So hey.
Got some catching up to do, so I'll start with this review.
I'm a huge sucker for MCU comic book films.
I can appreciate the time, effort, and money it took to make a cinematic universe. A universe in which everyone clicked with and got behind. A universe crafted by different directors, different actors, different producers for each film. It's idea I could really get behind. Some were pretty bad, some were really fun, and then, you have the truly great ones.
The way they approached the directors, is interesting. Approaching indie directors with one or two films under their belts, and giving them the reigns to direct a multi-million dollar film. It helps out up-and-coming directors, and Marvel gets decent movies for their universe. That's where we get into Joe and Anthony Russo.
Personally, I've seen their work on Community (a show I absolutely love), and it wasn't too bad, it kept up with the show's tone of going anywhere and everywhere.
So, they picked comedy sitcom directors to direct one of the biggest action franchises of all time, and it was the best thing they could've done.
I'll start off by saying this film is not perfect by any means. It doesn't really recapture the cohesion and visceral nature of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's has jarring tonal shifts, going from dark noir to campy fun, and both are done well, it just isn't meshed well together. The film almost suffers from BvS's weakness of feeling like 2-3 movies slammed into each other. Except here, it's a bit more smooth. You have The Winter Soldier 2, Avengers 2.5, and Spiderman .5 all bunched up in here. In fact, the Registration Act concept of the film overall becomes less and less important as the film goes on, in favor of the relationships of Cap, Tony, and Bucky, (which I'll go into in the "spoilers" part of this review). Though, there is a divide here certainly. Cap doesn't want to be bossed around, especially when he doesn't want to feel totally helpless. Tony feels extremely guilty for bringing the superhero concept into the world (though, I feel like it would've came out at one point anyway, if we were to go by the confines of the MCU).
Besides that, it was a truly entertaining film. The filmmakers' hearts were in the right place. There was a need and want to make something truly good, even if it plays like a really long, expensive, TV episode, playing in a show I love.
The film wants to be the dark middle chapter. It wants to be a Empire Strikes Back REEEEAAALLLY BAADDD. But, no one can die in it. I would say it's better than the source material. The thing I have against the comic is that it's way too dark to where it's hilarious if you told it to your friend, and at the end, it feels very rushed. This happens, then this happens, then he dies, then this. It didn't feel calculated, and some characters did things very out of place, unlike this film, where all the motivations made a lot of sense. Every "huge" thing that happens has a purpose. And well, that's where we go into spoilers.
The reveal of the Winter Soldier being the killer of Tony Stark's parents was amazing. You saw it right there with Tony, (RDJ was great in this btw, even though he felt like a new, "tortured" Tony, the one I wanted in IM3, but w/e) and I felt that was the biggest progression of this film. That part alone was better than anything from Age of Ultron, which was mediocre in that aspect. All AoU was, is a platform for the next MCU films, but is not a good film on it's own. It has a lot of scenes with no explanation, and a lot of them, you will say to yourself "oh this is set up for...", and that is my biggest complaint about any MCU film. The Thanos scenes in Guardians, the Falcon scene in Ant-Man (though that one was more well done), and that's probably why I love The Winter Soldier so much better. Any "world-building" scene felt very natural, and was essential to the story. However, this film is again, full of scenes like this. But, it wasn't tonal whiplash like AoU, it was a bit more fluid and put together better... kind of. The airport scene is a great example of a great, fun action scene, but tonally, does not fit in the narrative of this film. Which is fine in this case, because a good portion goes to political talking, dark realizations that every Avengers adventure had thousands of deaths, and character development. In an MCU film, you kind of need a Tony Stark hitting on Aunt May to break away from the darkness. Thank GOD it did not go full Batman v Superman dark.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It's flaws are what you make of it, it either makes or breaks the film for you. Check it out, if you haven't already. (Though at this point, you might just wait for the DVD release)
8/10
Got some catching up to do, so I'll start with this review.
I'm a huge sucker for MCU comic book films.
I can appreciate the time, effort, and money it took to make a cinematic universe. A universe in which everyone clicked with and got behind. A universe crafted by different directors, different actors, different producers for each film. It's idea I could really get behind. Some were pretty bad, some were really fun, and then, you have the truly great ones.
The way they approached the directors, is interesting. Approaching indie directors with one or two films under their belts, and giving them the reigns to direct a multi-million dollar film. It helps out up-and-coming directors, and Marvel gets decent movies for their universe. That's where we get into Joe and Anthony Russo.
Personally, I've seen their work on Community (a show I absolutely love), and it wasn't too bad, it kept up with the show's tone of going anywhere and everywhere.
So, they picked comedy sitcom directors to direct one of the biggest action franchises of all time, and it was the best thing they could've done.
I'll start off by saying this film is not perfect by any means. It doesn't really recapture the cohesion and visceral nature of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It's has jarring tonal shifts, going from dark noir to campy fun, and both are done well, it just isn't meshed well together. The film almost suffers from BvS's weakness of feeling like 2-3 movies slammed into each other. Except here, it's a bit more smooth. You have The Winter Soldier 2, Avengers 2.5, and Spiderman .5 all bunched up in here. In fact, the Registration Act concept of the film overall becomes less and less important as the film goes on, in favor of the relationships of Cap, Tony, and Bucky, (which I'll go into in the "spoilers" part of this review). Though, there is a divide here certainly. Cap doesn't want to be bossed around, especially when he doesn't want to feel totally helpless. Tony feels extremely guilty for bringing the superhero concept into the world (though, I feel like it would've came out at one point anyway, if we were to go by the confines of the MCU).
Besides that, it was a truly entertaining film. The filmmakers' hearts were in the right place. There was a need and want to make something truly good, even if it plays like a really long, expensive, TV episode, playing in a show I love.
The film wants to be the dark middle chapter. It wants to be a Empire Strikes Back REEEEAAALLLY BAADDD. But, no one can die in it. I would say it's better than the source material. The thing I have against the comic is that it's way too dark to where it's hilarious if you told it to your friend, and at the end, it feels very rushed. This happens, then this happens, then he dies, then this. It didn't feel calculated, and some characters did things very out of place, unlike this film, where all the motivations made a lot of sense. Every "huge" thing that happens has a purpose. And well, that's where we go into spoilers.
The reveal of the Winter Soldier being the killer of Tony Stark's parents was amazing. You saw it right there with Tony, (RDJ was great in this btw, even though he felt like a new, "tortured" Tony, the one I wanted in IM3, but w/e) and I felt that was the biggest progression of this film. That part alone was better than anything from Age of Ultron, which was mediocre in that aspect. All AoU was, is a platform for the next MCU films, but is not a good film on it's own. It has a lot of scenes with no explanation, and a lot of them, you will say to yourself "oh this is set up for...", and that is my biggest complaint about any MCU film. The Thanos scenes in Guardians, the Falcon scene in Ant-Man (though that one was more well done), and that's probably why I love The Winter Soldier so much better. Any "world-building" scene felt very natural, and was essential to the story. However, this film is again, full of scenes like this. But, it wasn't tonal whiplash like AoU, it was a bit more fluid and put together better... kind of. The airport scene is a great example of a great, fun action scene, but tonally, does not fit in the narrative of this film. Which is fine in this case, because a good portion goes to political talking, dark realizations that every Avengers adventure had thousands of deaths, and character development. In an MCU film, you kind of need a Tony Stark hitting on Aunt May to break away from the darkness. Thank GOD it did not go full Batman v Superman dark.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It's flaws are what you make of it, it either makes or breaks the film for you. Check it out, if you haven't already. (Though at this point, you might just wait for the DVD release)
8/10
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