Film Review : Captain America "Civil War"

When going into a comic book movie, I am not expecting the plot of  anything but a comic book. It could have turned into a cluster fuck, but in the end felt more like an Avenger's movie than a Captain America solo film. By and large the character's were well juggled. It is like the comic book event only in the feel of it's conflict. People online started saying well how does this effect Spider-man? It doesn't as the Accord the government comes up with is designed to only keep the Avengers in check, the Marvel Universe in the movies is better than the comics only in the sense Spider-Man is not an Avenger. Neither is Ant-man so when he winds up at the Raft, then it must be for destroying the plane when he turns into Giant -Man which is one of the films best moments. Evans has really settled into the role, as most of the actors who find this as their 6th installment in costume. Though War-Machine is one of the weakest portrayals. The Black Panther is cool to see on screen and has a large enough role, but he doesn't really prove himself. He never kicks any ones ass and instead gets kicked around more often than not. We get he is fast and can jump down from places to pounce like a cat, vibranium makes bullets bounce off his costume and his claws can scratch Cap's shield, but what can he do that Bucky can't do? In fact Bucky's cyborg arm is stronger than he is. Black Panther can only lift 800 lbs in the comics, so this makes sense. 

Spider-man gets a stronger introduction than Panther, and he is more of a major player so that makes sense. The hot aunt thing is beat into your face, but Holland gets right what Mcguire wanted to do.As for the rest of the gang Black Widow is consistent, Hawkeye gets better and both Scarlet Witch and the Vision prove without Thor or Hulk around they are the team's real power houses.There is the ret-conned, "I killed your father" moment,  you see coming though Zemo should have put a mask on as he could have been the Chameleon by framing Bucky. I am sure the over all spectacle eclipsed the easter eggs. So far the Marvel movies have yet to acknowledge the Net Flix shows and really considering the scale of the problems normally face vs things like organized crime the overlap might not be needed until, Spider-man's solo film. The motives for sides being chosen, given the fact Stark went into Senate hearings in the previous movies saying they could not take the suit since he was Iron-man, were a little forced. But the well paced action and bit super-hero throw down made it worthwhile. 

In fact it almost felt like the final show down was anti-climatic, even with the reveal about Barnes after the fight with Giant-man. I think both Spider-man and Ant-man stole the show in this regard and made every aside from Vision look a little silly. Black Panther did not do well at all in this regard. I think he deserves to be on screen, but doubt he can really hold his own movie. Though now Spider-man is making me re-think my statement Dr. Strange will be the last great Marvel film, Black Panther with be their next big flop for sure and not even Thanos can save where the franchise will head, so this serves as a good reminder as to what a super hero film can and should be ... fun. 

The Week in Marvel... we're back

We are back up in this bitch . Obviously I was doing what I had been doing in terms of reviewing comics for Geeknthings so it would have been redundant for me to replicate that, but Geeknthings is gone to ground for the time being and may or may not climb back out so it's time to pick up where we left off. The big news is Steve Rogers is coming back as Captain America, because diversity is just a marketing tool over at Marvel and with the new movie coming out of course he was going to be back, Jane Fosters Thor days will also come to an end when the next Thor movie comes out. Ok now for a look at this weeks comics there's some good new and bad news , lets get the bad news out of the way first.



The bad news is that the Uncanny Inhuman's finds the book becoming even more obtuse and less entertaining despite some great art in it's fourth issue. When Black Bolt's song asks Johnny Storm, why he is there it and he can't come up with an answers, because it's just so forced , his lack of an answer reflects the tone of the entire story. I'm also beginning to slip away from New Avengers in it's 5th issue , which the arc it's self is going to be dealing with the corruption of Wiccan and turning him into the Demi Urge.The 2nd issue of Starbrand and Nightmask, doesn't really do anything for me. I'm a little hesitant on how they are starting off Sliver Surfer, it's about as serious as an issue of Howard the Duck, which doesn't reflect a tone that is most fitting for the character.The art work is the same and Ben Grimmm looks to be making an appearence soon so there is a chance for improvement.

