Captain America: Civil War 2016

Before Anthony and Joe Russo were directing superhero movies, they worked on a little show called Community. The series, oddly enough, had some common ground with The Avengers. Both were about seven people from different backgrounds who came in with their own damage, bounced off one another in interesting ways, but would, now and then, come together to do amazing things.

But one of the most remarkable things about the was its mastery of tone. The series was pitched as a comedy, and true to that billing, it was a damn funny show. And yet it could just as easily shift into something quiet and personal, something unremittingly dark, or something complex and difficult without the easy answers that are seemingly required on a network sitcom.

So when watching Captain America: Civil War, I couldn’t help but see how the Russos had brought that amazing ability to balance different characters and tones and translated it onto a much bigger stage without missing a beat.

Because Civil War is hilarious. It is action-packed and all kinds of fun. It’s full of impressive moments and inventive sequences and fights big and small that are filled with feeling and imagination. And at the same time it is, in its own way, a very dark film. It touches on big ideas like moral responsibility and guilt and the dangers of unchained power, but grounds them in characters, and individual moment, and personal relationships. It is a smorgasbord of moods and stories that makes you laugh, makes you gasp, and make you feel the tragedy of a given moment, without letting it clash. And that is one hell of an achievement.

That achievement is all the more impressive given how many moving parts there were to this clockwork behemoth of a film. Civil War features no fewer than twelve heroes, three major villains, and a bevy of supporting characters, and nearly all them get a moment in the sun. Nevermind the fact that on top of all of this, the film had to introduce two new characters slated to get their own films -- one of whom was under the radar for most non-comic book fans, and another who was laden with the expectations that come from being a household name with two prior uneven franchises under his belt.

But Black Panther was far from a third wheel amid the super-powered clash at the top of the card, and his motivations and outsider status with The Avengers gave him a unique role to play in the narrative, an important arc in the film. Spider-Man, for his part, had the kind of chummy-if-overwhelmed vibe with Tony Stark that you’d hope for, and proved himself an enjoyably free spirit in the big battle. And everyone else in the film, from Ant-Man’s show-stealing humor, to Vision and Scarlet Witch’s endearing connection, to Rhodey’s loss, had an important part to play, without anyone getting lost in the shuffle.

That balance is made all the more difficult by how much oxygen Captain America and Iron Man take up at the top of the card. There is a history between the two characters. They have never seen eye-to-eye, and the films in the MCU have never shied away from that, even as they’ve brought the two of them together for their shared struggles. And again, Civil War does well by using the disagreements and difference between these two men as symbols for a larger debate, for bigger issues between them, while never detracting from the personal side of their beef.

To be frank, it took some work to convince me that Tony Stark would be in favor of the Sokovia Accords, which put The Avengers under the supervision of a U.N. Committee. And yet, the film shows Tony’s interaction with a woman whose son perished in the rubble of Sokovia. He’s seen the collateral damage of their actions and he’s feeling the guilt of it. The film does well to couch Stark’s position in terms of his weapons dealing -- he made his living in an industry where his seemingly harmless actions were leading to innocent people being hurt and killed, and he realized he had to do something. For Tony, this is no different. He’s worried about the collateral damage from their actions.

Steve Rogers, for his part, is understandably much less trusting of government supervision. He’s the one who blanched at the discovery that Shield was using Hydra technology to create weapons; he’s the one who saw Hydra take over the organization he worked for from the inside, and use good people to ill-ends, and he’s the one who’s seen his best friend brainwashed and used as a weapon for geopolitical conflict when the higher ups felt it necessary.

At the same time, he’s also concerned about there being a need that he can’t respond to because of red tape. He’s worried that innocent people will suffer, that people who need saving won’t be saved, because the people who try to do right will be too hamstrung by procedure and approval while the good people suffer. He’s worried about the collateral damage from their inaction.

