Alfred Hitchcock defined suspense as involving dramatic irony, letting the audience in on the danger facing the heroes and building the tension from there. He considered this superior to surprise, where the audience knows nothing before the trap is sprung, but he did allow an exception: where the twist or shock is "the highlight of the story."
Avengers: Infinity Wars relies heavily on that exception.
The unfolding of the story revolves around surprise. Without it, there are no stakes, no emotional core, and no reason to make the movie besides adding another mega money maker to the Disney machine.
Before going further into the movie itself, the challenges must be mentioned. During the past 10 years, there have been 18 installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and 14 different directors. Of those directors, Ryan Coogler, Kenneth Branagh (old enough to make King Lear now), and Taika Waititi could be considered "Auteurs" - filmmakers who leave a distinct stamp on their work. Shane Black and James Gunn also possess a certain uniqueness. Fitting these visions into a single, cohesive movie is a difficult task, and the Russo brothers are mostly successful.
The movie operates like an episode of a TV show, with an A, B, C, and D story. Each plotline involves separate characters, giving them enough time to be relevant players in the grand scheme. That said, the movie would be overstuffed at half the characters. Age of Ultron proved that. There are too many players and too many stories, and not enough time. Some scenes feel thrown-in just to shed the spotlight on characters who might seem neglected had they kept moving the A-story forward without them.
Again, the Russo brothers manage to make it work despite the challenges and the shortcomings.
Their bag of surprises begins with Thanos (Josh Brolin). An all-powerful being who is hellbent on destruction could have easily resulted in another X-Men: Apocalypse or Justice League, where the villains receive no character development and destroy for the sake of destroying.
But Thanos is a genuine character. The writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, give him an arc that reveals who he is, why he does what he does, and what he cares about. Brolin's performance, easily the strongest in the entire film, brings the mad titan to life.
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) provides another positive performance. Marvel appears to have learned its lessons after Waititi's successful Ragnarok.
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the others do not receive enough time and space, and their development is mostly dependent upon the previous films in the MCU canon.
The biggest surprise comes at the end. This is the twist that makes the story work. Those who live and those who fade into dust will provide plenty to talk about in the year-long gap until Avengers 4 comes out.
The caveat? It's a cliffhanger meant to drive audiences to see the true conclusion to the saga that started with Iron Man. Look at the film like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Evaluating it on its own is difficult, but if it turns out to be anything like The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, then audiences won't mind.
(P.S. For those needing assurances about their favorite characters, look at the movies already slated for production and to recent successes the studio wants to capitalize on. Disney knows better than to blow up the bread wagon.)
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