So, was out of town for several days for a training, back now!
Continuing with my rewatch, last week was Captain America: Civil War.
God damn this movie is good.
So here's a little back story for my relationship with this movie. Now, as you guys probably know, I'm a big Marvel comics guy. I have gone into all of these movies knowing that they will be very different from their comic book counterparts, and unless it was made MUCH worse, I was always open to that. This was tested to the strongest degree when I saw that they announced that they planned on adopting Civil War. Not sure how many of you guys know this, but every year Marvel does a giant big story with most characters. Usually it's...fine. Sometimes it's meh or bad. And on occasion, it's VERY good. For me, Civil War, along with Dark Reign was one of the best major crossover stories I had read. Many disagree, but that's life. I read....literally....every single issue of Civil War AND every single tie in issue. That is a LOT of comics. I was hooked on this story. Seeing Steve and Tony come to that disagreement. Watching Rogers' underground Avengers fight Stark's poster Avengers. Seeing how all of the minor characters dealt with the registration act etc. It was so huge. Just...enormous. It involved everyone except the real Thor (and maybe Hulk?).
So I was super nervous when I heard they were doing this. I knew, for a fact, that a ton of the characters I loved from the comics version, such as Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Moon Knight, Punisher, Sentry, Captain Marvel, Wolverine etc, were not going to be in this. Most of all, however, Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four wouldn't be in this, and they were a major part of the comics. So I was skeptical. How could they do SUCH a huge story line in 2 hours with so few characters? But I went in open minded, yet expecting to be let down.
Then we got Black Panther. Then we got Spider-Man. And on top of that we just got one of the best MCU movies to date. This movie is just a paragon of great writing, great directing, great acting, great editing and so forth. It feels like it rushes but doesn't actually rush. It goes at the perfect pace, just like Winter Soldier. The team of Russos, Markus and McFeely can clearly do no wrong. The emotional arc of Tony Stark through this movie is just genius. I dunno man. I can't say enough good stuff about this movie. I'll try to do a totally disproportionate list of likes/dislikes that just touches the surface for some of it.
Likes:
- All of the acting and characters. Steve and Tony are fantastic. Vision and Wanda are also fantastic. Bucky, Sam, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, etc. Fantastic
- Black Panther. Fantastic introduction that told us everything we need to know without a wasted word. Great acting, action, costume, fighting etc.
- SPIDER-MAN! Never handled so well. They summed up his entire god damn character perfectly in like 2 minutes of screen-time. It's very impressive.
- I really loved Zemo. I think he's often considered a low tier villain, but he's fantastic. His character is original, well acted, and honestly just really different. Yes, his plan had some coincidences that needed to work, but I can live with that. Also love that he is one of two villains that accomplished his goals and didn't die.
- The action. Nuff said.
- Bringing back Thunderbolt Ross was a really nice, albeit small, move. Nice to know that The Incredible Hulk wasn't TOTALLY ignored.
- The ending being a 2 on 1 fist fight rather than a giant sky beam everyone blowing everything up.
- The comedy is honestly fantastic. Bucky and Sam nodding at Cap after kissing Sharon. Spider-Man not knowing how to fight without sounding like a nerd. Just really natural and character rooted comedy. Much unlike Guardians where it became jokes for the sake of jokes.
- Also the ending of Rogers smashing Stark's chest reactor with his shield. Breaking Tony's heart with the symbol for his values and ideals. Beautiful.
Didn't like:
- Few plot holes in Zemo's plan. Nothing huge, but if anything had gone wrong, I feel like he'd be out of luck.
- I dunno. I honestly can't think of much I didn't like on this one.
Tonight is Spider-Man: Homecoming! WOOOO!