But these are not simply grand philosophical difference between the two of them. Civil War ties it into their unique psychological baggage, which comes to a head in a confrontation between the two of them in the second act of the film. Tony has lost the people in his life that matter to him -- Pepper and his parents, and their absence casts a major shadow over his part of the film. This fight, this struggle, has kept him from the parts of his life that made it all worth it for him, that gave him his Batman-like need to protect them, to create a world where no one would have to suffer that kind of loss.

But Steve, despite his status as a man out of town, found his family. The Avengers, new and old, gave him a place where he felt like he belonged, people who had fought alongside him like the Howling Commandos once had, and became his brothers and sisters in arms. Steve is this close to signing the accords until he finds out that because of them, Tony has Wanda Maximoff under what amounts to house arrest. That’s a bridge too far for Captain America. He isn’t worried about getting people back; he’s worried about outside forces taking them away.

So there is a schism, caused by Secretary (nee General) Ross from above, and Zemo from below. The former is the liaison of the Sokovia accords, who attempts to maneuver his way into corralling more superheroes after his run-ins Hulk, and the latter is a man who lost his family thanks to The Avengers, and is determined to use any means necessary to tear them apart, to have their empire crumble from within. And in the middle of that schism is Black Widow, who’s pragmatic enough to know that Tony’s right in the logistics of it all--that they’ll get a better deal agreeing to conditions than having them forced on the group, but sympathetic enough to understand why Steve can’t get on board, what his connection to her and this group means, and the threat posed by anything with the ability to forcibly sever it.

And then there’s Bucky. While Black Widow is a tie that brings Captain America and Iron Man together, The Winter Soldier is a wedge that drives them apart. When Steve sees Bucky, he sees his childhood friend, the one who knows his mother’s name and, with the death of Peggy Carter, is his last real tie to the life he used to live and the man he used to be. He sees family, and connection.

But when Stark sees him, he sees, by dint of Zemo’s machinations, the man who killed his parents, who took away his last chance to tell his father that he loved him, who, brainwashing or no brainwashing, snuffed out a light that Tony needed desperately in times like these. He sees the end of family, and the severing of a connection he will never be able to get back.

That’s what makes Civil War so powerful. In a genre of escalating bombast, it brings the conflict back to the small and personal. The film’s opening action scene gives a moment in the spotlight to each of the new Avengers; the subsequent chases and rumbles featuring The Winter Soldier are a visual treat, and it all culminates in an internecine conflict among the heroes that stands as one of the most creative, entertaining, and thrilling action set pieces since the Battle of New York in the first Avengers film.

But instead of that continued escalation, the film narrows its focus after that. The climax of the film comes from a personal reveal -- not only that Bucky was the Starks’ assassin, but that Steve knew and had the gist of it, if not the specifics, but never said a word. A film with so many characters and themes and stories comes down to a conflict between three people. That is the heart of the film -- a dispute, a wedge, that is as personal as it is philosophical, that is as meaningful because of the characters as we’ve watched them grow and develop as because of the fact that it’s two icons locked in combat with one another.

And that too, was one of Community’s strengths. For as outrageous and absurd and cartoony as the show could get, at its best, it drew all that weirdness and humor and conflict back down to the simple, emotional, and human. Tony Stark is still quick with a witty, sarcastic remark. Steve Rogers can still take a beating and deliver one in return. And their conflict is the culmination of more than that, of difference of opinion, of lifestyle, of their place in life and their place in relation to one another, with their team and their family.

As grandiose and ambitious and multi-faceted a film and narrative as Civil War presents, at its core, it’s a story about two people who care about each other breaking away, about the elements of their relationships and their histories and psyches that drives them to do it, and the extraordinarily human reasons that both pull them back together and tear them apart. These are the kinds of themes the Russos brought with them from their old gig, and they make Civil War more than just the flash and excitement of the good guys coming to blows; it’s a film that crystallizes from the connections between its characters, between the emotions and experiences that drive them, between the humanity, humor, and heart that drives the Marvel Cinematic Universe and produced what may be its greatest film to date.

