Captain America: Civil War - Rewind Review #3 (Non-Spoiler/Spoiler)
Release Date: May 6th, 2016
Directed By: Joe and Anthony Russo
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Chris Evan, Robert Downey, Jr., Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Daniel Bruhl, William Hurt, Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner
Blurb/Synopsis: When the Avengers take on an international threat that leads to collateral damage, the government steps in to demand that the group be overseen be a higher power. Steve Rogers and some of the other Avengers are against this but are opposed by Iron Man and must fight to prove their side of the argument.
Expectations/Background: Marvel has been releasing hit after hit after hit, but to be honest with you, before watching Civil War for the first time, I was slightly nervous. Phase 2 thus far had had, in my opinion, two meh films (Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World), two amazing films (The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy), and two good but not great films (Age of Ultron, Ant-Man). So coming from such a mixed bag, I didn't know what to expect from Phase 3. What I did know was that Joe and Anthony Russo were coming back to direct, from the Winter Soldier. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was one of my favorite movies of 2014 and of all time, and that already increased my anticipation. However, with such a huge cast, I was cautiously optimistic because I had no idea how they were going to juggle that many characters. Joss Whedon did it with about 6 or 7 in The Avengers but when more were stacked on top of them, he stumbled in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Would the Russo brothers buckle under the weight of these many characters? And then it was announced that Black Panther and Spider-Man would be in the film, and then my anticipation went through the roof. The Panther is one of the best characters in comic books, and the look of him is so regal and it was time for him to make his appearance. And Spider-Man is Spider-Man. But would the Russos be able to weave a compelling story with all these characters and story elements. The marketing, though, was excellent, with two equally compelling and strong trailers, and so I waited. Was this another hit, or was this a ticking time bomb?
The Movie: I don't know how they pulled it off, but Joe and Anthony Russo managed to take over 15 characters and gave each one of them compelling screen time and a solid arc, as well as a moment to shine. God knows how, but they did it.
Positives: Like I mentioned before, each and every character has their moment to shine. And I mean each and every one. Almost every single character has a reason to be in the film. Even Hawkeye and Black Widow, insignificant characters in a certain sense, have a very good reason being there.
In regards to Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, perfect characterizations. Talking about Steve Rogers, his character is so conflicted, but in the right ways and his internal conflict was brought out to the forefront. While there are so many different characters in the film, this feels like a Captain America film because you follow Steve Rogers' journey throughout. His relationships with the rest of the team, with Tony, with Bucky, all add this layer of depth that was set in motion in The Winter Soldier.
That being said, this does not mean that Tony Stark is the villain. Not by a long shot. Even though Steve is given the forefront, Iron Man is here, and all he's doing is standing up for what he believes in. What I love about his character is that what he believes in builds upon all his experience (except Iron Man 3?) and helps him grow into the character that we know today. The Iron Man/Tony Stark in Iron Man would not make these decisions, but the one here definitely would.
The action is incredible as well. There are three major action set pieces, with a couple smaller ones in the middle, and they are truly something else. There is one particular scene in the middle that completely blows you away, and it lasts for a solid 15-20 minutes. But what I love about the action in the film is that it's warranted. It's not action for the sake of action; there's a real dramatic purpose and motivation to it, and that makes the stakes seem much higher.
That's another great thing too - the stakes feel real, but also very personal. There's nothing really threatening to destroy the universe; it's just a feud between friends, between allies, between teammates that really brings the dramatic tension home. The best thing a film can do is to make you care about what's going on and you achieve that by grounding the film's stakes.
And yes, Spider-Man and Black Panther are both amazing. Spider-Man/Peter Parker is not in the film for very long, but when he is, he steals every scene that he's in. And Black Panther is truly incredible, with his action and the way he talks, he truly feels like a king or a regal figure.
Negatives: There are a couple things that did bother me about the film, and they mostly revolve around narrative issues.
There are a couple characters where I stood there and scratched my head, wondering, "What are they all about?" They weren't in the film for very long, but when they were there, I was sitting there going, "What are they doing?"
There are also a couple plot conveniences that take place in the film. Nothing that takes me completely out of the movie, but a couple points where the film leads from one thing to another rather quickly and conveniently without a clear explanation as to why. While it may bog down the runtime if there were added explanations, it felt too easy at some points and it felt like there could be some more lines explaining certain things, or hashing out certain plot points.
