CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016)

5/10/16 - Captain America: Civil War - 7-/10

Hard to argue with the enjoyability of this Cap film. Action packed, humorous, smart and meaningful. Though problematic in many of these elements, the whole is a rousing success, even if a sewn up conclusion is lacking. This is a large comic book action spectacular that delivers profundity and enjoyment without dumbed-down doling or baseless faux skill.

The plot is a poignant and believable examination of the genre while keeping things interesting and fun. Aside from Olsen's "Storm-esque" accent and the inconsistent usage of Vision, the cast was quite strong and their motivations seemed pretty spot on. A robust synthesis of these great characters distilled down into the crux of this conflict. They worked, which made this film work. Bonus: big fan of Black Panther and the new Spidey here. Easy to get excited to see them again from what we are given here.

While being highly enjoyable, the film does seems somewhat cluttered and non-stop, with a bit too many moving plot elements and staged action set pieces. (Mini rant: These modern action scenes drive me nuts. Why spend all the time, money, and effort to set up, choreograph, and execute such exceptional fight scenes if the editing and camera movement is going to blind me to what is occurring. Sometimes this can work for the scuffle, but when they are all the same and there are so many, I get lost instead of engaged. Let the scene flow naturally and expose the remarkability of these stunts to the light of day.) But, I can't beat up on either too much because I appreciated the emotional and intellectual depth the film strove for. I also welcomed the earnestness with which it explores those issues while executing some fairly slick action scenes, despite the unnecessariness inside & outside the camera.

I liked this movie a great deal. This was a busy film, delivering smiles to my face, nods to my geekdom, and a responsible critique on heroes/comic movie genre, all while maintaining the spy-thriller elements of the last and the vivacity of a summer blockbuster. An uncompromising good time.