What’s up, so obviously I’m not around for a really long
time ever since my last review on Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. I’m sorry
because I have a lot of things to do, corresponding to Yanni, and it is also
because I went to learn how to make shorter reviews instead of making them too
long. Please see for yourself whether this review is more polished than the
previous ones I made.
Surprisingly enough, I watched this movie with Yanni this
Sunday in a cinema, clearly excited for this movie (in Yanni’s case, not really?)
But we walked out loving this movie, because we had a great time with it.
This is the kind of movie where it gives such a breath of fresh
air. We’ve seen some of the previous Marvel movies, and they follow the same
plot: Bad guy gets something related to the infinity stone, bad guy
demonstrates the stone’s power, the good guys must stop him…. In Civil War, the
plot is entirely different. Not to say it’s original; we’ve seen that in
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, where
the government opposes an independent group of people (or in BVS’s case, 1
person. In BVS’s case, we’ve also seen people turn against each other).
I walked into this movie expecting more than I should have,
because Batman V Superman was a movie I wanted to like, but had some clear
problems that make me disappointed, and now I turned my attention to Civil War,
and I’ve got to say: I was absolutely blown away. This is by far one of the
best movies I’ve seen in 2016, and a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic
Universe. Hear me out.
Synopsis - Political pressure mounts to install a system of
accountability when the actions of the Avengers lead to collateral damage. The
new status quo deeply divides members of the team. Captain America (Chris
Evans) believes superheroes should remain free to defend humanity without
government interference. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) sharply disagrees and
supports oversight. As the debate escalates into an all-out feud, Black Widow
(Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must pick a side.
REVIEW
You are watching a sequel of two Marvel Movies: Captain
America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. You managed to see
parts of the Avengers Assemble in this movie, while at the same time it focuses
on the personal stories of Steve Rogers AKA Captain America, which also makes
it a sequel to The Winter Soldier. I am thankful how the movie was marketed correctly,
because it is a Captain America movie after all.
I am here to tell you that the movie is building up to Civil
War, but at the same time the “Civil War” is just a plot tool to propel the
movie along to the final act. However, it doesn’t feel forced,
This movie has great pacing. It is a movie where it never
stops moving. Nothing came too abruptly, and its many sub-plots didn’t confuse
me or the audience of what is happening. It never once dragged the attention
away from the main plot, which is the civil war, and Captain America’s main story.
The movie paces and builds up to the main event, nicely taking it’s time to
build up each and every character’s motivation. At the same time, it balances
two genres of this movie: a political thriller and a superhero extravaganza.
As this movie is called Civil War and you see a large number
of superheroes throw down, an overabundance of characters can be a bad thing,
as some characters may overshadow some other minor characters that make you
think they shouldn’t be in this movie, and that they are shoe-horned for the
sake of entertainment. There is one character that does feel a bit forced, but
he played a pivotal role in the main event of this movie and it is hard to
think what happens if he’s not there. (*Cough cough, Ant-Man.)
The characters were explored extremely well. What the Russo
Brothers did so well was that they didn’t let some of the characters that took
part in the Civil War drag the attention away from Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and
Bucky Barnes. They all had a role to play in this movie, and you see their
clear motivations (or in some aspects, emotional turmoil), and you feel really
bad that they are fighting amongst themselves. In fact, you know they don’t
want to fight each other.
Seriously, the best thing about this movie is the fact that we really see both sides in the Civil War: each side has their clear motivations of why the characters are doing what they’re doing. I, myself didn’t completely side with Captain America, I sided with Iron Man on a few occasions because you agree with what he’s doing. It’s a movie that makes the audience feel conflicted amongst themselves as well.
I was extremely impressed by how well it balances everything. The story, the subplots, the
climax…. It was some of the best Marvel screenplays I’ve seen. However, my most enjoyable part was how well the directors managed to introduce some of the new
characters to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.
Ant-Man was one thing. He was already introduced in Ant-Man, and he wasn’t in this movie for very
long, and he was very funny, and a really good fighter among the Avengers.
They took more time with characters like Black Panther, a superhero I’ve never seen before, who was also introduced in this
movie. I won’t spoil anything about his character, but he showed clear motivations,
and was pretty self-explanatory for who he is. However, my attention was steered
towards, no doubt, the introduction to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.
He, like Ant-Man, wasn’t in this movie for very long, and like
Scott Lang, I wonder what this movie would be like without Peter Parker. Tom
Holland killed it, and was the perfect Spider-Man in just the right way. He had
that coolness, like Andrew Garfield’s version, but at the same time still feel
like someone who is a nerd, just like Tobey Maguire’s version of Spider-Man. The
banter between him and Tony Stark, great stuff, and in no time you can feel the
chemistry seeping off both of them. Civil War was an amazing way to introduce
his character, and I quickly fell in love with Tom Holland. I wonder what he
will bring to us in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is confirmed to be coming out
on 2017.
And here we are: the Civil War. Something I am most certainly
going to talk about. 3 Words: Best. Throwdown. Ever.
This is in no doubt one of the best superhero fight in any
superhero movie I’ve seen. It combined almost everything each superhero is
famous for, like Ant-Man’s shrinking tech, or Spider-Man’s web shooter, and Scarlet
Witch’s psychic abilities. The fight does not feel rushed and overlong, and
took it’s time to have the superheroes fight, but it was very clear and not confusing
and you can see who’s fighting who. The movie has built to this; the audience
watched it build each and every step, and when they reached the highest bar, it
was some of the most satisfying sequence you’ll ever see.
The only flaw I’ve had with this movie is the villain. They’ve done a lot to build him up as this
mastermind behind the whole thing, but in the end, he feels forced. He’s not
compelling enough, and when they do try to make him one, it ended up being too
exposition heavy. You can’t really see the clear motivations of what he’s
doing until the very end. He has similar motivations from other people, but people
like Iron Man were explored better. Thankfully, he’s not in the movie for very long,
and he’s not the main focus of this movie (even though he’s in a lot of
scenes), so I’m thankfully not too bothered by him.
Civil War was a great breath of fresh air. It’s one of the
best Marvel movies I’ve seen in a really long time. It’s really easy to compare
this movie with Batman V Superman, because you can see some obvious
similarities (the introduction to Black Panther is just like the introduction
to Wonder Woman, some scenes were it involved people dying, and the political
thriller genre). However, Civil War was honestly what I wanted BVS to be, but never
saw. Civil War shines as one of the best superhero movies ever made. The
Captain America Trilogy has built to this final movie, and it’s clear that this
is the best out of the previous 2.
Rating: CINEMATASTIC (6/6)
I’ll be back quite soon for another review. Maybe more Marvel movie reviews? :D
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