Character Ranking
1. Spider-Man
2. Black Panther
3. Tony Stark
4. Steve Rogers
5. Ant-Man
6. Bucky Barnes
7. *Spoiler*
8. Hawkeye
9. Falcon
10. War Machine
11. Black Widow
12. Scarlet Witch
13. Vision
14. Sharon Carter
15. Thunderbolt Ross
The Villain(s): If you do not know the main villain, I will not spoil it here. Tony Stark is not the villain - like I said earlier, if Steve were heads, Tony would be tails; there is nothing evil or malicious in him. You can clearly see both sides of the argument. But, there is a villain, and while he isn't awful, he feels very unnecessary and unneeded. While he was pivotal in a certain capacity, it almost felt like he could be taken out and the film would still make some semblance of sense. He was just a plot device really, and while the performance was good, the character wasn't so great.
The Music/Score: My job here is to be brutally honest, and my honest opinion is that the score here is terrible. I don't know who wrote the score, but I can only really remember one particular cadence, and that's because it's from a scene I watched over and over again after the film came out. Other than that, there's literally nothing memorable about the score at all.
**READER DISCRETION ADVISED - SPOILER ALERT - IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS SKIP TO "VERDICT"**
Spoilers: That airport sequence, my goodness, that was one of the most glorious pieces of action that I have ever seen. Giant-Man and Spider-Man, to that wide shot of the two sides marching towards each other and then running into battle. The entire thing was glorious.
Now, in regards to Zemo, I have to say, I was impressed that Daniel Bruhl was able to make such a shallow character feel at least a little more three-dimensional, because I felt that his character was almost entirely two-dimensional at times because of the way that he was written. But Bruhl's performance, at the very least, elevated him a little higher than a C-lister villain to around a B-lister villain. Nothing spectacular to note though, and If eel he could have been taken out of the film and replaced by something else.
SPOILER ALERT OVER
The Verdict: One of the most entertaining films of 2016, it also manages to capture political ideologies into a film that has amazing action and great characters. While there are a couple things that could have been improved, I believe that this is one of the examples that the comic book genre should be looking at. The Russo brothers put emotion and heart behind superheroes that can fly and shoot lasers out of their hand, and that is something to be commended. Letter Grade: A. Number Score: 9.7
**IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER**: Letter grades and Number grades do not mean the same thing. Just because I give a film an A does not mean it gets a 9.5 or above. They do not line up like a traditional school grading system To see specifics, see below.
A- to A+: Amazing
B- to B+: Enjoyable, but Flawed
C- to C+: Redeemable in some cases, but heavily Flawed
D- to D+: Nothing but Flaws
F: A Failure of a Film
9-10: Nearly Perfect to Perfect
8-9: Very Good
7-8: Good
6-7: Okay
5-6: Average/Mediocre
4-5: Apparently Flawed
3-4: Heavily Flawed
2-3: A complete and utter mess
0-2: A Failure of a Film
Release Date: May 6th, 2016
Directed By: Joe and Anthony Russo
Directed By: Joe and Anthony Russo
Rating: PG-13
Starring: Chris Evan, Robert Downey, Jr., Chadwick Boseman, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Daniel Bruhl, William Hurt, Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner
Blurb/Synopsis: When the Avengers take on an international threat that leads to collateral damage, the government steps in to demand that the group be overseen be a higher power. Steve Rogers and some of the other Avengers are against this but are opposed by Iron Man and must fight to prove their side of the argument.
Expectations/Background: Marvel has been releasing hit after hit after hit, but to be honest with you, before watching Civil War for the first time, I was slightly nervous. Phase 2 thus far had had, in my opinion, two meh films (Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World), two amazing films (The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy), and two good but not great films (Age of Ultron, Ant-Man). So coming from such a mixed bag, I didn't know what to expect from Phase 3. What I did know was that Joe and Anthony Russo were coming back to direct, from the Winter Soldier. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was one of my favorite movies of 2014 and of all time, and that already increased my anticipation. However, with such a huge cast, I was cautiously optimistic because I had no idea how they were going to juggle that many characters. Joss Whedon did it with about 6 or 7 in The Avengers but when more were stacked on top of them, he stumbled in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Would the Russo brothers buckle under the weight of these many characters? And then it was announced that Black Panther and Spider-Man would be in the film, and then my anticipation went through the roof. The Panther is one of the best characters in comic books, and the look of him is so regal and it was time for him to make his appearance. And Spider-Man is Spider-Man. But would the Russos be able to weave a compelling story with all these characters and story elements. The marketing, though, was excellent, with two equally compelling and strong trailers, and so I waited. Was this another hit, or was this a ticking time bomb?
