Captain America: Civil War · 9:31pm May 6th, 2016
Spoilers will be past the link. Don’t pass that point if you don’t want them.
So, I literally, just now walked in the door from my showing of Captain America: Civil War. So, as this is above the break, here’s my spoiler-free thoughts.
First, the movie was great. If you liked the last few films from Marvel, and in particular The Winter Soldier (Cap’s last solo outing), you’ll like this one too. Especially if you liked Winter Soldier. That knife’s edge it walked, of tension, humor, lightheartedness and seriousness? Civil War walks it as well. Even better, personally.
Cinematography was great, especially for the fights. Yes, there was a little shaky-cam in the opening that had me a little worried, but it turns out to be a stylistic choice only for that portion of the movie. The rest of the film is clear and concise with its camera work. The music? Also pretty good. It didn’t do a great job sticking in my head the way Winter Soldier‘s theme did, but at the same time there was nothing dead about it either. It complimented the on-screen visuals and emotions pretty well.
The film honestly does a great job with its storytelling—better, in fact, than the last Avengers film (Age of Ultron). Ultron had its moments, and it was grand, but there was a faint sense that things were moving to fast, that parts of the story were whizzing along at a pace that was just a little to much for the rest of the film. Which, to be fair, isn’t hard to understand. Ultron dealt with what, almost a dozen characters and plotlines, bringing them together into one big collision?
Well, Civil War shows that Marvel has taken lessons from what did and didn’t work with Ultron, and the results are excellent. This is actually a complicated story—moreso than the trailers would ever lead you to believe, but I never got the sense that anything was being rushed. Instead, the story flowed from point to point incredibly organically. Maybe it’s just that the movie clicked with my storytelling style, but Marvel did a great job taking a bunch of different plot threads and weaving them together tighter and tighter until you go “Aha! So that’s what’s going on!” And there were several such moments in the film, judging by the noise from the audience. Marvel’s learned from Ultron, and what it did wrong, Civil War does right
But with that … there are a few caveats. First is that for a Captain America film … it’s really Avengers 3. Some might disagree with me, but for a film that’s under the name of Cap himself … a lot of time is spent on all the other members of the team.
Is this a bad thing? Well, no, and like I said, they handle it masterfully. But by about fifteen minutes into the movie, I did find myself wondering “Is this a Captain America movie? Or an Iron Man movie? Oh wait, maybe it’s Avengers.”
You still get a lot of Cap, don’t get me wrong. And like I said, the movie isn’t bad. But don’t expect to just see Cap’s angle of this story. In fact, I’ll be curious to see what the results are when someone breaks down the screentime of each character.
And that plays into my other caveat: Marvel’s films should not be digested standalone, and Civil War is moreso that than any other film so far. Seeing Civil War without watching the rest of the Marvel film mythos at this point would be like watching Return of the Jedi first: you’d be left with a lot of character development and plot threads being tied up that you didn’t even get.
Watching Civil War at this point without having watched the prior films would be similar. You’d be out in the cold on a lot of what’s come before. Sure, you’ll enjoy the fights and the spectacle, but a lot of the interaction between characters would be empty without those prior experiences. If you’re not the type who has watched the rest of the Marvel cinematic universe, either wait until Civil War is out on DVD or go catch up. Otherwise, you’re going to walk out of the movie thinking that it was all action and no real story or character. That, or be that person in the audience who asks everyone around them questions most of the audience already knows because they did see the other films.
Right, that’s my two cents. Awesome, but definitely deeply into the Marvel lore. Now, for spoilers.
Oh, one last note. Despite what the internet claims (at least as of my showing), there is an after-the-credits scene, so stay in your seat, okay? Wait until the very end.
Spoiler thoughts through the link:
I'm super-excited to see it, and your thoughts make me even more excited to see it. I won't be clicking that spoiler link, but you still leave me with a bit to chew.
This brings to mind something I've been mulling over for quite some time, and I'd like your thoughts on it. In your opinion, how much should a sequel stand on its own?
I realize that's a pretty packed question, with a lot of facets to consider, and no rock-solid right answer... But what's your gut reaction? I've read stories that basically summarized the previous in the opening chapters (sometimes opening paragraphs), and I've started series in the second book and been completely lost. There's an ideal midpoint between the two, I think.
There's also a difference between a series with sequels and a Star Wars/Lord of the Rings-style saga. I think Marvel's universe almost but not quite touches on that.
I really loved the movie, they did a much better job than the comics on showing the pros and cons of both sides of the conflict (even if the conflict itself was altered a bit from the source material). They did a great job giving the characters sound motivations for which side they chose- except Black Widow and Hawkeye; seriously Clint shows up out of the blue and Natasha is still a double agent- and shows that they do understand that there really isn't a perfect answer. But despite a few minor issues, I'd say that Avengers 2.5 was one of the best Marvel movies to date.
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Personally, I think it depends on the size and the scope of the stories that you're telling. With something like Marvel, Star Wars, or even The Dusk Guard, the scope is massive, and it's all about how a series of events come together to a much larger whole, meaning that each "book" or whatever is more of a chapter in what's going on. Something with a smaller scope, on the other hand, that's the more traditional sequel is just "here's another adventure" and doesn't tie in much to the original.
*And yes, I say that in full knowledge of how many people were perplexed by Beyond the Borderlands following a different team than Rise. Despite immediate appearances, it's much more like Guardians of the Galaxy to Avengers: seemingly unrelated at first, but then crashing together as things move along. Like two chapters from different perspectives on a grander scale.
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Hear hear!