Captain America: Civil War

One of the best Marvel movies, if not the very best. Fortunately, the trailers didn't reveal everything, so the plot of Civil War is surprising, whether you know the original or not, and yet it is not at all overdone and, moreover, from beginning to end it flows so naturally, not a trace of any awkwardness... In short, the complete opposite of (the first and second) The Avengers. Impressive quiet conversational scenes like Singer's X-Men are interspersed with Paul Greengrass-like action, jokes are not a necessity but a welcome spice, what is meant to be dramatic and fateful is so, and when it comes to emotion, it is 100% touching and not the least bit ridiculous. The new characters fit in quite naturally (the likeable Spider-Man), Henry Jackman, unlike the previous Captain, composed seriously listenable music, and finally someone thought that in the epic ending of the film, a flood of digital special effects does not have to destroy cities to make the audience clutch their throats.___P.S. It wasn't until now that I realized what Batman v Superman was missing, which, by the way, has a very similar plot, but it just serves it worse. (05/04/2016)

I'll say right off the bat that I liked the second Captain America better, but fortunately the Russos carried a lot of things over from that into Civil War. The action is still just as gritty and full of clever moments, and there's plenty of room for the other heroes, both newcomers and those from the other films, to show off their abilities. When the action starts, fans of Cap, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hawkeye and the newcomers will come into their own – Spidey and Black Pather are excellent. The problem, however, comes when the action stops. The Russos are still great at handling characters and defining their perspective on the whole situation in one sentence, making you understand why Black Widow doesn't go with Captain and why Scarlet Witch is on his side. But it's too much. There are simply too many heroes, so while the shorthand works, few get the space to impress. In the end, this is a film in which Tony Stark and Bucky are at the center of the action and the others are more or less extras. Everyone has a chance to make an impact, but if half of the supporting characters were cut out, it wouldn't matter at all. They don't hurt, they don't step over each other, but there's just no time to resolve the conflicts of these secondary characters in a way that makes one really care. On the other hand, even two sentences tossed off by Vision in a silly sweater are still more interesting than the ramblings of Batman and Superman discovering that their moms have the same name. The third Captain is good, but the thing we feared was a bit of a factor. The Marvel Universe has swelled so much that the even best filmmakers simply can't make a movie out of the pile of characters and motives in a way they all get adequate space in. And it's a bit of a shame. The solos suit this franchise better than the team-ups. On the other hand, if the team-ups look like Civil War, I'll always be happy to be there. (05/15/2017)

So many themes and subplots that I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually three movies edited into one. Nonetheless, even such a flood of information and plot twists doesn't hurt and makes Captain America: Civil War a dense 147 minutes. I am feeling a dizzyingly blissful feeling that it will be Anthony Russo and Joe Russo who will be orbiting around Avengers: Infinity War. Because here, so many characters are gathered that even Avengers: Age of Ultron seems almost intimate. But I love Steve Rogers' stories precisely because they are... well, simply, about Steve Rogers. Promoting Iron Man's participation to the second main character is a perfect idea, because Robert Downey, Jr. has never given such an amazing performance before, but the detour to Spider-Man, though perfectly functional and enticing, is too obvious a backdoor restart to not disrupt the pace. Something like that would fit wonderfully into an Avengers film, theoretically even into an Iron Man film, but here I felt a slight disappointment that this particular excursion takes away space from more important things. Fortunately, the rest of the newcomers (Baron Zemo, Black Panther, or at last larger roles for Sharon) and familiar faces, led by the perfect Ant-Man, fit into the stories wonderfully, and the incorporation of Wanda or Hawkeye into the plot brings me immense joy. Based on the reviews, I feel like writing that this is Cap's weakest solo film, but considering how much fun I had and the fact that even at its greatest ease, it simply isn't a solo film, it's not necessary to do so. It just seems that this time it enters the genre boundaries perhaps a bit too broadly. (05/10/2016)

Where are the times when I approached every new superhero movie with humbleness and I respected Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man. Then I waited half a year for X-Men to appear and in between some B-rated superhero movies appeared here and there, like Daredevil and Elektra,that didn’t play at anything because they knew perfectly well what stories they were telling. However, modern time is different and movies based on comic books are experiencing a boom. The boom is so big that the producers let the Russo brothers spend so much money on a movie that combines something that was incompatible until recently; they offered the role of Spider-Man to a third actor and wrapped it all into a typical, wannabe funny and digitally advanced package that pretends to be very expensive and cool but unfortunately is also reflecting todayʼs time. In reality, it is a mix of nonsense that combines The Avengers, Spider-Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, and Iron Man and there is nothing good about it. I find rather sad what is perceived to be the pinnacle of cinematographic pop culture. A cheap combination of comic book heroes with uninteresting characters and a mediocre story. (01/05/2017)

Marvel was almost a write-off after their sterile, same old superhero movies, Civil War is a hit and a significant step forward. It plays on a dark emotional chord within reason, opens up interesting questions of international security and laws, goes against itself, and introduces the viewer to new fighters in a very elegant and unobtrusive way. It's almost similarly entertaining to the first Avengers, it just took that tiny little half-step forward, because after all, in those four years we've seen at least five major comic book movies that were all still on the same page. There is of course the traditional stuff like riveting action – it has the clarity from the second, but even better – and the chemistry of the main characters, and even though it's still as simple and without digressions, it's very entertaining because you just don't see that many parametrically interesting and diverse characters on screen. However, by far the only most interesting and emotionally truly fleshed out character remains Bucky, the Winter Soldier. (05/07/2016)