The Movie: I don't know how they pulled it off, but Joe and Anthony Russo managed to take over 15 characters and gave each one of them compelling screen time and a solid arc, as well as a moment to shine. God knows how, but they did it.
Positives: Like I mentioned before, each and every character has their moment to shine. And I mean each and every one. Almost every single character has a reason to be in the film. Even Hawkeye and Black Widow, insignificant characters in a certain sense, have a very good reason being there.
In regards to Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, perfect characterizations. Talking about Steve Rogers, his character is so conflicted, but in the right ways and his internal conflict was brought out to the forefront. While there are so many different characters in the film, this feels like a Captain America film because you follow Steve Rogers' journey throughout. His relationships with the rest of the team, with Tony, with Bucky, all add this layer of depth that was set in motion in The Winter Soldier.
That being said, this does not mean that Tony Stark is the villain. Not by a long shot. Even though Steve is given the forefront, Iron Man is here, and all he's doing is standing up for what he believes in. What I love about his character is that what he believes in builds upon all his experience (except Iron Man 3?) and helps him grow into the character that we know today. The Iron Man/Tony Stark in Iron Man would not make these decisions, but the one here definitely would.
The action is incredible as well. There are three major action set pieces, with a couple smaller ones in the middle, and they are truly something else. There is one particular scene in the middle that completely blows you away, and it lasts for a solid 15-20 minutes. But what I love about the action in the film is that it's warranted. It's not action for the sake of action; there's a real dramatic purpose and motivation to it, and that makes the stakes seem much higher.
That's another great thing too - the stakes feel real, but also very personal. There's nothing really threatening to destroy the universe; it's just a feud between friends, between allies, between teammates that really brings the dramatic tension home. The best thing a film can do is to make you care about what's going on and you achieve that by grounding the film's stakes.
And yes, Spider-Man and Black Panther are both amazing. Spider-Man/Peter Parker is not in the film for very long, but when he is, he steals every scene that he's in. And Black Panther is truly incredible, with his action and the way he talks, he truly feels like a king or a regal figure.
In regards to Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, perfect characterizations. Talking about Steve Rogers, his character is so conflicted, but in the right ways and his internal conflict was brought out to the forefront. While there are so many different characters in the film, this feels like a Captain America film because you follow Steve Rogers' journey throughout. His relationships with the rest of the team, with Tony, with Bucky, all add this layer of depth that was set in motion in The Winter Soldier.
That being said, this does not mean that Tony Stark is the villain. Not by a long shot. Even though Steve is given the forefront, Iron Man is here, and all he's doing is standing up for what he believes in. What I love about his character is that what he believes in builds upon all his experience (except Iron Man 3?) and helps him grow into the character that we know today. The Iron Man/Tony Stark in Iron Man would not make these decisions, but the one here definitely would.
The action is incredible as well. There are three major action set pieces, with a couple smaller ones in the middle, and they are truly something else. There is one particular scene in the middle that completely blows you away, and it lasts for a solid 15-20 minutes. But what I love about the action in the film is that it's warranted. It's not action for the sake of action; there's a real dramatic purpose and motivation to it, and that makes the stakes seem much higher.
That's another great thing too - the stakes feel real, but also very personal. There's nothing really threatening to destroy the universe; it's just a feud between friends, between allies, between teammates that really brings the dramatic tension home. The best thing a film can do is to make you care about what's going on and you achieve that by grounding the film's stakes.
And yes, Spider-Man and Black Panther are both amazing. Spider-Man/Peter Parker is not in the film for very long, but when he is, he steals every scene that he's in. And Black Panther is truly incredible, with his action and the way he talks, he truly feels like a king or a regal figure.
Negatives: There are a couple things that did bother me about the film, and they mostly revolve around narrative issues.
There are a couple characters where I stood there and scratched my head, wondering, "What are they all about?" They weren't in the film for very long, but when they were there, I was sitting there going, "What are they doing?"
