No Spoilers! How do you review a film that no one wants to hear about?

How do you review a film that no one wants to hear a single word about? That’s been the film critic’s dilemma this week, as Avengers: Endgame arrives in cinemas under a veil of secrecy.

As I left an early screening of the Marvel blockbuster, still processing all the revelations I’d just witnessed, I was faced with a wall of cinema employees, all holding up signs reminding me of one thing: #DontSpoilTheEndgame. I understand why Disney is so keen to get the message across. The film exists to be experienced together, with your fellow cinemagoers, all gasping and cheering at the right moments. Maybe there’ll be a bit of crying, too?

But I wasn’t the only film critic who felt a touch of nervousness when compiling my reaction. How do you avoid potentially upsetting someone when almost anything could be interpreted as a spoiler?

“Spoilerphobia”, in fact, has become a kind of mass hysteria. Just ask actor Griffin Newman, who posted a vague tweet expressing his enjoyment of the film, and then had to deal with one particularly irate Twitter user who insisted that sharing “how you feel about something is just as much a spoiler as saying who dies”.

The problem is that our fear is stifling conversation. With the rise of streaming services, it’s been argued that the final Game of Thrones will mark the last time the world comes together on a weekly basis to watch and dissect a TV show. As Fiona Sturges writes in her weekly column: “In these troubled times, it’s this kind of conversation that keeps us all sane.” That collective experience is being quashed somewhat by the constant paranoia.

Common sense should really dictate what’s OK to discuss and what might ruin someone’s fun. And if you’re still worried? Then maybe it’s better to find something else to do other than scroll through Twitter all day.

Yours,

Clarisse Loughrey

Film critic