Captain America: Civil War

[riddler]

As someone who is a fan of the MCU, and loved the first two Cap movies...I'm honestly not so sure about this one.

On one hand, they're exploring the ramifications of the damage left behind in every Avengers battle, and that's good for the sake of the story.

But on the other hand, there's always a chance that too many characters could spoil it. Despite I liked how they introduced Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Vision in Age of Ultron, I thought that movie had an unfocused plot because of the amount of characters introduced in the film. I heard rumours that Spider-Man plays a bigger part in this than most people are expecting, and to tell you truth, I'm disappointed. What if the film has too many sub-plots that get in the way of the conflict between Captain America and Iron Man? Plus, how does it juggle the other villains in the film: Baron Zemo and Crossbones?

I'll definitely see it, and I'm not going to write it off. But I have a hunch that Civil War won't entertain me as much as The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier did. Hope I'm wrong.

In the comics Spider-man plays a critical role in the civil war. I'm interested to see how the Black Panther is handled. Initially he was standing in Spideys role prior to the rights being secured.

[Silver Nemesis]

New promo featuring some Spidey footage:

[Silver Nemesis]

The RT consensus is up:

Captain America: Civil War begins the next wave of Marvel movies with an action-packed superhero blockbuster boasting a decidedly non-cartoonish plot and the courage to explore thought-provoking themes.

Currently it has 60 reviews: 59 positive, 1 negative. The RT score is 98% with an average rating of 8.2. The 'top critic' score is 100% with an average rating of 8.6. The word of mouth from fans has been equally positive. Looking good, so far.

[The Dark Knight]

A local review I saw tackles the vibe with CW and the Marvel routine in general:

"CW has arrived trailing such critical acclaim it's as if Elsabeth Olsen's Scarlett Witch has taken control of reviewers minds. ("You will give it five stars or you will never be invited to a Marvel movie again.") This third Captain America movie is far from the best ever Marvel movie, as certain reviewers have anointed it. It's good, but it's not marvellous. "

[johnnygobbs]

A local review I saw tackles the vibe with CW and the Marvel routine in general:

"You will give it five stars or you will never be invited to a Marvel movie again."

  Great...   Another conspiracy theorist. 

Unfortunately, the film has now dropped to 94% thanks to a handful of bad reviews. 

[Silver Nemesis]

I'll merge this thread with the other one when more people have seen the movie. I just got back from seeing it myself and I thought I'd write a quick review. I'll place major spoilers in white. Apologies in advance for the messy rambling nature of this post. These are my unfiltered thoughts right after seeing the movie.

I know some people have been debating whether Civil War was really a Captain America film or if it had been hijacked into becoming an Avengers movie. Well having seen it, I can say it's both. Cap and Bucky are the central protagonists and it's their story that drives the heart of the narrative. But the film also does an excellent job of giving each of the supporting characters a personal investment in what's happening. It's a great Captain America movie, but it's also a great Avengers movie. In fact I think it's the best Avengers film so far. Yes, even better than the 2012 film.

Cap 3 picks up a lot of the plot threads and themes from The Winter Solider, while also incorporating a surprising amount of content from the original Civil War comic. Comments from the producers had led me to believe this was essentially a totally different story, sharing only its basic premise and title with the comic. But in reality there are numerous beats taken straight from the source material:

•   A sequence in which a villain blows himself up in a populated area during a battle with a team of heroes; this serves as a catalyst for the public backlash against the Avengers

•   A mother confronting Tony over the death of her son, exacerbating the guilt which drives him throughout the film

•   Government legislation designed to hold heroes accountable for the collateral damage incurred by their actions

•   Tony recruiting Spider-Man to his cause

•   A point in the story where one of the heroes is severely injured when a battle gets out of hand

•   A prison where super powered beings are incarcerated

There's also at least one panel recreation lifted directly from the comic. Ultimately, I felt the film improved on the source material in a number of significant ways. For one thing, the protagonists' reasons for fighting are a lot more layered. This is particularly true during the final act when Tony discovers the Winter Soldier is responsible for murdering his parents. The moment of anagorisis where Stark learns this is unquestionably the single most dramatic scene in any MCU film to date.

And this leads me to one of the film's greatest strengths – every character is given clear, compelling motivation for their actions. The movie has a surprisingly strong plot with some nice twists, but at its heart it's a character-driven story. And the characters are consistent, believable and sympathetic throughout. This extends to supporting players like Vision and Scarlet Witch. The result is that the audience's sympathies are constantly flip-flopping back and forth between Team Cap and Team Iron Man. I started out siding with Steve, but by the end of the movie I was rooting for Tony. I can't think of another superhero film that so expertly manipulates audience sympathies in this way. In the original comic there was a logic to Stark's cause, but he and his allies conducted themselves with such militant heavy-handedness that most readers ended up rooting for Steve. In the movie it's not that black and white. Both sides are equally right/wrong, and the nature of their conflict transcends the broader ideological impasse concerning government legislation and delves into more personal depths that the comic barely touched upon. In my opinion, this is a rare example of a literary adaptation that's far superior to the book it's based on.