It’s surprisingly focused considering how much it’s juggling.
I like how it continues Cap and Bucky’s arc, the central conflict about the accords makes sense for the universe (though not so much if you’d apply it to the real world).
Politically it doesn’t add up to much. You could even take most of that stuff out and it wouldn’t change much, it has that fake sheen of this movie being about something deeper.
Nevertheless, this still has some of the best, most tactile action scenes (CGI Spider-man excluded) of the entire franchise, they’re really well shot and edited.
I love how they introduce Black Panther and Spider-man in this (Spider-man’s recruitment doesn’t make all that much sense, but the writing of this film is tight enough, so I’ll let it slide).
But, the villain isn’t a very interesting character, the airport scene feels like it comes from a different movie (much lighter compared to everything else in the film), and Stark’s characterization is a bit too mopey throughout.
Its biggest problem is the directing, which is just really bland and flavourless. For example, there are long stretches in this film that consist of nothing but dialogue, and they’re not that engaging because they’re set in bland, grey locations with uninteresting camerawork. It aims for that grittier, tactical Winter Soldier style, but I don’t think that approach really worked here.

6/10

Another very good superhero movie from Marvel. It was fun to see Antman and Spiderman, although the downfall of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be its glut of characters. It's not just about servicing fanboys and their favorites, you have to wonder how many times they are going want to pay a cast this large. There's just more of the same fighting and camaraderie found in the other Avengers films. There's definitely nothing wrong with that it's just another helping of an already good thing.

The action scenes are no bigger than any of the other Avengers movies, but the airport fight was nearly overkill. There is no real danger to the characters because you know they aren't going to kill anyone off. They also evacuate the airport before the battle, which limits danger to civilians, which is the driving force behind the conflict in the first place.

It seems strange that the "Mommy" conflict so hated in this Summer's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" gets a pass here. Okay, so it's a Mommy AND Daddy issue in this one, but it is the straw that broke the camel's back in the stormy Iron Man/Captain America relationship. Not even the innocents being killed in an explosion at the beginning of the film and the subsequent U.N. accord had the impact of the Mommy and Daddy reveal. It seems some extra leeway has been handed to Marvel when compared to DC.

Awesome! My new favourite, so far at least.

What an absolute joy 'Captain America: Civil War' is! It made 147 minutes feel like so much less. Great action, enthralling story, sharp humour and some impeccable use of the many, many characters; even introducing two new faces to the MCU. I won't spoil who, but they are massive additions and I love what they give to this.

It gives the perfect amount of screen time to all involved, there is no-one I wanted to see more or less of - it all felt very natural too, big kudos for that. Chris Evans is terrific, this is his best performance as Captain America thus far in my opinion. Robert Downey Jr. continues to impress, as expected.

Sebastian Stan as Bucky also sticks out, I didn't love that character in his preceding appearances but in this I really did connect with his story. Anthony Mackie and Don Cheadle remain good fun, while Daniel Brühl plays his role very nicely. Elsewhere, Paul Rudd's inclusion is amusing.

The whole film, as is normal in these productions, looks stunning. They are incredibly well made. As noted at the top, this is more new favourite from the MCU - surpassing 'Captain America: The First Avenger'. I guess there's no hiding who my standout avenger is, eh?

The only 'but' I have for this is the title. It's practically an avengers film. I'm not saying it's an ill-fitting title, I get it's the titular character's arc, but I feel like it does the film a slight disservice - it's impacts much more than Captain America.

That's not a big deal, at all, though. No doubt in my mind: this is superb!

Saw this at a pre-screening yesterday. I wasn't expecting much. It's a superhero movie. Except, it completely blew my mind. This movie justified all the movies that came before it. All the mindless fun, all the silly over ridiculously bad guys (who have an infinite supply of soldiers willing to fight against people who literally have gods on their side) against well, the overly ridiculously good guys (it doesn't get any more by the book, full on patriot than Captain America) was a set up to ask a real, actually substantive question. It looks at an actual ethical, moral dilemma. Who should hold the power to decide between what's the right thing to do, the individual, or some committee?
Should individuals have the freedom to decide on their own, and face the consequences after, or should some governing body attempt to dictate under what terms individuals should operate. This movie presents this question in a universe where we know who the good guys are, we know who the bad guys are, and then asks what would tear the good guys apart? Would it be a bad guy, or would it be something else? Could good intentions,the very best of intentions, attempt to resolve this question one way or another result in pitting good guys against good guys? The movie wasn't about left vs right, conservative vs. liberal. It was about something more fundamental than that, something deeper. It was about where power should ultimately be held, and it does a damn good job of answering that question.

