Stewart here…
So for those of you who had a chance to see Captain America: Civil War over the weekend (or you’re one of those readers who lives outside the U.S. and had a chance to see it over the last few weeks), I’ll be talking about my brief opinions on the movie. Before we get too spoilery though, here some of the broad non-spoilery stuff that I really dig about Civil War, and later on, go into the pluses and minuses (the few there are) of it:
–We had to eventually get to a storyline like this in the MCU with events of late (I mean, AN ENTIRE CITY was almost used as a giant meteor of death in the last Avengers movie) with having some kind of global response to the collateral damage of these big fights. And it’s good to see the arguments for and against it have strong points that you can understand.
–This movie may have the most incredible fight scene of any Marvel movie (let alone maybe any superhero movie) and also one the most emotionally traumatizing and personal of any Marvel movie.
–It’s nice to see RDJ get some more shades to play in Tony Stark here, as his frustration and inner turmoil finally starts to boil over in a truly heartbreaking way.
–Vision and Scarlet Witch feel more like characters than I think Age of Ultron ever succeeded at doing, which is not as much a slam on that movie, because there was a lot of balls in the air there.
–I was looking forward to a Black Panther movie, but with Chadwick Boseman’s performance as T’Challa and the setup of Wakanda here makes me really excited to see this character in action on his own.
–Spider-Man is the greatest part of the brief scenes he’s in, but without spoiling too much, there are some concerns.
–Zemo isn’t as good as say the villain in the last Captain America movie, but his big plan is certainly one of the more creative ones, because of what he doesn’t do.
–We really haven’t cracked the Black Widow solo movie code yet, Marvel? Because, sheesh.
–Also, Ant-Man. Better here than in his own solo movie. Note that when doing his next movie, Marvel.
–Hey, a big budget superhero throw down movie in 2016 that remembers to be funny?
–Chris Evans pretty much IS Captain America. And you need a hero like that in a movie like this.
–Out of the two movies regarding superheroes fighting each other, setting up future movies, and packing in multiple characters and motivations in 2016, this is the one that works. Take notes, competition.
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So the remainder of this is SPOILERS for the whole movie, so if you don’t wish to know any more, stop here.
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Really, stop here because we talk about the WHOLE MOVIE. Okay?
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–“That shield doesn’t obey the laws of physics!”
–GIANT-Man, everyone! I think his laugh when it worked was pretty much my laugh when it happened. Also, regular Ant-Man shrinking and expanding tricks throughout the fight (“I thought that was a water truck.”) were awesome!
–Okay, great to have Spidey in this, but here’s my concern: Tony decides to take this teenager into a fight (across an ocean!) with a bunch of veteran adult heroes that could easily go bad (and does), and what part of this doesn’t seem like stupidity and endangerment on Tony’s end? On the positive end, making him a nervous chatter mouth nerd is a wonderful note to have this version of Spidey be. He’s a fanboy, and his reactions really help the extended airport fight.
–“We’re still running at each other. We’re not stopping!”
–Scarlet Witch doing all those quick saves of her buddies during the big fight was great.
–We get Crossbones briefly, before he suicide bombs himself. Also, that the explosion is contained, but briefly we see it actually burning him up alive as Scarlet Witch gets him clear is really disturbing.
–You get the feeling that Bucky and Black Panther are the only two heroes in this group everyone else combined would have difficulty fighting.
–Black Panther’s security lady? I kinda agree with T’Challa, that I would love a fight between her and Black Widow.
–Bucky using his metal arm to turn a battering ram into a baton? Ouch. And that catch of that motorcycle and flipping it into his escape vehicle was amazing.
–That whole chase scene in Germany was impressive, like when Cap got out of the SUV, started running with the SUV flipping and crashing behind him.
–Rhodey gets crippled…by accident and by his teammate, Vision, no less!
–“We’re still friends, right?”
–The hilarious combo of Sam and Bucky.
–The Falcon and Redwing. And it being called a “bird costume”.
–“Where are you from, kid?” “Queens.” “Brooklyn.”
–“It’s your conscience. We haven’t talked in a while.”
–The Wes Anderson-esque titles to show locations was a nice touch.
–Laying out a trap for Vision before he returned to the base? NOW Hawkeye is awesome.
–Vision in sweaters. And trying to cook.
–“Something just flew into me!”
–So Tony and Pepper are on the outs, huh?
–If you need an actor to make one scene where a parent expresses her anger over losing her child work, call Alfre Woodard!
–Hi, Martin Freeman! Bye, Martin Freeman!
–Thunderbolt Ross, as not a military man, but still kind of a jerk.
–Peggy Carter’s funeral. Sniff. And hey, if that bummed Steve out, at least he’s got a future hook-up with Peggy’s niece to look forward to.
–“The living are not done with you yet.”
–Zemo is definitely in the top tier of villains in the MCU because his plan to avenge his family’s death in Sokovia, as convoluted as it is, is not about fighting the Avengers externally, but internally making them fight each other. We think he’s after supersoldiers, but when they are found dead, its a real surprise. And he actually succeeds in his plan at the end, for however long that will be.
–Which brings us to the reveal that I really should have seen coming, since the hints have been throughout all the HYDRA-based plots of the films: the brainwashed Bucky killed Tony’s parents! And the real gutpunch that Cap never voiced his suspicion of that to Tony!
–“He killed my mom.” Just stabs you in the heart right there.
–The final fight with Cap and Iron Man is so brutal, especially when both have that reaction near the end that they almost killed each other.
–Does Steve leaving the shield behind mean we may get some pretender take up the Captain America mantle for the next Avengers movie?
–“Yes, that’s him. Tony Stank.”
–We get a Only You reunion with RDJ and Marisa Tomei as Aunt May.
–Of course Steve wouldn’t leave his allies to rot in a prison in the middle of the ocean. You know him.
–Bucky goes under stasis, because, surprise, he rather get all that secret HYDRA brain tampering out of his system for good before doing anything else.
–Wakanda’s kick ass giant panther statue, guys. This place looks awesome.
–Spidey gets that logo light from Tony. And when it read “Spider-Man will return”, big applause from the audience I was with.
–That “old movie”, The Empire Strikes Back. Sadly, he’s right.
–De-aged RDJ was a trip.
–We didn’t get another Spidey origin/Uncle Ben death scene. That’s right, BvS, we already know the story with these guys. We’re not idiots.
–So are we thinking this rift gets patched up by or after the next Avengers movie?
So, what did you guys think of Civil War? Where do you rank this in the Marvel movies to date? Got any questions or stuff you want to chat about? You hyped up for a solo Spider-Man movie again or a Black Panther movie? Let’s talk about it below…
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