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Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)  

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  1. 1. Grade it



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I will start by saying that there really are some great individual moments. Zemo revealing why he did what he did is one, the big reveal at the end is another. Every time Vision and Wanda shares the screen together. These are all wonderful moments. It's really a shame they had to belong to this mediocre "movie".

If you liked Winter Soldier, you'll love Civil War. Personally, I found the first two acts dull as they come, first act shows the Russos clearly don't the chopps or/and vision to make the somewhat interesting ideas on screen, you know, actually interesting. To be fair with them, I appreciate they didn't force jokes or anything like that in the first act, even though my interest in the whole thing dipped as they overcompensated with humor in the second act. Overall, the first 2/3 are the most episodic material Marvel has ever produced.

It doesn't help that I strongly dislike Cap/Steve. I think he's a fascist and self-righteous asshole, how could he not be? there always is someone infiltrated in the government trying to destroy the world to prove his point true. And some people think this or the predecessor are making big statements or something. It's his way or highway, he makes no compromise despite whatever he says. He also embodies one of the worst things about Marvel, changes comes in glacial pace, this supposedly hero is essentially the same skinny guy we saw in the beginning of The First Avenger, cause who needs true character development?


Quite mind boggling is the fact the Russos are actually praised for the action. How can people gloss over precarious editing, bad shaky cam and lack of imagination regarding the creation of set pieces? the first 3 action sequences all have the same build up for god's sake. The Airport sequence, which got raves, was nothing more than monotonous, stakes-free fan service. It's pretty much a 10-minute loop of heroes displaying their powers and someone cracking a joke every 15 seconds.

 

"We are still friends, right?" enough said.

 

Also, it's distasteful that Marvel uses civilians casualties only when it's convenient for them, only when it lands well for a movie's premisse. I mean, all of them end on a triumphant note, little to no acknowledgment of the people who died is made, obviously that would be too pretentious and/or depressing. Now, suddenly it's important.
 

Other things that bothered me are movie's total lack of resolution (even for Marvel) and "let's freeze Bucky for the time being", which felt like the biggest cop out in recent history.
 

Some people like to say MCU strength are the characters, their relationships, and how they interact with each other. I say the superficial melodrama is only a mean, a "necessary evil", to get to the action and humor bits.

 

60/100

Edited by Goffe
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Need to process this a bit but safe to say I very much enjoyed it.

It definitely isn't the best MCU film, that firmly still remains TWS but this is top tier. Will say this - it seems to be flipflopping quite a bit between Avengers 3 and Cap 3. And if can't seem to quite fully and deeply commit to whichever of the two main thematic through lines it presents, with some aspects moved over far too quickly, but the down to earth relatable human element and the fun of it all (almost too fun, but third act redeems this thankfully) makes these issues slide for better or worse.

Once thing's for sure though - best. MCU. third act. That was brilliantly done, even if our investment to the characters over so many films is a big part of what made this work.

Performances - holy wow Chadwick and Holland!!!!!!!!!! Everyone else was great but these really stood out to me. Also - in love with Wanda & Bettany is smoooooooooth as hell.

More once I sleep on it (including constructive comparisons with BvS because I have quite a bit to say about it) but 8/10 for now.

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Pros:

 

- Pretty tight writing. With so many characters, it can very well get messy, but the screenwriters did a good job of balancing things out here.

- Good to great actings from most of the cast members. RDJ at his most interesting and engaging Tony Stark in a while. Chadwick Boseman was perfectly casted. And Tom Holland surprised me with how likable his Peter Parker is. 

- Core conflicts between the two leads are well handled, especially on the emotional front.

- Inventive actions and good uses of power displays.

- Recurrent theme of rage and vengeance is woven nicely into the main plot. 

- Good humor that are fitting to the specific characters.

- Personal and intimate third act, which is very rare for MCU and many movies in general.

- Many interpersonal relationships between characters are well-written and acted. 

 

Cons:

 

- Pointless, unnecessary icky romance. Marvel should stop trying with these things.

- For as much as they try to make Bucky a sympathetic figure, Sebastian Stan failed to convey it across both movies.

- Lack of clear and convincing motivations for certain characters for their investment in this war. For as cool as Ant-Man addition was, his reason for getting involved is weak. Same goes for Hawkeye. 

- The focus on characters and emotional relationships in the war unfortunately taking away the focus on the thematic divisiveness politically. I would like to see more on that end.

- The bittersweet ending is also feel abrupt and too simplistic.

- The score. Lol. 

 

I definitely need a second viewing to catch some details, but at the moment, I think they did a good job overall of blending a Cap-centric movie within an Avengers-scope movie. I'm most satisfied with how the titled relationship and conflict is handled, as well as great intro for one of my favorite characters. 

