Captain America: Civil War (12A.)
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan and Daniel Bruhl. 146 mins.
The new Cap America film is actually the latest installment of the Marvel Gang Show. Hulk and Thor are no shows, but even without them at one point twelve superheroes face off against each other. The tug of love with Sony has been resolved with them getting joint custody of Spider-man, and his third incarnation in the shape of Tom Holland makes a lively start here. Paul Rudd's Ant Man returns to remind us how surprisingly fun he is and Elizabeth Olsen turn as Scarlet Witch is unexpectedly compelling. Overall though you can't help wondering of it's all a bit overstaffed, even for a civil war: there are too many men in metal suits; too many people with vaguely defined floaty light beam powers and, of course, there's the pointless bow and arrow man. They are classy ensemble but it is the same old acts, doing the same old turns.
One of Marvel's cleverest achievements was the sly way they brought their most problematic figure, Captain America, to the screen by turning the jingoistic flag waver into a representative of a country's lost ideals. He was member of the greatest generation that defeated Hitler in the first film and in the second he battled encroaching government surveillance. Here though he's a little more Captain Ugly American. Motivated by his desire to save his beloved boyhood friend Bucky (Stan), who died during World War II only to be resurrected as a merciless killer, he becomes a go-it-alone America who will fly in the face of world opinion and cause any amount of death and destruction to support an ally who the rest of the world sees as a dangerous homicidal maniac.
I had promised myself I wouldn't mention Batman Vs Superman in this review but the thematic overlaps are too great to ignore – not just because it features battling superhero (Iron Man's gang vs Cap's gang battling over whether to sign up to work for the UN) but because the motivation for the plot line is identical – the loss of life among the collateral damage caused by the climax of the previous film. The Bros Warner's will be kicking themselves, (or more fruitfully Zach Synder, preferably somewhere into space) because this film suggests that there was a real opening for them to establish their rival DC universe.
Marvel is entering into its third phase and there are signs of fatigue. The first phase beginning with Iron Man was made up of quite modest films, some of which didn't really work and some of which were surprisingly effective. It culminated in the magnificent first Avengers film and subsequent phase 2 films were almost uniformly excellent but this time the culmination was the bloated Age of Ultron* which got bogged down in being an extended trailer for the on going Marvel soap opera.
The Russo brothers have again, just as on Winter Soldier, delivered a slick, smart, amusing but familiar entertainment. It is a leaner, more organised creation than the last Avengers film but during it I felt myself pining, ever so slightly, for Age of Ultron, which had a sense of grandiloquent folly to it and because, though this film has plenty of good one liners, nobody writes these characters as well as Josh Whedon. A lot of people are acclaiming this as Marvel's best film yet, but for me it was just more of the same. That's not a bad thing; in comparison to the BvS fiasco it demonstrates that Marvel really has got its act together. But if the Bros had actually made the film Batman and Superman deserve, this might have been greeted as a bit old hat.
* Yes, I know, Ant Man was the last phase 2 film.
Other Marvel film reviews
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor: Dark World
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant Man
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan and Daniel Bruhl. 146 mins.
The new Cap America film is actually the latest installment of the Marvel Gang Show. Hulk and Thor are no shows, but even without them at one point twelve superheroes face off against each other. The tug of love with Sony has been resolved with them getting joint custody of Spider-man, and his third incarnation in the shape of Tom Holland makes a lively start here. Paul Rudd's Ant Man returns to remind us how surprisingly fun he is and Elizabeth Olsen turn as Scarlet Witch is unexpectedly compelling. Overall though you can't help wondering of it's all a bit overstaffed, even for a civil war: there are too many men in metal suits; too many people with vaguely defined floaty light beam powers and, of course, there's the pointless bow and arrow man. They are classy ensemble but it is the same old acts, doing the same old turns.
One of Marvel's cleverest achievements was the sly way they brought their most problematic figure, Captain America, to the screen by turning the jingoistic flag waver into a representative of a country's lost ideals. He was member of the greatest generation that defeated Hitler in the first film and in the second he battled encroaching government surveillance. Here though he's a little more Captain Ugly American. Motivated by his desire to save his beloved boyhood friend Bucky (Stan), who died during World War II only to be resurrected as a merciless killer, he becomes a go-it-alone America who will fly in the face of world opinion and cause any amount of death and destruction to support an ally who the rest of the world sees as a dangerous homicidal maniac.
I had promised myself I wouldn't mention Batman Vs Superman in this review but the thematic overlaps are too great to ignore – not just because it features battling superhero (Iron Man's gang vs Cap's gang battling over whether to sign up to work for the UN) but because the motivation for the plot line is identical – the loss of life among the collateral damage caused by the climax of the previous film. The Bros Warner's will be kicking themselves, (or more fruitfully Zach Synder, preferably somewhere into space) because this film suggests that there was a real opening for them to establish their rival DC universe.
Marvel is entering into its third phase and there are signs of fatigue. The first phase beginning with Iron Man was made up of quite modest films, some of which didn't really work and some of which were surprisingly effective. It culminated in the magnificent first Avengers film and subsequent phase 2 films were almost uniformly excellent but this time the culmination was the bloated Age of Ultron* which got bogged down in being an extended trailer for the on going Marvel soap opera.
The Russo brothers have again, just as on Winter Soldier, delivered a slick, smart, amusing but familiar entertainment. It is a leaner, more organised creation than the last Avengers film but during it I felt myself pining, ever so slightly, for Age of Ultron, which had a sense of grandiloquent folly to it and because, though this film has plenty of good one liners, nobody writes these characters as well as Josh Whedon. A lot of people are acclaiming this as Marvel's best film yet, but for me it was just more of the same. That's not a bad thing; in comparison to the BvS fiasco it demonstrates that Marvel really has got its act together. But if the Bros had actually made the film Batman and Superman deserve, this might have been greeted as a bit old hat.
* Yes, I know, Ant Man was the last phase 2 film.
Other Marvel film reviews
Iron Man
The Incredible Hulk
Thor
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Thor: Dark World
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Ant Man
