FILMRECENSION - Captain America: Civil War
Engelskspråkig recension igen.
Jag tror bara jag ska sluta tillkännage det i fortsättningen, för jag gissar att det troligtvis alltid kommer förbli på engelska. ^^
*SPOILERALERT*
Here's a movie that will finally get a high score, because this movie is awesome. I actually watched this movie several months ago, but as described in the latest review, I am very bad at giving credit where credit is due; mainly because I suck at describing and elaborating on things which are positive. I'm better at complaining; I hate to admit it, but its true. ^^
However, here's finally an opportunity for me to practice on commending instead of just condemning, and I am going to try to do this movie justice by actually uploading a full review of this as an example of a movie that really gave me an awesome experience from start to finish.
PROS
Oh my god, what DIDN'T I like about this movie?
I love this movie for several reasons; one of them being that this is not just your average typical low-brow action flick. This movie has a deeper message that really shines through and presents a moral dilemma which I think even little kids are picking up on.
Who takes responsibility for the innocents that die on the sidelines in a superpowered battle?
Aren't the heroes causing more deaths simply by opposing the villains?
Why don't they ever mention the people who obviously die as collateral damage and why hasn't the government ever touched upon this?
These were questions that never really saw the light of day when I was growing up and watched superhero-movies; it was always so dichotomic, you had your heroes and your bad guys. Fight!
And let me tell you, this is the one thing that stands out the most in this movie: the split between the characters and the utterly ambiugious choice between the two.
The audience is encouraged to think for themselves and decide which of the two groups they want to root for and I think that is just brilliant! There is no clear line between good and evil here. The view of preserving your independence in order to do what you think is right is equally as valid as siding with the government in order to do what society thinks is right.
The rogues gallery in this movie is really impressive and gets you really excited, mainly because they consist of the heroes themselves; there really isnt any supervillains this time. The bad guy is just some normal guy who wants to do all of the Avengers in because he had been victimized by them.
At first it felt kind of like a let down, but after a while it just dawned on me that it was the perfect way of doing things here. This guy becomes a simple but determined manipulator which in turn by proxy make villains out of whichever side of Team Cap/Team Stark you DON'T side with. Ingenious!!
This movie really makes you think and honestly, is the first action-movie in a long time that also almost managed to move me to tears. The tragedy of having to go up against your friends; you can feel the wrongness of the situation, nobody wants to do this but they have to and it is tearing them apart.
And that's another thing that's executed perfectly; the drama.
The same way that the moral dilemma in Age of Ultron made me yawn because they seemed to constantly hammer in the obvious dangers of creating an A.I, this one gripped me by the balls and kept me wondering which hero would side with which side.
The actors in this movie really dish out their A-grade material and it shows. Because of the moral dilemma, character-development come by the boatload here. And I love how the two main characters suddenly swich sides on their own default opinions. Suddenly, the usually by-the-book Steve Rogers is in favor of staying away from the government after having seen the duplicitous nature of SHIELD in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, while the typically rebellious Tony Stark developes a conscience because of his actions in Age of Ultron and starts to favor accountability and a closer tie to the people by submitting to an elected administration. Its like they developed into two opposites from being the opposite opposites and I just find that both funny and clever. ^^
The action-scenes in this movie are sooooo good, you are litterally hanging on for dear life. And in many cases when it comes to action, movies tend to either go overboard or not enough, but not here.
In this movie, the balance is executed perfectly between dramatic downtime and adrenaline-pumping action. It gives you just enough to keep you entertained, but not so much that you get sick of it. Everytime the movie progressed into a new fight-scene, I was like "Yes! Good! Let's get it on!" and when it ended, it always seemed to end at just the right time and good action does that.
But the main fight... holy shit, nothing beats that. Nothing else in the movie even comes close.
Not that I know how or what to say other than the fact that it was an all-out pummeling-fest which left me completely exhausted, but in a good way, as if I had just orgasmed.
I truly loved it!!
And I think the reason that this fight is so epic is most likely because this wasn't a hero vs a villain or even a hero vs a hero.... this was a TEAM of heroes vs a TEAM of heroes. The controversy and awesomeness alike in such a concept reaches epic proportions. You get to see all of those characters that you have followed througout the previous connected movies duking it out and for all the true fans, that is just ecstasy beyond our dreams.
The only downside was that it WAS so short for all that it was; I had wanted to see more of the heroes going at it, but I realize that the entire movie can't be all about the Avengers beating the crap out of each other.
Oh yeah, Spider-man is in there!! :D
And I was pleasantly surprised too, because I was afraid that his puns and quick remarks might make him sort of childish and goofy, but they actually work pretty well. They're not even bad puns, they're good. ^^ I mean, when was the last time you experienced good puns in an action movie?
Another thing I was afraid of was that he might be underplayed as sort of a sidenote, but no.
I mean, he actually manages to hold his own against TWO opponents, damnit!
That's just how its supposed to be, because even though he might be young, Spider-man isn't some side-character that you can just brush away; he has his own franchise and must be respected and even though his appearance was relatively brief, they did good by him. Thank god.
The climax was both exhilarating and tragic. The scene where Tony finds out about his parents was so incredibly touching that I could experience every ounce of pain that he felt. It made me feel that Tony was completely justified in taking action against the titular protagonist Captain America; not just because of his standpoint regarding the accords, but also because of his sense of being betrayed. As Tony learned about who killed his parents and that Steve hadn't told him that he knew about it, you can really see his heart breaking.
It culminates in this epic three-way duel between cap, 'man and soldier in which they truly go all out, I mean they pull no punches here. You can tell that this fight is all about emotions going out of control and it just adds to the tragedy. Even the aftermath leaves things unresolved with the Avengers split, which opens up for new possibilites by not returning to the status quo. It is kept interesting even in the end.
CONS
Negatives?
Hmm, I don't know.
Bad characters? Not really. They all feel significant to the story as a whole.
Bad performances? Nah.. everyone performs at the very least to an acceptable standard; even the Martin Freeman-character, who managed to get away with his fake american accent. ^^
Where there plot holes? ... I don't really remember. Not that I can recall. And if there were, I was kept so entertained that I missed them completely.
............
Well, okay. Actually there was one thing which sort of is worth mentioning; a piece of vital information which went over the heads of most people.
When you find out that Captain America had known about Bucky murdering Stark's parents, many people including myself went "Wait, what? When did you learn that?"
Apparently, its supposed to be implied from some obscure newspaper article which Rogers sees back in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when he and Black Widow is in the underground bunker complex talking to Arnim Zola.
But I can't really fault Civil War for that as it is a problem that stems from a completely different movie entirely. And if I ever do a review of that movie, you can be sure I'm gonna bring that up.
Other than that, I have no real complaints at all. Though, I guess a minor nitpick I have is the fact that the duality and theme of "pick your side" of this movie is so omnipresent that I felt that it really should have been a full-fledged Avengers-movie and not presented under the banner of one single superhero, but as I said, thats just nitpicking.
CONCLUSION
So.. what about the final score?
Will it reach the ever-coveted five deathstars out of five possible?
It depends.
Is it absolutely perfect, the very Platoesque paragon of all movies ever made?
Well, no, of course not. But then again, what movie is? And I will say that for an Avengers- movie (yes, it should be "Avengers: Civil War", damnit!!), its pretty damn close to perfect.
So... for the first time ever... Captain America: Civil War will be the first movie ever to reach my highest grade.
I hereby award you FIVE deathstars out of five!
May you give rise to a new level of quality entertainment that is sustained in your successors.