Spoiler Free Review

I'm not sure why we in the UK got this film a week before the US audiences got to see it. Anyway I watched this film last week and I've gotta say that it's pretty close to being the best comic movie ever. That's not something I expected to be saying as I'm a massive DC fan and thought I'd be saying this about Batman vs Superman. BvS although good, for me suffered from really bad editing and even with my DC bias, I can't say that was the great film it should've been.

Anyway moving back onto Captain America Civil War...here we have a film that has to cater to a wealth of major comic characters, including the introduction of Spiderman into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also introduces the Black Panther, who I was particularly looking forward to seeing on the big screen. Now without going into the story at all what I will say is they do a brilliant job of catering to all these characters, everyone plays their part and basically give us an awesome comic based film that for the time being stands up as one of the best yet.

If you enjoyed what you've seen from the MCU films so far, you're gonna love this!

The Revisit the MCU Project (2021) #13 of 23

So...I was pretty hard on Captain America: Civil War the last time. I said it was "half" a movie. A ramp-up for something bigger and greater. Watching it again it occurred to me that most of the MCU movies are a ramp-up for something and hence...this movie didn't deserve me to be that harsh.

Captain America: Civil War is a good movie. Technically great, good acting, and really exciting action scenes. The only real gripe I have with it is the same it was the last time. The story could be more fleshed out. It feels like some parts of it were left on the cutting room floor. It does not break the movie in any way, but it can be distracting.

Despite that, the third Cap movie is still a decent watch, and most MCU fans won't be disappointed.

Old Review with a rating of 6

So...what to say...

For some reason, this movie only feels like a ramp-up for something bigger and greater. I don't know how to explain it exactly, but even though it left me craving more, the final product seemed like half a movie.

The cast does what the cast of a marvel movie does.

You can never complain about the action in movies that Marvel Studios put out.

The effects and cinematography are grandiose and work well within the boundaries that comic book movies have.

There's nothing really wrong with this movie except for the fact that the story does seem a bit half-finished.

All I can really say is...IF you enjoy the Marvel Universe, go watch it and make up your own mind.

Marvel's Bernie Vs. Trump movie has recently came out to be very well received with a 90% on rotten tomatoes. Currently the latest in the ever growing franchise of the marvel cinematic universe, this movie is a sequel to the previous Captain America movies by being the 3rd in the franchise while being the avengers sequel that we actually deserved.

Now, I may not be the biggest advocate for these kinds of movies. However, I am happy to report that this film is actually decent. With enough formulaic occurrences and big explosions to appeal to the average film goer while being dumb entertainment for those who don't frequent big releases often. Even though this movie does not utilise film language to its fullest or reinvent the wheel in anyway, I would still be willing to say that it's an above average movie. What I appreciate about this movie that's not addressed in other Marvel movies is the fact that ALL of these superheroes exist in the same universe. For me, it's incredibly distracting in other MCU movies when other heroes refuse to show up and help out when in "The Avengers: AOU", they appear to have each other's phone numbers. Without a consistent universe, to me, you don't have a believable one. Even though I wasn't a fan of the other Captain America movies, I was still able to invest myself in this movie’s universe. And comparing all of Captain America’s movies together I would probably say that this one's the best. The action scenes seemed much better executed and I appreciated that for some scenes the directors seemed to care somewhat about the shot composition. The political message, While EXTREMELY prominent was not over-bearing, and the music was quite enjoyable. Granted, it wasn't on the level of Clint Mansel or Hans Zimmer but the genericness of the music wasn't too off putting.

