[Taken from my blog, Chocolate Films]
Captain America: Civil War is a sublime film. As a DC fanboy, this make me salty as hell… but happy as a pig in the brown stuff.
It’s clear to me that Marvel just know what they are doing. Their cinematic universe road map is crystal clear and the result of this is clinical, fearless, breathless and outstanding blockbuster cinema. There are few points where the film allows you to catch your breath. There is a lot going on, there are a lot of big and meaty character arcs, there are a lot of outstanding action sequences but the film never felt like a mess. The film never felt overwhelming and the film always felt fun to watch.
Oh… importantly, it made complete sense for The Avengers to fight each other.
The story is rich, deep and meaningful and it has no right to be – it’s a comic book film for crying out loud. This film also adds value to the previous Captain America films because they feel like one cohesive story. It’s funny because once upon a time, I felt like Steve Rogers was the least interesting Avenger but I was dead wrong.
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I am a geek for villains and I love Daniel Bruhl’s big bad in this film. Many will forget about him and concentrate on the conflict between Iron Man and Cap, but Bruhl’s character is low-key dope and his motivations are elegantly simple. He figures that the only real way to destroy the Avengers is for them to destroy each other. How he attempts to achieve this feels consequential and will have ripples in the cinematic universe for many films to come.
The actions of Bruhl’s Zemo means that I don’t have a clue what the status of The Avengers is by the end of the film. I don’t have any idea what they’ll do in the next film and that feels so refreshing.
Basically, Marvel and the Russo brother’s have big giant vibranium balls and I respect that.
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A lot of people will tell you that Spiderman stole the show here, and he is great, but for me The Black Panther was the sleeper hit. I really can’t put into words what it feels like to see a black superhero on screen in this age of all things comic book films. And for that character to be played by one of the best character actors around in Chadwick Boseman… it was just incredible.
For that black superhero to be as regal, proud and seemingly multi-dimensional as T’Challa is so heartening.
I knew nothing about The Black Panther going into this film but I came out wanting to know more and I’m so excited about the upcoming film.
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There are a lot of dark themes and emotional cloudy moments in this film – at times it felt like I was watching a DC film. That surprised me.
When I truly think about it, Captain America could be the best comic book film not directed by Christopher Nolan that I have ever seen. That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but it really isn’t – this is an outstanding film.
Just a normal everyday bloke writing about films.