[MCU] Captain America: Civil War [2016-05-06]
I walked into the theatre and was legit surprised to see so many dudes. My fandom consists like entirely of people who are not cis dudes, and so like I forget that dudes actually show up in movie theatre seats out in the real world, other than like dudes I actually know personally.
I saw it in a small theatre, so the only trailers we got were Rogue One and Doctor Strange. I kinda wanted to yell at the screen during the Doctor Strange trailer, not because the trailer was especially horrible, but just because ugh, the shitty whitewashing that is that whole movie should not exist.
On the subject of white dudes, I was glad that Ant-Man and Spider Man only got bit parts (I legit forgot that either of them was gonna be in the movie until they showed up). Admittedly, most people who weren't Tony, Steve, and Bucky got relatively bit parts, but still. (Did not particularly like the casting of Tony's parents -- I totally thought it was some weird dream sequence because that dude is totally not an older version of the young!Howard we've seen in the movies. For years I'd been hearing speculation -- based on comics? idk? -- that the Winter Soldier killed Tony's parents, so I thought it was neat to have MCU canon confirm that.)
I know Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't interested in being in the film, and I think they did a good job of making her departure feel in character and also driving Tony's motivation -- and doing a little damage control for how AoU ignored Tony's character development in IM3 by having him talk about how he didn't really wanna stop and he knows he needs someone to keep him in check.
That said, I felt like the Sokovia Accords were a little hand-wavy -- like, who exactly is in charge and how quickly can they make decisions? 'Cause the Avengers-necessary situations often come up really quickly and also shift really quickly. I also wished that one of the Avengers had pushed back against the whole "the Avengers don't care about the aftermath of the destruction they wreak" argument because clearly they do, as we had just seen a few scenes previously, with Wanda's face falling when she realizes what she's done and Steve calling for fire+medical. (I get why the general public doesn't think they care, but surely one of them would have brought it up, and someone in government would gave suggested some PR.) Also, why do we get so locked in to bringing in Rogers et al. instead of investigating their intel about Zemo? So much fighting could have been avoided if we could all focus on Zemo as the real enemy! (Okay, it turns out he wasn't building an army of Winter Soldiers, but it was a pretty plausible read on the situation.) No mention even of investigating the doctor who's in the room with Bucky when the power goes out and doesn't end up among the litter of bodies until Tony's AI comes up with a confirmation? Surely Ross' office would have been investigating if they were decent at their job, right?
I appreciated that despite the advertising (which team are you on? etc.), everyone basically really was on the same side -- we all want the same thing, we mostly aren't actually pissed at each other. And Natasha playing both sides :) They all really want to do what's right, they just sometimes disagree about what the right-est thing is or the best way to achieve it.
(Speaking of advertising, since Rhodey being eyes closed on the ground was in a trailer, I knew he couldn't really be dead -- just like there was no way Tony got killed when he gets shot in the face in the trailer. I don't trust the MCU with disability stuff so wasn't surprised when Rhodey got fancy prosthetics -- like how Matt Murdock's blind but not really.)
I probably sound like I didn't like the movie, but I honestly did. (It's just easier to nitpick, because listing everything I liked would be listing most of the movie.) It felt much like Winter Soldier. And this movie made me actually like/care about Bucky -- whereas in Winter Soldier I was like, "I know that Steve, and much of the Internet, loves Bucky, but I don't actually feel anything so I'm just rolling with it for this movie." That was a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.
I didn't like that after initially refusing to leave with Clint, Wanda suddenly decides to go. Like, we'd already seen that she felt like a prisoner (when Vision wouldn't let her leave to get proper paprika) but I was willing to buy that she would choose to not get involved in the fight, and then I didn't understand why she suddenly decided to go after all.
I read an interview recently where Chris Evans said he was done with this role, that his body was gonna give out, and I felt like the end of this movie was a good setup for that.
