Captain America: Civil War (12a)

The Good
Tony Stark. RDJ is as good as ever and scenes are vastly improved with him on the screen. Whether he is oozing with snarky comebacks, mentoring our newly introduced Peter Parker or showing his regret for events of the past RDJ is able to command everyone’s attention and remind us why the Marvel universe exploded in the first place.

Peter Parker. Once again, Disney powerhouse are proving they can get the casting right and bring beloved characters into the universe without the origin story. I’m not a fan of the web slinger, but I like Tom Holland in the role. He played of Stark and the other Avengers brilliantly and certainly took center stage in the best fight of the film.

The fights and chase sequences were rather good and the globe trotting read like a super charged Bond movie. It worked, on the most part and the car chase was certainly entertaining.

The humour. Some amazing lines coming from all who showed up to fight. Highlights come from Bucky and Falcon’s instant hatred of each other and, as always, Stark doesn’t fail to miss a beat.

The Bad
Too many heroes question the title of the movie for me.

I’m still not certain it was worthy of Rogers’ handle and a little confused as to why it wasn’t an Avengers outing. The thing is, good ol’ Cap doesn’t show the most character development, have the most screen time or even get a true resolution at the end to be the protagonist.

In terms of cast, there was just too many in play for anyone to really hold their own. The Introduction of Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross feels like it should have been a little more poignant than it was and even Paul Rudd struggled to steal the show like I was expecting.

The Ugly
Why must all female characters be surrounded by romance in the Marvel universe? I’m happy they’ve continued on with the Black Widow/Hulk rather than moving her onto someone else, but poor Wanda! Seriously, she had enough development going on in the film; she didn’t need to explore her romantic feelings too.

It’s simply too long. At 2 hours 27 minutes, it’s the longest MCU film and boy, you feel every minute of it. The lulls are punctuated with high octane fight sequences, but it’s simply not enough to keep you engaged for the rest.

Winter Soldier was my favourite MCU movie going in. I was Team Cap. Alas, no longer. Worse still, I’m questioning the longevity of the universe as a whole.

Cast- 7
Cinematography- 5
Plot- 4
Pace- 6
Music- 4
Enjoyability- 6