At the mid point it was almost coming apart at the seems, with so many plot branches and characters, none of which quite had the time to flourish. The third act pulled it all together again though. As far as the heroes go, Doctor Strange was the standout, Cumberbatches performance oozed the charisma that he somehow lacked in his own film, and his power levels were going off the charts. Iron Man was solid as always, and Spiderman was well served too. Of the Guardians, Rocket and Gamora got the best part of the action. Thor had a decent part. The rest of the characters felt a bit sidelined. The biggest disappointment was Peter Quill, his came across as a buffoon the entire film, and was not an asset to the team. There was some other stuff going on with other characters, but it didn't really come off that well because there was too little time. Of the villains, Thanos was great, as many people have already mentioned. Proxima Midnight and Ebony Maw were the most interesting of the Black Order. Corvis Glaive was kind of meh, I think Kohl Obsidian had more personality.

I give it 4/5, flawed but sporadically excellent.