Captain America: Civil War (spoilers, bruv)

[Gryphos]

Let's cut to the chase: Civil War is f*cking awesome! Easily one of the best, if not the best Marvel film, and it completely overshadows the mediocre Batman v Superman to an almost hilarious degree.

First off, the action is amazing. Not just the large-scale explosive stuff but also the hand-to-hand combat stuff. Special mention goes to Black Panther with that badass flying triple kick he did against Captain America, and basically anything else Black Panther did in this film (I'll get to him more later).

Secondly, they managed to perfectly portray the division between the Avengers over the Sokovia Accords, and more specifically the division between Iron Man and Captain America. Watching this film, I found myself flipping sides every other scene, and I'm still not entirely sure who I side with. On one hand, a powerful force like the Avengers is too dangerous to leave in the private sector, but on the other hand, how much would I trust governments to use the Avengers responsibly? It's a genuinely difficult subject which the film successfully portrays the nuances of.

What I also find very interesting is how this key conflict doesn't actually resolve itself. At the end of the film, Cap and Iron Man are still enemies, and the team is essentially still split over the Sokovia Accords. I can't wait to see how this develops over future films.

The film introduced two key characters to the MCU, those being Black Panther and Spiderman, and in their own way both of these guys steal the goddamn show. I've already mentioned how badass Black Panther is, but this dude is so cool! And Spiderman is perfectly done, the best screen incarnation of the character.

If there was something which was underwhelming, it would have to be Zemo's character. He wasn't bad per se, just meh. He was basically a plot device to get Iron Man and Cap fighting, and in that respect he served his purpose well enough, but he definitely could have been better.

Some of my specific favourite bits:

- Ant-man turning giant; I think Spiderman summed it up best: "Holy shit!"

- The car/motorbike/Falcon chase with Black Panther was cool af

- The pars were off the charts! So many shutdowns. That bit when Hawkeye and Black Panther are fighting and Hawk's like "we haven't met before; my name's Clint" and BP's like "I don't care". Too deep, bruv.

So yeah, overall a pretty beast film.

 

[Stephyn Blackwood]

Couldn't agree more. The film was absolutely amazing.

Personal favourite bit would have to be the freeze frame of Cap fighting Iron Man, his hand blaster thingy's (Technical name escapes me) bouncing off his shield. An image practically taken straight from the comic-book source material. *Fanboys like crazy*

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Such a damn fun movie. Manchurian camdidate line made me and my wife guffaw. Too bad we were the only ones.

 

[Penpilot]

It's quite interesting how BvS and Civil War run parallel in terms of having two major heroes squaring off against one another. But the former manages to just F itself in the foot, while the other just shines.

Some interesting contrasts I noticed. (Minor Spoilers ahead)

Civil War - Let's (re)introduce some major characters in prep for their own films by having them show up in the story, kick ass, and play significant, if not just plain fun parts in the plot.

BvS - let's just have Batman send WW an email with some youtube-like clips that mean squat to the movie plot.

Civil War - Iron man stands on one side because he feels guilty for accidentally causing harm, indirectly or not. Cap stands on the other side because he believes helping people should be free of politics. They both have a personal stake for finding Bucky.

BvS - Batman thinks Superman could be dangerous, even though he helps hundreds if not thousands of people. But heck why take the .0000000001% chance and kill his ass, even though he could help thousands of people. Superman wants Batman to retire because he's killing criminals and causing destruction, and has judged him to be unfit to continue even though he himself has killed and caused destruction. Way to judge Super-hypocrite. Who made you god... Ohhhhhh!

Civil War - Ironman's Mom was killed by Bucky, so Ironman wants him dead and nothing is going to stop him. Just or not, in control or not, to blame or not, he doesn't give a crap, Bucky still killed his Mom.

BvS - Batman stops killing Superman because their Mom's have the same name. Somehow this makes me think Batman isn't as committed to this blood lust thing as he appears. Superman's Mom tells him he can do great things, save people, etc., or not. He doesn't owe the world a damn thing. Way to inspire your son to greater heights, Martha.

Civil War - Zemo doesn't want power. He wants vengeance for the deaths of his family, and he succeeds in crumbling the Avengers.

BvS - WTF does Luthor want? Near as I can tell, he wants a Senator to drink Auntie So-And-So's "Lemon Aid". He doesn't succeed in that, but achieves success in being an annoying A-hole, who seems to have an unusual affinity for getting into strange pools of water with dead naked aliens.


BvS got to theatres first, so the people making Civil War must have gone to seen it. Before they went into the theatre they must have been nervous. I mean Batman Vs Superman plus WW, three of the most recognizable comic book heroes out there, looking badass. This could cause trouble for Civil War.

When they came out, they must have been laughing their asses off, because there sure wasn't any laughing--at least not the type intended by the movie makers--in BvS.