of drawing together an entire universe’s worth of characters and their respective trajectories—not to mention the hundreds of millions attached to each in franchise earnings—for a single two-and-a-half hour extravaganza. But while mindful of those creative and commercial constraints, one can’t help but wish the seams had been less visible, the results more cohesive.

The problem starts with the sheer number of heroes, each barely allotted enough time to get a few lines of dialogues in and assert a key attribute or two before becoming part of the scenery—T’Challa and Black Widow fare particularly poorly in this regard. Speaking of scenery, that patchy, episodic feel is also owing to the too-frequent change in locations: The film zips across so many different landscapes—several of which we have never seen before, and that are CGIed to the point of absurdity—that it’s difficult to really get an idea of scale or perspective. And the action is absolutely relentless; though, of course, you don’t come into something titled “Infinity War” without expecting a fair few smackdowns, and while a couple of sequences do have you scooting to the edge of your seat (re: the battle for Wakanda), most are repetitive and uninspiring and just plain exhausting, offering occasion to tune out.

As for the interactions between characters, those moments of much-needed levity and cheeriness to counter otherwise somber situations and premises that several of the MCU’s most effective installments have made good use of, such as the recent Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy or the very first Avengers film, Infinity War thankfully hasn’t been deprived. But even in these lighter scenes where our heroes are just getting to know each other or simply arguing about who has the deeper voice, the banter often comes off feeling obligatory than organic.

And though Thanos makes for an infinitely better villain than what films from rival DC have lately offered, and Brolin manages to transcend the off-putting digital layers to give his character a sense of gravitas—even, dare I say, humanity—he’s still a disappointment when compared to Marvel’s most effective baddies, such as Loki or Killmonger. While his powers certainly align with the sort of “big guns” that one expects this sort of superhero behemoth to whip out, he’s simply not all that interesting, his motivations unclear.

Where Infinity War does veer considerably off the beaten track is in the ending, and I confess being genuinely shocked, a rare sensation in this particular genre at this point in time. But—and I’m being very cautious here to avoid an inadvertent spoiler for those of you who, probably wisely, decided to wait out the first week’s hoards at the theatre and haven’t yet seen the film—as unexpected as it might be, there’s also the question of how seriously to take this turn of events, considering the future films that have already been announced in the series and the potential return to the status quo ante that this might signal, especially in light of heady market demand.

No doubt part two of this storyline, slated to come out next year, will help to clarify matters. But as it stands, Infinity War is middling at best, undone by its own ambition, packing in too much into a narrow space. It’s a film for fans if there

ever was one—people whose loyalty to these characters is unwavering and critique-proof; a Marvel newbie, though increasing rare a species, would definitely not be able to make head or tail of this particular installment.

Avengers: Infinity War

Director: Joe and Anthony Russo

Actors: Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff

Genre: Superhero adventure