Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.
And wasn’t it great? First thing I said after watching it was “let’s watch it again.” And I did, although two days later, not straight away. So yeah, I really enjoyed it. But it is one of those films that to talk about it is to spoil it, so go see the film then read the reviews/thoughts/emotes that other people have.
But totally spoiler free, I would say that, though long, it’s 146 mins, it doesn’t feel long. With Batman v Superman there were huge periods of grim where I was so very bored and waiting for the end, with Civil War there was none of that. It was just entertaining throughout.
And Spiderman was actually entertaining and funny! That certainly was a surprise.
I went in knowing pretty much as little as I could, I had seen the trailer once or twice. And you couldn’t but come across some marketing for it in advance, but I certainly hadn’t picked a “team”1 because I didn’t know the details of what caused the split. And throughout the film there is enough weight given to both characters and their arguments that neither seems to be totally unreasonable. You can see why they both stick to their guns. Show Spoiler ▼
Iron Man was wrong though Team Cap all the way!!
So, now for all the spoilerific feels and thoughts, you’ve been warned!
Show Spoiler ▼
First off, am I the only one who wanted Crossbones (
Frank Grillo) to switch sides and be a good guy? Must be because he’s so great and just plain nice in
Warrior. I also feel like I need to rewatch
Warrior2. Of course he is a baddie, and a minor one at that, so he gets his comeuppance, although at the expense of innocent lives. And that is one of the central points to this film. What about the people who get hit in the crossfire, the civilian casualties. Who should answer for all those victims. Is it the avengers? Is Scarlet Witch responsible for the deaths because she affected the blast?
And where does the buck stop? If Scarlet Witch is guilty, then who is going to enforce any punishment, who is even going to ask those questions.
So the UN come with these accords, and they want the Avengers to sign up to them. And surprise surprise Tony Stark is all in favour. Course it isn’t really a surprise because that has been his arc all along. Learning that he can’t just do whatever he wants whenever he wants. And maybe, by creating Ultron3 he is actually guilty of all those deaths in made-up-eastern-europe-ex-soviet-country-whose-name-I-can-never-remember. So yeah, I can see why he might be interested in getting on board with rules and regulations.
But Cap, well he was already in the army. And he has seen SHIELD being infiltrated and turned into the very thing it was fighting for. He’s already gone up against orders and been proven right. No way he is giving control of himself into hands that he doesn’t trust. And I don’t think that Cap trusts a whole lot politicians.
As for the other Avengers, well, Falcon has already mentioned that he wanted out of the army so there wouldn’t be so many people telling him what to do. Also, he’s a Cap fan. Of course he’s on Team Cap. Contrary to that, War Machine is still in the army, he is perfectly okay with following the rules. That’s always been his job, trying to get Tony to follow them, makes perfect sense he’d stick with that.
Then you have Scarlet Witch, and yeah, being locked up for no real reason, even if that is in a plush compound and not a jail would sortof push you against you jailor wouldn’t it? Also, she doesn’t have a good history with Stark Industries! I’m not totally sure about Vision being so pro-Team Iron Man, but maybe thats a bit of Jarvis coming though?
Black Widow was the one I was really interested in, and you can see why she initially goes with Tony’s argument. Responsibility and someone to say “this is what you have to do”, well, that’s gotta be nice if you’ve history as a conflicted spy with red in your ledger. It’s nice to have someone tell you you’re doing the right thing, even if maybe you aren’t.
I’m not 100% sure on Hawkeye and his reasons for joining Team Cap, maybe cause they asked him and he was bored?
Black Panther was all about the personal vengeance, no need to delve too deep there I don’t think. And likewise Bucky, well, duh. He’s on Team Cap because no body else is on Team Bucky.
Look at all that typing and I haven’t even mentioned the real bad-guy of the film, Zemo!
I actually really liked Zemo’s motivation. It was personal and small and made sense in a way that so many other bad-guys don’t. I mean, world domination, or destruction! Really? That’s what floats your boat! But revenge for the death of your family, now that’s real motivation. And yes, if you pick too hard into his plan it does seem convoluted and doubtful as to whether it’d work, but in a film, it works just fine and dandy.
So yeah, in short,4 I loved this film. And I could say so much more, but I’m gonna wait till all you Americans have seen it and started your own emoting and thoughts and respond to them.
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