Spoilers Captain America: Civil War - Grading & Discussion

That's my impression as well.

Hence I'm wondering if the standalone will be a prequel or sequel or both...

 

Great film, probably my favourite of the MCU so far.

The plot seemed to be setting up the final act for Cap\Bucky and Iron Man to put their differences aside to fight those super-soldiers. So it was a kind of a brutal twist for the climax to be them trading punches.

Cap: "I can do this all day", great call back to the first film.

That last fight was gruelling, whilst the airport battle had plenty of more light-hearted moments. I'm excited about this new incarnation of Spidey. He's clearly strong but inexperienced as a hero. Also plenty of the quipping.

I can see this film being a bit too busy for those who aren't hardcore fans, with so many characters charging aroumnd. Still, everyone gets at least a few moments' focus.

Never really had much interest in Black Panther before but now I'm keen to see his own movie. Does he have powers aside from the vibranium suit? Maybe Wakanda's version of the super-soldier serum?

Surprised to see Martin Freeman in such a minor part. Setup for a later appearance, or did he just beg someone for a cameo in a marvel film?

 

Setup for an appearance in Doctor Strange perhaps?

 

^^
His character is Black Panther's sidekick in the comics.

 

Still, he needs to appear in Doctor Strange.

 

It was very very good! Some of the most comic book-y moments yet from a comic book movie (airport scene I'm talking about you.) What was most impressive was how well it used its massive cast of characters. Everyone was in character based on their previous movies and everything they did made sense based on the progression from those movies into this one. Captain America helping Bucky even after he'd just attacked everyone just felt like the natural thing he'd do. Iron Man got just as much character stuff as Cap and RDJ gave probably his best Marvel performance yet.

Black Panther was great! He didn't feel just thrown in there for the sake of promoting his own movie. He felt like a part of the story and had his own character arc throughout the movie. And his suit was a better Batman outfit than most Batmen. It's a shame we have to wait nearly two years for his solo movie.

Spider-Man on the other hand did feel like he'd just been tacked onto the story. You could take him out and it wouldn't have made any difference to the story. BUT I can't really say I minded because Tom Holland did such a great job as Peter. The scene with him and Tony was one of the best parts of the movie, even if it did feel like it could have been inserted in any Marvel movie randomly as a Spider-Man introudction. And he was so much fun in the airport scene. A fun Spider-Man! We haven't had that for a while! I understand putting him in here because now instead of thinking "do we really need another Spider-Man movie?" next year people are going to be thinking "I'm excited to see this new Spider-Man movie because he was so good in Civil War!"

Elizabeth Olsen did good work as Wanda who got a nice story arc. I liked Vision being weird and wearing clothes. Scarlett Johansson is always reliable as Black Widow and he side switching seemed perfectly in character (this would be a good time to give her a solo movie since she probably won't appear again until Infinity War, but obviously that's not going to happen.) Falcon actually got most of the funniest lines and delivered them well! His new friendship with Bucky was fun. Ant-Man also made a great impression and the Giant Man sequence was pure comic book joy. Hawkeye...he was okay. Woudln't have minded if he hadn't been in it, really. Rhodey was good in his interactions with Tony.

I liked Zemo as a villain who pretty much succeeded in his goal of breaking up the Avengers and didn't have any world conquering scheme.

There were some weird contrived moments though. Like the way the airport scene was set up. I have no idea why Cap's team had to leave from that airport at that moment and how Tony's team knew to be there and how Tony managed to go off and recruit Spider-Man and still be there in time. And how Tony managed to arrive at Zemo's lair right after Cap and Bucky even though they went straight there while he went to check on Rhodey and the other Avengers in prison. He really gets around! And it probably should have been called Captain America and Iron Man: Civil War. I'd say Winter Solier was better just because the story was tighter. But it was still a great comic book movie and in my top five Marvel movies for sure.

 

Winter Soldier is definitely better, but this one was pretty solid too mostly.

The whole villain/superhuman project/Hydra part was the backseat of the movie to all the superhero beatdowns, but it still felt very weak and forgettable.

Hawkeye, I liked him up until now, but after Age of Ultron he really should have stayed retired, he seems determined to leave his kids without a father.

Another boohoo my family died under a building so all good people in the world must die villain, who causes even more pain and harm *sigh*

I thought we'd see Hydra crushed in AoS only to have five new superhuman Hydra warriors....and they just die without waking up. That was a complete waste of storyline altogether and a complete waste.

