Monday, September 12, 2016

Movie Review Captain America Civil War: No side is right or wrong and that's why we all win.

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 I'm still waiting people, I'm still waiting for that one bad MCU movie. I thought that it would be Guardians of the Galaxy with them utilizing relatively unknown characters but it turned out to be one of my favorites so far and one of the best both financially and critically, next I thought it was going to be Antman especially if they went with Hank Pym who as most know is one of the most unlikeable characters in Marvels staple.
In case you forgot here's why, yeah I don't care what anyone says; you smack your wife, you automatically descend to Scumball on my chart.
So let me see that would place Hank right between the Devil and George Sewel, he would have been lower but I'm assuming that in the comics he regrets that to this day and is at least trying to do the right thing, then again I don't read much comics these days so I could be wrong.
 But they made the smart choice of moving Hank to mentor and having Scott Lang as Antman, thus giving a protagonist that the audiences can actually root for. (Also personally I love the designs of Antman and Yellow Jacket the only thing that's missing for Scott is a motorcycle and red scarf.) I'm not saying that I want the MCU to fail but it has to happen somewhere people. Now I haven't seen Thor the Dark World or The Incredible Hulk so it may have already happened and it has been a while since I've seen all of them so I could be wrong but yeah it doesn't look like the good times are over yet.

 Now I honestly thought that this would be the one to end the gravy train for Marvel and Disney considering what this movie is adapting from. But to my surprise Captain America Civil War is how you do a Super-hero vs Super-hero movie. You set up logical and reasonable circumstances as to why they're fighting instead of just ringing a bell.
This can just suck down a jug of Granny Luthor's Peach Tea.
 Now for those who don't know this movie is based off the Event Comic Civil War. If you've played Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 you're on the right track, the plot is that after an incident in Stanford Connecticut that left 600 people dead 60 of whom were children the government passed a bill called the Superhuman Registration Act that would demand super powered American citizens to register their secret identities to the US Government or be deemed rouge. Iron Man lead the Pro Side while Captain America lead the Anti and in the end the Pro Side won, Cap was arrested and it directly lead to One More Day, Norman Osborne becoming director of S.H.I.E.L.D and various other horrible things which lasted for 3 years in real time. So yeah not exactly the best of stories out there. However what the movie took from the comic was only what was needed and it works wonderfully.

 Instead of the incident happening on US soil it happened in Lagos Nigeria meaning that this isn't just America's issue it's the worlds problem. The issue in the movie isn't of heroes keeping their identities secret but of accountability for the casualties of the large conflicts occurring in the MCU which in real time was only occurring for 8 years as far as the general public knew. And unlike the normal Marvel universe which has been around since the 60's the MCU was created in 2008 when Tony first became Iron Man which is an incredibly short amount of time for Superheroes to just show up, so laws and regulations were an inevitability.

 However this is where I start to have problems, the UN and Tony want the heroes to be accountable for those who died during the previous movies. Specifically Loki's attack on New York, the crashing of the Helicarriers and Ultrons rampage and some of the public outright despise the heroes for their loved ones dying during these events. Um, bullcrap? Now I'm not being unsympathetic to those who lost their loved ones but the way the movie is phrasing it these people are angry that their loved ones died as opposed to the potential millions that could have died if the heroes hadn't intervened. I'm sorry but if I had that choice I would much rather live with the guilt of 10 people dying if that meant that I would prevent 10,000 people from dying if had done nothing. Now I believe that there was a certain clip to play in this situation, now where was it AH HA here it is.
 Also there's the little factoid that the Sokovia accords have a part in it that dictates that the Avengers who sign are to be regulated by the UN. Um need I remind everyone that it was established in Winter Solder Hydra members have already infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D and other positions in the US and potentially worldwide governments? Unless all the members were exposed at the end of Winter Solder (which I highly doubt because as their name implies cut off one head two more grow in its place) that means that the Avengers could be just a tool for either Hydra or agenda driven, paper pushing, corporate America pleasing bureaucrats, in other words not good. From our heroes perspective Tony does feel guilty (as he should) for the deaths that were caused by Ultron and does believe that even the Avengers can be flawed and that oversight wouldn't be such a bad idea, though from Steve's perspective the ones giving the oversight might not have the peoples best interests in mind and that while some people may die it's better then to stop trying and let more die. Both are legitimately logical reasons for the conflict, accountability and oversight v.s free will and independence.

 Also there's some bs about some guy wanting revenge against the Avengers for his family dying in Age of Ultron but that's not important. Now to talk about some of the heroes that were introduced in this movie Black Panther and MCU Spider-Man.
First off, love Black Panther's costume in the movie, it's sleek powerful and downright menacing, a perfect outfit for the warrior king of Wakanda.
 Black Panther was introduced when T'Challas father, the King of Wakanda was killed in The Winter Solders' attack on the signing of the Sokova Accords and dons the ceremonial armor of the Black Panther to get revenge for his father. I'm glad that they gave T'Challas introduction and motivation in this movie so they can expand more in his upcoming solo movie, though it begs the question of what the movie will be about now that the origin's out of the way but that's what hindsight's all about. Now on to Spiderman.
I have to admit this is the best looking live action Spiderman I've seen. Though I've only seen the original San Raimi trilogy but still. I especially love the eyes on the mask that can actually move allowing him much more expression as I always loved with with Spiderman's costume.
 How he's introduced is a great spin on the original Civil War comic itself. Tony manages to track down Peter Parker and offers to make him a new costume and provide funding for him to go to a technical college and essentially becoming a mentor and father figure for Peter. Peter doesn't fight Cap for political reasons but because Tony is willing to do this much for him and Peter is the type of guy to repay his debts. It also helps that Tony doesn't threaten to toss Aunt May into the Negative Zone prison (which doesn't exist in this movie thankfully) to keep him in line. Like with BP now that Peter's origins are quick and done with I'm curious to see how Spiderman Homecoming turns out, as long as Pyramid Head doesn't show up claiming to be a new character I think we're good.

 The movie also has a far better ending then the comic but I definitely won't be spoiling that here. Long story short pick up the movie, avoid the comic and get ready for more of the MCU, till we find the piece of poo in this delicious pile of chocolate.

Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Venture Brothers is owned by Adult Swim, Williams Street, AstroBase GO!, World Leaders Entertainment, Noodlesoup Productions and Titmouse inc.
Grand Theft Auto IV is owned by Rockstar Games and Take-Two interactive.
South Park is owned by Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central.
Sleeping Beauty (1959) is owned by Walt Disney, Walt Disney Productions and Buena Vista Distribution.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica is owned by Gen Urobutchi, Studio Shaft, and Studio Aniplex.
Silent Hill Downpour is owned by Vatra games and Konami Computer Entertainment.
Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan is owned  by Paramount Studios and Gene Roddenberry.
Captain America Civil War is owned by The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Studios and is based on the Comic "Civil War" Written by Mark Millar

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