Most of the cinematic parts to this film was functional, however the main drawback to this project was the writing. This was probably due to the over-arching Marvel Cinematic plan. The movies main goal is to show you the "merchandise" as characters and most film making comes secondary to that main goal. But in terms of plot, The character motivations of our two main characters became so disjointed on contradictory that I began to confuse the two. They consistently broke the rules that the character established for themselves, the main perpetrator of this being Iron Man (Played by Robert Downey Jr.). Now even though he gave a good performance, it was the character's writing that put me off. Even though "The Avengers" saved billions of lives, the few off screen casualties warrants the UN to step in to control these vigilantes. Putting my political beliefs, to any rationally thinking man, this is definitely not the best idea. And somehow, most of “The Avengers” are actually ok with this concept EXCEPT Captain America (Played By Chris Evans). One of Iron Man's lines is "We need to be put in check." WHAT? By people who aren't you? If you're apparently not able to make decisions about whether or not you should be going into combat, then how can you say you're able to make the decision about whether or not you're able to make the decision about whether or not you should go into combat? It's annoying to see stupid ideas being accepted by otherwise logical characters in order to move forward the plot. Iron Man was put into a position that was fairly unjustified, so every move he makes to add legitimacy to his claim just makes out to be more of a sociopath ESPECIALLY near the end.

Another problem associated with Marvel movies is the lack of tension for me personally. You never feel like any of these characters feel pain or have any possibility. The one moment for legitimate tension they ruin almost instantaneously. And for me personally, I liked this Spider-Man. Didn't love him but he does have the potential to be great. As well as that, The Black Panther was actually quite intimidating. However, one scene involving someone he cared about that was delivered very cheesley and the scene suffered on the whole because of it and lacked an emotional impact.

Anyway, I'd recommend this movie as some good old-fashioned dumb fun. Don't let me stop you from watching it because obviously I'm not exactly a fan of superhero movies to begin with. Some nitpicky aspects that have towards the genre did not affect my rating at all.

I went into this with high expectations, and overall it fulfilled those expectations very well. I'm much more of a DC guy, but damn, Marvel is doing sooooo much better with their films. They balance reality with superheroes so well. All the characters in this have distinct personality that develops throughout.

The best part though, is not Captain America. It is not Iron Man. It is not Black Panther or Ant Man or Hawkeye. It is without a doubt Spiderman. Every single moment with Spiderman is 100% perfect. They finally nailed him being a kid that is kinda wonky but makes great comments as he's doing things. I am totally excited for him to be in his own movie.

As far as negatives go, I don't have anything major. I do have a handful of small things here and there that bother me though. The concept of who is wrong and who is right isn't as up in the air as I was hoping for. I'd like it a lot more if people actually came out of this mixed on the superhero political spectrum. Also, the villain's motive didn't work for me at all.

I'd recommend everyone still see it though. Definitely a great superhero film to put up there with some of the best.

I remember when I read the Civil War collection and it was just a dream that they would ever make it into a movie, well they went and did it and I am gonna get killed for saying that this is miles better than the comic. Also, don't go into this expecting a Captain America movie as this is basically Avengers 3 lol

All of the cast is amazing in this film and at the time, seeing all of these characters on screen together was just something to behold. The story is perfect, the action is perfect and all the new characters bought into this film were cast perfectly in my opinion. But the stand out the actor for me in this film was actually the villain as I can see this character in future Marvel movies or TV shows as Daniel Brühl (Baron Zemo) is actually great as I can see how this character can turn into the one from the comic and though we don't get to see him all suited up in the classic purple, we do get glimpses of how great this character is gonna be and it actually wasn't a generic villain :)

Also, the development of the Bucky and Captain America story is phenomenal in this film as you can feel the conflict of emotions as the characters are all pit against each other even though deep down they all care about each other. Really happy that Marvel kept the Russo Brothers on as they bring something to these Marvel films which stop them from becoming generic and also know how to keep the films fun. If you want a great Marvel movie then this is the one for you, but if you want just a great action film then look no further than Civil War.

Even friends can be your biggest enemies.