There are also a couple plot conveniences that take place in the film. Nothing that takes me completely out of the movie, but a couple points where the film leads from one thing to another rather quickly and conveniently without a clear explanation as to why. While it may bog down the runtime if there were added explanations, it felt too easy at some points and it felt like there could be some more lines explaining certain things, or hashing out certain plot points.
There are a couple characters where I stood there and scratched my head, wondering, "What are they all about?" They weren't in the film for very long, but when they were there, I was sitting there going, "What are they doing?"
There are also a couple plot conveniences that take place in the film. Nothing that takes me completely out of the movie, but a couple points where the film leads from one thing to another rather quickly and conveniently without a clear explanation as to why. While it may bog down the runtime if there were added explanations, it felt too easy at some points and it felt like there could be some more lines explaining certain things, or hashing out certain plot points.
Character Ranking
1. Spider-Man
2. Black Panther
3. Tony Stark
4. Steve Rogers
5. Ant-Man
6. Bucky Barnes
7. *Spoiler*
8. Hawkeye
9. Falcon
10. War Machine
11. Black Widow
12. Scarlet Witch
13. Vision
14. Sharon Carter
15. Thunderbolt Ross
2. Black Panther
3. Tony Stark
4. Steve Rogers
5. Ant-Man
6. Bucky Barnes
7. *Spoiler*
8. Hawkeye
9. Falcon
10. War Machine
11. Black Widow
12. Scarlet Witch
13. Vision
14. Sharon Carter
15. Thunderbolt Ross
The Villain(s): If you do not know the main villain, I will not spoil it here. Tony Stark is not the villain - like I said earlier, if Steve were heads, Tony would be tails; there is nothing evil or malicious in him. You can clearly see both sides of the argument. But, there is a villain, and while he isn't awful, he feels very unnecessary and unneeded. While he was pivotal in a certain capacity, it almost felt like he could be taken out and the film would still make some semblance of sense. He was just a plot device really, and while the performance was good, the character wasn't so great.
The Music/Score: My job here is to be brutally honest, and my honest opinion is that the score here is terrible. I don't know who wrote the score, but I can only really remember one particular cadence, and that's because it's from a scene I watched over and over again after the film came out. Other than that, there's literally nothing memorable about the score at all.
**READER DISCRETION ADVISED - SPOILER ALERT - IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS SKIP TO "VERDICT"**
Spoilers: That airport sequence, my goodness, that was one of the most glorious pieces of action that I have ever seen. Giant-Man and Spider-Man, to that wide shot of the two sides marching towards each other and then running into battle. The entire thing was glorious.
Now, in regards to Zemo, I have to say, I was impressed that Daniel Bruhl was able to make such a shallow character feel at least a little more three-dimensional, because I felt that his character was almost entirely two-dimensional at times because of the way that he was written. But Bruhl's performance, at the very least, elevated him a little higher than a C-lister villain to around a B-lister villain. Nothing spectacular to note though, and If eel he could have been taken out of the film and replaced by something else.
Now, in regards to Zemo, I have to say, I was impressed that Daniel Bruhl was able to make such a shallow character feel at least a little more three-dimensional, because I felt that his character was almost entirely two-dimensional at times because of the way that he was written. But Bruhl's performance, at the very least, elevated him a little higher than a C-lister villain to around a B-lister villain. Nothing spectacular to note though, and If eel he could have been taken out of the film and replaced by something else.
SPOILER ALERT OVER
The Verdict: One of the most entertaining films of 2016, it also manages to capture political ideologies into a film that has amazing action and great characters. While there are a couple things that could have been improved, I believe that this is one of the examples that the comic book genre should be looking at. The Russo brothers put emotion and heart behind superheroes that can fly and shoot lasers out of their hand, and that is something to be commended. Letter Grade: A. Number Score: 9.7
**IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER**: Letter grades and Number grades do not mean the same thing. Just because I give a film an A does not mean it gets a 9.5 or above. They do not line up like a traditional school grading system To see specifics, see below.
A- to A+: Amazing
B- to B+: Enjoyable, but Flawed
C- to C+: Redeemable in some cases, but heavily Flawed
D- to D+: Nothing but Flaws
F: A Failure of a Film
9-10: Nearly Perfect to Perfect
8-9: Very Good
7-8: Good
6-7: Okay
5-6: Average/Mediocre
4-5: Apparently Flawed
3-4: Heavily Flawed
2-3: A complete and utter mess
0-2: A Failure of a Film
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