 

Edited by Sam
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Seen it twice already. My grade would be an A with a tiny minus :)

The tight screenplay manages to squeeze all those characters in, although obviously it wouldn't work without the success of previous movies.

Which makes me wonder, how would an MCU newbie see this? For example, how could they sense that between Clint and Nat, "hitting really hard" means something really important?

 

My minus came from Sebastian Stan and the blah, totally forgettable score.

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I wrote up a few of my thoughts on CW. Ended up being a bit long for this review thread, so I made it into a blog entry on it instead.

 

 

Don't worry, it's not a multi-parter, like my BvS review, just some thoughts and analysis on interesting aspects I wanted to talk about.

 

 

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Pros:

 

- Pretty tight writing. With so many characters, it can very well get messy, but the screenwriters did a good job of balancing things out here.

- Good to great actings from most of the cast members. RDJ at his most interesting and engaging Tony Stark in a while. Chadwick Boseman was perfectly casted. And Tom Holland surprised me with how likable his Peter Parker is. 

- Core conflicts between the two leads are well handled, especially on the emotional front.

- Inventive actions and good uses of power displays.

- Recurrent theme of rage and vengeance is woven nicely into the main plot. 

- Good humor that are fitting to the specific characters.

- Personal and intimate third act, which is very rare for MCU and many movies in general.

- Many interpersonal relationships between characters are well-written and acted. 

 

Cons:

 

- Pointless, unnecessary icky romance. Marvel should stop trying with these things.

- For as much as they try to make Bucky a sympathetic figure, Sebastian Stan failed to convey it across both movies.

- Lack of clear and convincing motivations for certain characters for their investment in this war. For as cool as Ant-Man addition was, his reason for getting involved is weak. Same goes for Hawkeye. 

- The focus on characters and emotional relationships in the war unfortunately taking away the focus on the thematic divisiveness politically. I would like to see more on that end.

- The bittersweet ending is also feel abrupt and too simplistic.

- The score. Lol. 

 

I definitely need a second viewing to catch some details, but at the moment, I think they did a good job overall of blending a Cap-centric movie within an Avengers-scope movie. I'm most satisfied with how the titled relationship and conflict is handled, as well as great intro for one of my favorite characters. 

 

What was wrong with the romance? It was short, and had things that propelled the plot.

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1 hour ago, ThiagoMaia said:

What was wrong with the romance? It was short, and had things that propelled the plot.

 

Exactly that, the Sharon Carter character was there for 2 reasons: convenient plot device and obligated love interest. None of which makes the character her own and interesting.

 

YMMV, to me, it's icky (the actors themselves admitted that much too) and undeserved.

 

But if to look at it from a positive pov, the romantic attachment show the mindset of Steve Rogers, after Peggy's funeral and couple with his determination to protect Bucky at all costs, it showed that he regressed a bit, unable or unwilling to move forward and desperately clinging on to remnants of his past before the ice. I don't neccessarily like the direction it took for the character, but it is different and maybe interesting to some people.

Edited by Sam
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I posted a (mostly) positive review in the main thread. Some more random thoughts here:

 

Am I the only one who thought that the thing between Cap and Sharon was super awkward? Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think making out with your ex-lover's niece is weird.

 

I wish Cap and Widow had had more screen time together. Their rapport in Winter Soldier was one of my favorite things about that movie.

 

Scarlet Witch, Vision and Hawkeye felt pretty pointless to me. They added nothing to the story and acted only as window dressing. And what the hell was Elizabeth Olsen going for with that accent? It was all over the place. I'm starting to think she was miscast for this role.
 

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Its basic plot was certainly ambitious which have could raised way more realistic agony of omnipotent heroes and political, ethical dilemmas and meaningful reflections on the real "Post-9/11" world. But at one point, the movie complacently follows the more familiar pattern. Their conflict's motivation is their ill-fated relationship rather than the difference of convictions. Because of that, some people can sympathize with their conflicts more emotionally and intimately. But frankly I was pretty disappointed. While I enjoy the movie and think its spectacle is stunning, I see its grand potentials are somewhat wasted. 

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B/B+

 

The highlight is Marvel going full-on meta for the first time.

 

"I'm Clint by the way."

"I don't care."

 

In all seriousness though, RDJ killed it. I think this is his best performance as Iron Man to date. He looks older and weary too which really worked. I liked Lizzie a lot too and her little arc. Evans has the role down obviously but I don't think he was given anything meaty to work with, a lot of it was retreading TWS. Sebastian Stan is just really boring. Bucky is just really boring. That character is a major nuisance at this point.