Captain America: Civil War is behind "Iron Man", "Winter Soldier", and "Guardians of the Galaxy" as being the best movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Or MCU for short). The movie has it's flaws, but that doesn't stop me from liking it. I don't know about you, but the Captain America series are the only movies in the MCU that actually get better with it's squeals. The action, the effect's, the humor, the characters, and it's stunt work has improved from the first movie.

What this movie dose so well is that it's really hard to pick a side, because both sides have a very good reason to be at each others throats. One minute I'm rooting for Tony, and the next I'm rooting for Cap. It's conflict like this that I couldn't decide for myself on who side I was on or who was right, but that's just the fun of it.

Tom Holland as Spider-Man might be one of the best adaption of the character that we've had. Sony studios has made over five Spider-Man movies and the two actors who played Spider-Man (Maguire and Garfield), did their very best of what their got, but didn't quite capture the character that we know and love. But the Spider-Man in this movie has a screen time of 30 minutes or more, and Holland managed to capture the character so perfectly that it makes Sony studios look lousy. He was excellent in the role and I would go as far to say that he was a billion times better than Maguire and Garfield (In my opinion). I can't wait to see more of him in "Spider-Man: Homecoming" that's out next year.

Speaking of good casting - Chadwick Boseman was pretty damn awesome as Black Panther. Boseman can basically play anything and I'm not kidding you when I say that, as he played Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and now Black Panther. Chadwick Boseman has some crazy talent and him as Black Panther was spot on casting. I'm looking forward to seeing his solo film coming out in 2018.

If you thought the stunt work in "Winter Soldier" was outstanding, then wait until you see the stunt work in this movie, as it was just....INCREDIBLE! All the heavy praise belongs to the stunt team for doing the impossible.

Now for the problems: Daniel Brühl is a boring villain. I honestly can't remember much about his character in the movie and that's because he was pretty forgettable. That came across a bit too harsh didn't it? It really sucks for me to say that, because Daniel Brühl is great actor and sometimes he can be the saving grace for a movie that's either good or bad. He wasn't awful or anything like that, it's just that I didn't find him treating at all.

Martin Freeman is a great actor and I'm glad he's getting more meaty roles, but he doesn't do anything special or interesting in this movie. Yes, I know his character is probably going to developed more in the next movies, but my problem here is that he really felt out of place in this movie. At times the movie itself completely forgets about him, so every time he popped back up on screen I was like "Oh, Martin Freeman is in this movie, I totally forgot about that". But that's just me.

The story was a bit meh and there was a little bit too much quick cut edits in the fight scenes that I couldn't get all that infested with. Now don't get me wrong, I like the airport fight and the Iron Man V Cap fight, because those scenes didn't have stupid quick cuts and I could easily see whats happening. I think it's the hand-to-hand combat fights that are too cutter for me to see what's going on. That's just my opinion.

Overall: "Captain America: Civil War" lives up to the hype of being a great superhero movie and being a good movie on it's own. Marvel is having a great track record thus far- with the box office success, great reviews, and many upcoming spin offs. Civil War is most likely going to win every fanboys heart and it's not hard to see why.

An impassioned disagreement breaks Earth's greatest superteam in half and ultimately drives them to fight with more than just words. It's basically The Avengers 2.5, but you already knew that. And like the preceding two star-studded chapters, most of what makes it work is the thrill of seeing all the big names geared up together, slinging zingers and blowing dollars through the VFX budget like t-shirts from a cannon.

It's a more serious take for the series, sober and steely outside of a few great jabs from the new guys (Ant-Man and Spider-Man steal the show on this front). Which is fine, it adds a necessary level of gravitas to the subject and it wouldn't seem proper for Iron Man to be going all tongue-in-cheek while he's trying to punch his buddy's eyebrows off. That heavy-duty weight can make the film feel long and overstuffed, though, and all told I was feeling a bit weary by the time it got around to wrapping itself up. There's a whole lot of action, as you'd have to expect, but this time it feels less grounded than in the past. It's as comic book as the MCU has ever been, really, with loads of Kool Aid-colored lights shining around the room, bodies flying through walls and one ridiculous chase scene in which our heroes sprint through traffic at highway speeds. And that's the focus, no doubt about it: action with a side of Bucky, whose quest for answers and redemption seems far more important than the moral dilemmas and personality clashes that split the Avengers. Personally, I was more interested in that lesser-explored gray area, but at the end of the day it's Cap on the marquee so I can understand the emphasis on his pet plot threads.