But Cap's openly embracing being a criminal frothing for war and Bucky is thankfully on ice.

The only thing I really care about going on from this is, is Friday okay after the suit was trashed.

 

Oh, and I loved that Jim Rash had a cameo literally playing Dean Pelton and I think I was the only one in the cinema to laugh at it.

 

I don't know why, but I just loved that little short scene of Falcon and Bucky smiling like idiots in the little blue Volkswagon.

 

Just home, thought it was brilliant, maybe someone should stop Freeman from doing American accents.

 

What was that line about "Can you take your skin off" about?

 

Saw it last night and loved it. The action, the plot, the script, the chemistry between the leads - everything worked for me.

I particularly enjoyed Spider-Man and Antman's roles and how they participated in the airport set-piece. I'm looking forward to the solo Spidey outing.

I'm not sure if it tops Winter Soldier but it's probably my favourite MCU film to date so this is hardly faint praise. I'll just have to re-watch both to decide!

 

Just got home from the theatre. It was ... okay. A Marvel movie, with all the good and bad that this entails. Not even close to being as intelligent or deep as the comic book. Actually, basic idea aside, this was nothing like the comic book. It was fun, but I have no urge to see it again.

Winter Soldier was better.

So was BvS. There, I said it.

 

Having recently read all one hundred and something issues of the Civil War and tie-ins comics, I can't agree. Stark's position in the comics was nowhere near as well handled, and seemed pretty inconsistent and that undermined the whole thing. The movie was tighter and more coherent.

But no, not much like the comic book...

 

I'm always surprised when I hear people expecting the Civil War movie to be anything like the Civil War comic. Age of Ultron had absolutely nothing to do with the comic that the name came from. The Winter Soldier was loosely based on the comic and only had one real moment, the "Who the hell is Bucky? line, that came directly from the comic.

 

Well, it's been a few months since I've read the Complete Civil War, but I remember seeing Stark turning into a fantastic villain in that story, one with sympathetic reasons and good intentions, but ultimately a villain, who orchestrated the law that brought the Civil War about, and though conflicted about the things he thought he had to do, never regreted doing them, always believing that he was right to do them.

The movie had him sad over a kid that was killed during one of their missions. Hell, they could have at least remembered that Ultron was his bad. That would have made a more founded motivation for him, but they didn't even touch upon it.

I didn't expect the movie to be like the comic book, I simply stated that the comic book was more intelligent and went to greater depth on the concept.

 

i'm glad the film and comic have little in common because the comic event was utter shit.

 

I thought that the comic event was great, probably my second favorite comic event after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Easily my favorite Marvel event, and one of my favorite Marvel storylines, period.

 

Saw the movie and I don't know how to grade it just yet because I didn't feel that it was necessarily better than Batman v Superman. That one was poorly edited while this one was a little over-complicated and didn't deal with its 'oversight vs freelance' subject as well as it could have. Too bad they couldn't use the comic book's 'secret identity registration' issue since they don't have secret identities to hide. Anyway, I look forward to reading more to see why so many felt that this one did everything that Batman v Superman failed to do. Civil War did treat its characters well and it had some funny moments and great action along with some good plot points but to say that this movie did everything right while the other got it wrong is an exaggeration.

Saw these posts last week. Now I get it.

I liked that too. That's the kind of villain I've wanted to see for a while now.

Do these work as a trilogy though? So much happens between films that you need to see the others to really appreciate what's going on. Feels like the Captain America films are part of a larger movie series rather than a trilogy.

Did Stan Lee's character not know who Stark was? Or did he just not recognize him? I'm inclined to think it's the latter.

Funny that Spidey would side with the oversight committee. He's the only one who has a secret identity to protect. Then again, he does owe Stark. Could have refused from the start too though.

Now both he and Cumby are doing American accents in Marvel movies. And yes, word is that they're keeping their options open to having Freeman come back for a larger role.

Yes. I'd love to see them meet.

He nailed it and then some.

Hadn't thought of that. Great strategy if it's true. People would ordinarily be burnt out on Spider-Man already. Marissa Tomei as Aunt May is another good way to get butts in seats.

Loved the Spidey costume, by the way. Probably my favorite one. Back to basics. I also noticed that the black outline around the eyes could contract or widen to give the appearance of facial expression.

 

The jolly rancher scene got a loud laugh in my theater.

No biggie, just give him Extremis. Done.

...what, it's not like Iron Man 3 never happened, right?