We occasionally use IMDB to judge whether a film is worth watching at our local Odeon. Generally, that works well but a score of 8.9 for this film (currently) is hugely misleading IMHO.

This is clearly a film that polarizes audiences - those who have bought into the Marvel franchise and have watched every previous film (31 apparently) mostly love it; those (like us) who have watched a few here and there seem to be disappointed / puzzled / bored.

For a non-fan there are a couple of major issues: Too many characters and too much back story that we can't remember or never knew. The fights seemed rather perfunctory and, I know it's the fashion these days, but the shortness of each shot (a second? half a second between cuts?) makes them impossible to follow.

One positive reviewer has criticised low scorers saying it's like watching the last 2 minutes of an hour-long drama and expecting to understand it. I think that's unfair. Surely a film should make sense in and of itself - I wasn't charged less to watch this one, so surely I should be able to enjoy it on some level? For the record, we recently went to see Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther and enjoyed them both (particularly the last one).

Which I guess brings us back to where we started... redressing the balance of that crazy 8.9 score. No, this film is NOT better than Apocalypse Now (8.5) or The Terminator (8.0) or Citizen Kane (8.4) or Taxi Driver (8.3) or Raging Bull (8.2)... that's just crazy! My honest advice: If you like Marvel, you'll probably love this; if you're not a big fan, save your money for something else.