It's a strong, solid entry and a fine continuation of this cornerstone franchise, but at times it tries to pull off too much. Could've easily been broken into two films, and I'm almost never one to recommend trying something like that.

Recently I have quite liked the Marvel movies that I have watched. Sadly I did not like this movie at all. The only reason that it does not get a zero or one star rating is cool special effects and a few laughs.

I want my heroes to be just that, heroes. Unfortunately this movie gets off on the wrong foot right away by not only “incriminating” the Avengers in the eyes of dimwit politicians and putting them on surveillance of a political body but to make matters worse it is the useless black hole of taxpayers money, the United Nations, that are supposed to surveil them. That pretty much ruined the movie right away for me.

When I though that it could not get any worse it actually does. In true Hollywood fashion the Avengers start to bicker and fight among themselves.

The few redeeming qualities of this movie is great special effects and a few fun comments that made me laugh from time to time. Even the ending is pretty crappy with the Avengers remaining divided and the main bad guy feeling that he achieved what he wanted.

Technically there is not really anything wrong with the movie. The actors are good, the filming is good and, as I wrote, the special effects are great. The story however is not my cup of tea to put it mildly. I cannot express how much I despised the story in this movie.

Another Marvel film which means it will be a least half-an-hour or more too long and there will be at least two overwrought explosives, leaping about, mayhem that is hard to follow and frankly a little boring. Tick. Those bits are all in this film.

It’s unfortunate, the overall premise of the story and idea is interesting and creates a genuine and interesting conundrum. It is just how this premise is executed. It is a Marvel film and so you must have the explosions, hacky sacky chop-chop and frowning faces punching and kicking the living daylights out of each other.

The big problem is we have had goodness knows how many Marvel films that must result in horrible and ‘collateral’ deaths and then suddenly it is a problem this far into the franchise? For all the banner headlines of the Avengers facing off against each other the main airport showdown had all the thrills and danger of particularly bad WWE match. No one was really going to get hurt and the pummelling and thumping seemed only to result in bloody noses and a dizzy head before ‘woosh’ they were back into it. Also, who paid for the complete destruction of an airport? No one was there because Basil Exposition told us that it had be evacuated but the destruction of an airport and the consequent reconstruction would cost a small country a small fortune and seriously damage the economy. Well if you want to drill into the consequences of huge superhero battles then do a little more than scratch the surface.

On a no brain-level I enjoyed this film and all the heroes were there doing their usual characteristic things, Tony Stark was a big-headed know-it-all, Captain America – well he is clean cut and loves freedom and so forth. The actors must wear these ‘well-worn’ suits with ease, in fact to be frank it must be the huge inflated salaries that they enjoy the most (we know Scarlett Johansson does) because there is nowhere for the characters to go. It is all ultimately dull. So, to fill in this void we have ever increasing, ludicrous villains, even when they go small with the villain, like Civil War, the motives and MO are ridiculous – even for a Marvel film.

So oddly I found it entertaining even though it niggles me to the point of distraction that all The Avengers are so good, so successful and tough at what they do, no one could beat them ever and in the end no ever seems to. There is no risk, no real peril and in fact no real story for any of this costumed cool dudes.

All in all, the ‘Cult of Marvel’ will love this but those of us unconnected with the comic-books and films I’m not so sure. It is acted in the right manner, the special effects and set pieces will certainly excite and enthral youngsters and young at heart fans but to me and others, I expect, it becomes non-involving, loud and colourful wallpaper.

There is no such thing as perpetual motion but Marvel Movies are coming close to creating it, film after film after film….