The cast are all on top form. It's great to see Paul Rudd back as Ant-Man (we get to see him in Giant-Man mode here too) and Downey delivers by far his darkest performance as Stark. A lot of people are saying this is the darkest MCU film to date. And it probably is. At the very least it's the darkest since The Incredible Hulk. But it never feels tonally one-note. The film has a sense of wit and humanity, offering moments of warmth and humour to offset the grimness prevalent elsewhere in the story. The end product is pleasantly well paced and tonally balanced. Nothing feels tacked on, and it never seems like the film's trying to bite off more than it can chew.

Tom Holland is brilliant as Spider-Man. The Raimi Spider-Man films will always be my preferred version for nostalgic reasons, but in the long run I think Holland's interpretation may well prove to be definitive. He's funny, his action scenes are great, and he nails the goodhearted-geek characterisation of Peter from the comics. I also like the fact he's the first Spider-Man actor to play the role who is actually a teenager. He brings a youthful authenticity to the part that was lacking from earlier versions. And what makes his debut here all the more impressive is the fact he creates such a strong impression in only a handful of scenes (stay tuned after the credits ).

I've also got to mention Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther. Like all the other characters, T'Challa has a compelling personal investment in the plot. His fight scenes are magnificent and he executes some truly awesome martial arts moves. But he's also likeable and sympathetic. There's a great moment towards the end of the film where he has to make a difficult moral decision concerning Zemo, and his response to this situation was perfect. My only criticism of Black Panther is that I've got to wait until 2018 to see his solo film. With the addition of him and Spider-Man, with Doctor Strange following later in the year, it feels as if the MCU just got a massive shot in the arm.

I still maintain Daredevil is the best thing produced by Marvel Studios. But as far as feature films go, I'd say Civil War has supplanted The Winter Soldier as the apex of the series. Not only is it the best MCU film IMO, but I'd also argue it's the best superhero film in general since The Dark Knight. In fact I think the Captain America trilogy as a whole is a serious contender for best superhero movie trilogy ever. I love the way each film reflects a different aspect of the character's history: The First Avenger is Cap the Golden Age war hero; The Winter Soldier is Cap the temporally-displaced agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.; Civil War is Cap the Modern Age Avenger.

I think 2016 is going to go down in history as the best year ever for Marvel adaptations. We've already had Deadpool, Daredevil s2 and Captain America: Civil War. And we've still got X-Men: Apocalypse, Luke Cage s1 and Doctor Strange yet to come. I realise not everyone will rate Civil War as highly as me, but I honestly thought it was terrific. The theatre I saw it in was packed. There were people of all ages, including kids dressed in Spider-Man and Iron Man costumes. Before seeing it, I was predicting a worldwide gross of around $800-900 million. But having now seen it, I think this is easily good enough to cross the $1 billion mark. It's the first superhero film I've seen in ages where I feel compelled to go back and see it again. And that's the best compliment I could give it.

There's a lot more to be said, but for now I'll leave it at that.

Final rating: 9/10

[The Dark Knight]

Glad you liked it. Good review. I'll hopefully catch it this week.

[The Joker]

Read the non-spoiler stuff, and it's good to hear you enjoyed it, and provided explanatory reasons why you did!

Hope to check it out this coming Friday night. Normally I would push for the late Thursday showing, but it doesn't appear as if everyone in my circle can make it that particular night. Oh well, we'll see it the next night, no biggie.

[Silver Nemesis]

I hope you guys all enjoy it as much as I did.

I'd just like to clarify that I'm a fan of the original Civil War comic. I don't want my comments about the film surpassing it to come across as implying I don't. I know the comic is divisive amongst fans, but I'm one of the people who liked it. I just feel the adaptation takes everything that worked about the comic and improves upon it. The movie also does a great job of connecting the dots with previous MCU films. You feel the weight of the franchise's 8-year history bearing down on events, and for me that added an extra layer of poignancy to proceedings.

There were a number of scenes in the movie that reminded me of The Empire Strikes Back, which is interesting considering many fans were hyping Age of Ultron as the MCU's answer to TESB. But no, Civil War fits that description much better. A few scenes in particular which reminded me of TESB:

•   The obvious one is during the airport battle where Spider-Man directly references the movie as he webs up Ant-Man's legs, similar to Wedge using a tow cable to immobilise an AT-AT during the Battle of Hoth

•   Black Panther stealthily following Iron Man to Siberia to hunt down the Winter Solider, similar to Boba Fett following the Falcon to Cloud City

•   The whole finale, where Stark makes a shocking discovery about the identity of his parents' killer; somewhat similar to Luke's discovery during the Bespin duel. Also the fact both movies end not with a huge battle between military forces, but with a more intimate battle between the main characters. Both showdowns also involve a character losing a limb

•   Tony ending up physically and emotionally beaten, similar to Luke at the end of TESB

To give some context to the 9/10 rating I gave it, I'd probably rate Age of Ultron a 6.5/10 and Captain America: The First Avenger a 7/10. I'd rate both The Avengers (2012) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier an 8 or possibly an 8.5/10. So Civil War is definitely the best MCU film for me. I also think it's the best Spider-Man film since Spider-Man 2 (2004).

[Silver Nemesis]

Now this has got me thinking about which characters I'd choose.