A compilation of film critics’ impressions concerning Avengers: Infinity War, answers key, essentially non-spoilerish questions about what the Hollywood Reporter calls a “densely packed superhero orgy.”

1 Is the film worth seeing?

Early tallies gave Infinity War an 88-per-cent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and an average pro-reviewer score of 68 on Metacritic. Basically, Infinity War is no Black Panther (the highest-scoring Marvel Cinematic Universe film on Rotten Tomatoes). It’s not even a Thor: Ragnarok. But a huge cliffhanger hits its marks and sets things up solidly for next year’s followup moneyed monstrosity: Infinity War, Chapter 2.

2 Look at all those superheroes! Is this movie too darned bloated? “Infinity War does suffer at times from a certain bloat,” writes IGN. “There’s no getting around the abundance of characters and subplots that are feeding into (villain) Thanos’ bigger story.” Variety writes with praise: “Avengers: Infinity War can, at times, make it feel like you’re at a birthday party where you got so many presents that you start to grow tired of opening them. But taken on its own piñata-of-fun terms, it’s sharp, fast-moving and elegantly staged.”

3 But isn’t it confusing trying to follow a half-dozen narrative threads across the universe? Gratefully, the veteran filmmakers here are expert traffic cops of such major franchise intersections. “Directors Joe and Anthony Russo and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely … find clever groupings of characters and an equitable rhythm as the film shifts between narratives,” Vanity Fair writes.

4 But doesn’t it result in too many of heroes getting short shrift?

“No one is relegated to stock player, no matter how small their role,” writes IGN. “Yes, War Machine fans, there’s even something here for you.” But The Associated Press counters: “There may be some hint of overpopulation anxiety in Thanos’s ambition and in the Russos’ frighteningly overcrowded film.” And Entertainment Weekly slams: “Marvel is sitting on such an embarrassment of riches with its deep bench of characters that some don’t have much more to do than act as glorified extras.”

5 OK, but what about tone?

I hear this film goes dark. “Infinity War is big, blustery and brave, taking viewers to places that they may not be used to going,” writes Washington Post critic Michael O’Sullivan, pointing to narrative shadows uncommon for the MCU.

6 So does Marvel’s signature humour help leaven the proceedings?

The screenwriters “have a deft, jokey, sometimes glib touch that spreads the humour around and prevents this long film from ever getting stodgy,” says The Hollywood Reporter. The actors “snap off one-liners and sharp remarks with an extra edge of sarcastic disdain.” But New York magazine’s Vulture is no fan, writing: “The relentlessly lame one-liners of those poor galaxy guardians are the movie’s low points.”

7 So how does Thanos stack up against the best MCU villains? “(Josh) Brolin makes Thanos a suitably authoritative, melancholy villain — someone who really does seem deluded enough to fancy himself a merciful deity rather than a mass murderer for the ages,” writes the Los Angeles Times.

8 Infinity War pits goateed egotists against each other, as well as several actors named Chris. How does it all shake out?

“Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) stage a Sherlock Holmes meta-duel and compare goatees,” writes The New York Times. “The hunky-Chris showdown — Hemsworth vs. Pratt (Peter Quill) vs. Evans (Captain America) — ends in a three-way tie.”

9 So how do you classify this cog within the efficient and massive Marvel Studios machine?

“As an exercise of studio might … it has no peer. Flagrantly, bombastically extravagant, it plays its audience like a hundred-million fiddles,” writes Vulture. “Infinity War isn’t really anything you could call a movie — it’s more of a fulfilment centre,” scalds Time magazine.

10 One last question: Just how many films are there so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

It is sometimes reported that there are 18 movies in the MCU, but don’t be fooled — and don’t forget Universal’s The Incredible Hulk (2008). The correct tally is 19 films, say such outlets as Time, as well as Box Office Mojo.