As much as I don't like Kamala Khan the 3rd issue of Ms. Marvel serves as a much better sales pitch for the character. Uncanny X-men's second issue has great art and brings Mystique to the forefront with Monet and Sabertooth not far behind. The mutant hunting in this issue is smartly written. Ant-man is better than most in its 4th issue and I can see it beginning to get bogged down in it's soap opera , as if the writer watches too much "House of Cards" and the more soap operatic parts are all they latch onto. This new Giant-man is just dumb all the way around. Even if I'm not too fond of the whole prequel thing, the vibe continues to improve in the 3rd issue of "Star Lord". The art is some of their best. Speaking of space, with Kelly Sue Deconnick gone from the book, Danvers is soaring higher than ever. Not sure yet how I feel about the Alpha Flight being her underlings , but I have always loved that team, so good to see them back in action in some capacity, even if I question the voice they are written with it's still and improvement. The third issue of Hercules is o.k, not mind blowing a little tired of him having to use guns, the art is pretty decent in this issue.

How Does Ant-man Measure Up?

Marvel is aware that despite being one of the founding Avengers they now Ant-man is about as well known to the general public who doesn't read the comics as Rocket Racoon and the concept is just a s willy to some people, so they tried to take a similar tone as Guardians  of the Galaxy. One of the things Marvel is doing since they are also aware if they approach the basic origin superhero formula in the same say it will accelerate the fatigue of the trend they are riding so they have tried to make each film fit a different mold, the first Capt America really stated this as that was their war film, Thor their epic Fantasy, the second Captain America, was their espionage movie, Guardians there space opera, with some of the other movies in-between those being allowed to be more comic centric. One can assume Dr. Strange with also be set aside in that way , but after that they might be in trouble. So Ant-man is their heist film. This Ocean 11 type element injected into the movie takes itself pretty seriously and the supposed humor that apologizes for being about a man makes himself the size of an ant is often counter balanced by this.

The humor really isn't that funny, I don't think I laughed the entire film, granted I generally did like comedies because much like Ant-man they try to hard to make you like and it ends up feeling very contrived.The huge Thomas the Tank Engine or the pet ant, seem to be a bit of a reach. For me where the film works is they allow Lang to keep his mask on. They do acknowledge that Hank Pym was originally Ant-man and they even show Wasp for about ten seconds as a flash back sequence. I am not sure why they didn't allow Hank Pym to be Ant-man rather than going with Scott Lang. Its another way Marvel has screwed themselves from being able to connect the dots with their own mythos. How can Wonder Man ever show up ?

Paul Rudd gets the job done. Douglas is also pretty decent as the aged Pym. Every one else is a little stiff. It takes thirty minutes before he gets the costume on, and while I like how that comes about , I think all origins should take place in the first ten minutes and then it's go time. I liked how it connected to Avengers two, Falcon's appearance was cool, and was it me of did his costume look a little red white and blue, which could lead to one of my fears about the prophetic tone the comics could be taking in order to work around actors contractual obligations and give Marvel a loop hole out of the Disney deal.

In the new politically correct world of geekdom, there have been questions about how Wasp was sidelined, how black and Hispanics are portrayed and I think if any stereotypes were played into it was done so with a reason that made sense for the story and you have to remember stereotypes get played into because there have been enough examples to justify them.  Hollywood works off archetypes, Yellow Jackets plays into some of the most run of the mill villain cliches.  He just hops into his suit and they  are at it , so I am not sure why Rudd had to train to used his and Yellow Jacket was able to pop it on and go. I am not sure why Marvel didn't show Pym as Giant Man  rather using the particles to make inanimate things bigger.

Quality wise some of the cgi did't hold up to the other movies when they are small everything is not as blended. They have elluded to the fact that the astral world of Dr strange is going to be like sub atomic world, which I hope is not the cas as it looks like a darker version of the dreamier Fortress of Solitude sequences from the Reeve era Super-man films.The ants at times were a little suspect and I was surprised that that element of his powers took so much focus , so I give them props for at least not downplaying that.

Was it fun? Sure and it didn't come across to much like "Honey I Shrunk the Avenger".  It was a pretty mixed bag and I am glad I didn't throw down the twelve bucks to see it in the theater and you should only do that if you have nothing better to do and too much money or a bug Scott Lang fan. As Superhero movies go I think it's better than Spider-man 3, Iron Man 2, Daredevil, the first Punisher, Catwoman, Dark Knight Rises, Electra, most of the Blade Sequels and Fantastic Four so use that as your barometer , after Dr. Strange it's only going to get worse from here as Captain Marvel comes across like My Super Ex Girl Friend and Black Panther the Captain Africa.