Captain America Civil War is playing at the cheap theaters. Lets see what Kiara thought of it:
I just want to start by saying that Age of Ultron Marvel Cinematic Universe had me concerned that the golden age of comic book movies was at an end and that the films were taking a sharp turn for the worse. I’m happy to say that Civil War completely relieved all of those fears.
Tonally, this movie was spot on. Serious when it had to be, sad when appropriate, and interjected with the one liners and puns and light comedic relief one expects from the MCU. And unlike in Age of Ultron, the comedy wasn’t forced. It wasn’t two-dimensionally self-referential. The jokes weren’t self-serving “hey remember this other film?” moments, but instead actual in-character quips that were meant to lighten the characters and the audience. It is also good to its characters. Civil War goes to lengths at several points to undo the disservice done to Black Widow in Age of Ultron, returning her agency and fire. It gives more depth and breadth to Scarlet Witch, a character barely explored previously, and brings human elements to Vision while still highlighting how utterly artificial he is. Spiderman is perhaps the closest he’s ever been to his comic book self (though I will always be sad they went with yet another Peter Parker instead of Miles), and even Antman, whose lackluster film failed to highlight why it was about him instead of Wasp, proved to be an interesting, inventive, and slightly goofy character. And, well, Black Panther is fantastic. I can hardly wait until 2017 for his film. Very solid characterization and the costume and the arc and really everything. He’s great. Go watch him.
My main critique is the early action sequences. They divert from the landing of the punches most of the time, leaving the action unfulfilling, and there are a lot of cuts. It takes away from the dynamic action sequences they clearly tried to film in the first half of the film, but by the end the action shots are long, and panning and show a full field of vision of the fights. Admittedly this is likely because most of the later fights involve a lot of CG, so they don’t have to cut to hide a hit not landing since the hit was never real to begin with, but the difference between the early and later sequences is stark. Also, don’t see it in 3D. The only thing that really pops out with the 3D is the title cards for locations. It’s not worth the extra expense and adds nothing to the film but a potential headache. Overall, I would rate this film a solid A or A-. The technical issues were distracting but the actors are fantastic, the writing is on par with the first Captain America, and they juggle the large cast very well. Definitely a film I look forward to owning.
-Kiara