I liked that they gave Peggy the "You move" speech (which I know from musesfool is Steve's some comics somewhere). I cried when Steve was pallbearer at her funeral. (And killing her off feels extra sad with the news that Agent Carter is likely not getting a third season.)
I saw it in a small theatre, so the only trailers we got were Rogue One and Doctor Strange. I kinda wanted to yell at the screen during the Doctor Strange trailer, not because the trailer was especially horrible, but just because ugh, the shitty whitewashing that is that whole movie should not exist.
On the subject of white dudes, I was glad that Ant-Man and Spider Man only got bit parts (I legit forgot that either of them was gonna be in the movie until they showed up). Admittedly, most people who weren't Tony, Steve, and Bucky got relatively bit parts, but still. (Did not particularly like the casting of Tony's parents -- I totally thought it was some weird dream sequence because that dude is totally not an older version of the young!Howard we've seen in the movies. For years I'd been hearing speculation -- based on comics? idk? -- that the Winter Soldier killed Tony's parents, so I thought it was neat to have MCU canon confirm that.)
I know Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't interested in being in the film, and I think they did a good job of making her departure feel in character and also driving Tony's motivation -- and doing a little damage control for how AoU ignored Tony's character development in IM3 by having him talk about how he didn't really wanna stop and he knows he needs someone to keep him in check.
That said, I felt like the Sokovia Accords were a little hand-wavy -- like, who exactly is in charge and how quickly can they make decisions? 'Cause the Avengers-necessary situations often come up really quickly and also shift really quickly. I also wished that one of the Avengers had pushed back against the whole "the Avengers don't care about the aftermath of the destruction they wreak" argument because clearly they do, as we had just seen a few scenes previously, with Wanda's face falling when she realizes what she's done and Steve calling for fire+medical. (I get why the general public doesn't think they care, but surely one of them would have brought it up, and someone in government would gave suggested some PR.) Also, why do we get so locked in to bringing in Rogers et al. instead of investigating their intel about Zemo? So much fighting could have been avoided if we could all focus on Zemo as the real enemy! (Okay, it turns out he wasn't building an army of Winter Soldiers, but it was a pretty plausible read on the situation.) No mention even of investigating the doctor who's in the room with Bucky when the power goes out and doesn't end up among the litter of bodies until Tony's AI comes up with a confirmation? Surely Ross' office would have been investigating if they were decent at their job, right?
I appreciated that despite the advertising (which team are you on? etc.), everyone basically really was on the same side -- we all want the same thing, we mostly aren't actually pissed at each other. And Natasha playing both sides :) They all really want to do what's right, they just sometimes disagree about what the right-est thing is or the best way to achieve it.
(Speaking of advertising, since Rhodey being eyes closed on the ground was in a trailer, I knew he couldn't really be dead -- just like there was no way Tony got killed when he gets shot in the face in the trailer. I don't trust the MCU with disability stuff so wasn't surprised when Rhodey got fancy prosthetics -- like how Matt Murdock's blind but not really.)
I probably sound like I didn't like the movie, but I honestly did. (It's just easier to nitpick, because listing everything I liked would be listing most of the movie.) It felt much like Winter Soldier. And this movie made me actually like/care about Bucky -- whereas in Winter Soldier I was like, "I know that Steve, and much of the Internet, loves Bucky, but I don't actually feel anything so I'm just rolling with it for this movie." That was a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.
I didn't like that after initially refusing to leave with Clint, Wanda suddenly decides to go. Like, we'd already seen that she felt like a prisoner (when Vision wouldn't let her leave to get proper paprika) but I was willing to buy that she would choose to not get involved in the fight, and then I didn't understand why she suddenly decided to go after all.
I read an interview recently where Chris Evans said he was done with this role, that his body was gonna give out, and I felt like the end of this movie was a good setup for that.
I liked that they gave Peggy the "You move" speech (which I know from musesfool is Steve's some comics somewhere). I cried when Steve was pallbearer at her funeral. (And killing her off feels extra sad with the news that Agent Carter is likely not getting a third season.)