 

I liked Spidey a lot even if his involvement felt rather contrived. I don't know if I could handle a whole movie of that though, I think he could become irritating. There was something really 'try hard' about him but that's easily excused after the two previous movies.

 

I loved that we got to see everyone's perspective but I never bought Black Widow's either time. Panther's origin didn't work (it couldn't have been more than 90 seconds) but the design is too cool and Boseman sold it as well as he could.

 

The score wasn't actively annoying like in TWS but it was complete wallpaper. I think I heard faint hints of Silvestri's Avengers theme but that's it. The musical situation in the MCU is far beyond repair.

 

All of this can be forgiven though because of that airport scene. Sooooooooooooooooo much fun. Reminded me of Spider-Man 2. Tonally at odds with the rest of the movie for sure but whatever. 

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Oh well.

 

(from the main thread)

 

I enjoyed it. Thought it was pretty good, though not as good as the reviews led me to believe. Still one of the better efforts from Marvel and a huge step up from the overwrought and sloppy Age of Ultron.
 
The action scenes are great (some pretty inventive and cool stuff in there, especially involving Ant-Man) and mostly grounded, and not OTT like in Ultron. That being said, I would have preferred a little less of it (I always do). The movie is briskly paced; it feels focused and streamlined despite being two and a half hours and including plenty of characters (getting rid of two or three superfluous characters (SW, V and HE) would have made it even more efficient), and only lags on occasion. It is also thematically rich and nuanced, for being a movie about dudes in costumes kicking each other's heinies, and the moral conflict between Steve and Tony is quite interesting (not sure which side I am on).
 
All in all, a fun flick, but I can't help but feeling slightly disappointed given the glowing reviews.
 
7.5/10
 
PS: Spider-Man is a scene-stealer and the best version of the character to date.
 

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53 minutes ago, The Stingray said:

Oh well.

 

(from the main thread)

 

I enjoyed it. Thought it was pretty good, though not as good as the reviews led me to believe. Still one of the better efforts from Marvel and a huge step up from the overwrought and sloppy Age of Ultron.
 
The action scenes are great (some pretty inventive and cool stuff in there, especially involving Ant-Man) and mostly grounded, and not OTT like in Ultron. That being said, I would have preferred a little less of it (I always do). The movie is briskly paced; it feels focused and streamlined despite being two and a half hours and including plenty of characters (getting rid of two or three superfluous characters (SW, V and HE) would have made it even more efficient), and only lags on occasion. It is also thematically rich and nuanced, for being a movie about dudes in costumes kicking each other's heinies, and the moral conflict between Steve and Tony is quite interesting (not sure which side I am on).
 
All in all, a fun flick, but I can't help but feeling slightly disappointed given the glowing reviews.
 
7.5/10
 
PS: Spider-Man is a scene-stealer and the best version of the character to date.
 

 

 

Can i co-sign? That's pretty much how I felt watching it, good review. 

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I'm not the biggest Marvel fan but i thought this was excellent and in the very top tier of Marvel movies, on par or maybe even ahead of the first Avengers. The new characters aren't just thrown in to the mix, they get their own brief introductions, without giving away so much that their eventual origin film seems redundant.The action scenes are fantastically choreographed and the airport battle is surely going to be up there with the best scenes of the year. 

 

It isn't perfect though, i agree with another commenter that Spiderman seemed fine in this but in his own film he may grate on the nerves. Buckey again just isn't that easy to sympathise with and you can't help but think that Cap should have just handed him over and avoided splitting the Avengers. 

 

Overall though this is a highly enjoyable film with a number of comedic moments thrown in that is elevated due to the sheer spectacle of seeing so many recognizable characters battling each other.

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Not quite as good as TWS but a lot more satisfying than AOU. I think Bruhl may have been the MVP for me... his presence added a lovely level of depth, bleakness & realism that helped to rein in the 'bigger' elements of the film. 

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7 hours ago, BKB IS CAPTAIN AMERICA said:

 

Might as well since someone's blatantly going to play that game, so will I.. ;) 2 Can play at this game..

Please don't turn this into IMDB, pretty please.

 

 

The movie itself? Fucking fun, I give it a A, I'm easy to please though. Still, uhm, I feel the hype was a bit over the top as it wasn't quite as good as everything led me to believe beforehand for some reason. but hey, just as good as The Avengers, GOTG and WS, which are my favorite movies in this universe.

 

"we are still friends, right?" was a ridiculous scene by the way, took me out of it for a second there. That was my least favorite scene.

 

Bucky and Falcon nodding to Steve in the car after he kissed Sharon was my favorite scene of the movie, I mean it. I need that gif.

 

 

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