CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR // MOVIE REVIEW |
on IMDb | 9/10 SPOILER-FREE REVIEW The thirteenth part of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Captain America: Civil War, premiered on April 28th in the Netherlands and obviously I was one of the first to go and get a look at the clash between Steve Rogers (Captain America) & Tony Stark (Iron Man). I waited one and a half year for the release of CA:CW and was literally shaking like a leaf when the opening credits flashed by. Adrenaline-packed, thrilling and kinda gay, Civil War blew me away; naturally, I expected no less from the Russo brothers. E X P E C T A T I O N S My expectations for CA:CW were unusually high, partly due to the "long" wait, and partly because of the Russo brothers. In agony I waited for the first trailer to be released, I checked all promo pictures, and came up with various predictions and meta's to keep myself busy and to keep myself from going crazy. Civil War was such a hyped movie, both by fans and by Marvel themselves, and coming from The Winter Soldier (also directed by the Russo Brothers), this also became a highly anticipated movie for me. R E V I E W The first things I pay attention to during an action/superhero-movie is: the cinematography, the dialogue, the character development and the pacing. Based on the cinematography and the pacing alone, I would've given this movie a solid 10/10, but after some critical analyzing, I decided to bring that rating down one point. One point because it fundamentally still is and will always be an action movie. So knowing what a "standard-action-movie"-formula looked like, and looking at the arsenal of characters involved, some things had to be compromised. First of all, woah, what a movie. I am still recuperating from the impact of all those action scenes and taking in all the beauty and effort they put into the making of this movie. It gets you on the corner of your seat from the very first scene. A spiderweb of clues slowly unravels as the story progresses. Civil War is all about divide and conquer. You know you shouldn't pick a side, but still you find yourself rooting for someone. Who is on the right side? Who is on the wrong side? Is there even a winning side here? The cinematography is great. Delicate extreme close-ups and wide shots, the CGI complement the atmosphere beautifully and can create astonishing and breathtaking scenes as well as humble and simple ones. Visually, it looks just like any other Marvel movie, full of hyper-modern, expensive tech-ware, expensive buildings and expensive aircrafts. The character development was, in my opinion, better than in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. The characters all stayed pretty in character throughout the movie, despite the fact that there was little to no room for character development. There were simply just too many characters to really give depth to them. But still they were all uniquely themselves. The pacing was, in my opinion, in one word: perfect. Hefty action scenes swapped with light and comedic ones, which made the movie more pleasant to follow (and also gave me more breathing-time). It was evenly structured and one action scene set up the next. Great choreography, great range of shots. Loyalty and trust plays a huge role in Civil War. Do we trust the characters and their intentions? Throughout the movie I was really skeptical about both Tony and Steve, Tony because I was wondering; Does he really believe in the safety of the people? Or is signing the contract just a way to ease his guilt? Steve because Bucky is, and will always be, his weak spot. He isn't just in conflict with his own freedom, he is also trying to save Bucky from the government. This makes his actions questionable, and therefore, dangerous. Steve is not the Captain America we knew, the one who always follows his orders and does what is best for everyone, his decisions are compromised by Bucky Barnes and it's very apparent throughout the movie. Is The Winter Soldier truly worth all this trouble? (Yes, yes, yes) There were two major plots running along each other, which left little room for both conflicts. Everything felt a bit rushed in my opinion. They were trying to fit too many characters, too many loose ends, into one single movie. It played out fairly well (better than I had expected), but I still wish they had left out some minor characters, and spared more room for the build-up of the two conflicts. Despite the many characters, and the rapid pace, it really felt like it all clicked. Just wish they showed more of Crossbones, kinda felt bad for him after he got burned. Obviously people will come up with plot holes that I've missed, but I have just watched this movie once, give me a damn break. Civil War is possibly the best Marvel movie up to date, perfectly paced and beautifully shot. All the loyalty, rivalry, and betrayal will not save you any emotions. So prepare for a wild ride, because Civil War is all about it. Enfin, to wrap it up, keep in mind that there are several kinds of dangerous people; 1) people with power, 2) people who think they're doing the right thing, and ultimately, 3) people with power who think they're doing the right thing. REVIEW WITH SPOILERS Select text to read (at own risk). Do not read if you have not seen the movie. This has been a warning [The very first scene is also the most important. We know The Winter Soldier killed someone on his mission, we know the blue packages were destined for the superspies, but not until the end do we find out that it was Howard Stark in the car. The way these scenes slowly played out through the course of the story was beautifully done. I was honestly surprised to see how it ended, though I already knew from the comics that Bucky had killed Howard. The look of betrayal Tony gave Steve after was heartbreaking. What a beautiful build-up, and what a pain it caused me. The kiss between Sharon and Steve felt kind of unnecessary. There was no chemistry build-up and barely any chemistry at all. If steve would have been shot dead by Sharon at the end of the movie, as happened in the comics, the kiss might've had some significance. But it felt more like a statement, screaming: look! look! captain america is a straight white male and we like to keep it that way!!! Didn't feel genuine at all. I was also really interested in the superspies-arch, too bad they died, I kinda wished they had showed more of their side. ((Why the hell didn't they just went ahead and killed Cap' together with his sanctimonious bullshit smh)) ] |