Captain America: Civil War

There wasn't a lot of substance to Captain America: Civil War. It basically left me feeling like, "Was that a movie? Did I just watch something?" Some of the action was cool, and I guess the question it raises is interesting, but it's less than memorable.

I didn't see the first two Captain America movies, so I guess I was missing out on a bit of backstory here (and apparently the second Avengers movie would have been relevant as well, which I also didn't see). But I think I get the idea – the Avengers are destroying stuff, and Cap and Bucky were friends when they were growing up. I think I read a review that said it's an interesting dilemma, the fact that so many innocent people die in these things, and that this movie doesn't really provide any answers.

I think it sort of does. Cap's logic seems pretty sound. I guess it's just like in any war. Ultimately you're saving more lives. It's not like they're out there *trying* to kill innocent people. And putting the government in charge of them wouldn't be good. Although there probably should be some sort of system of checks and balances in case one of them is ever less than altruistic. Maybe it works if they're just self-policing.

I kind of liked the work Scarlett's stunt double was doing in the beginning with all the hand-to-hand stuff, but the shaky cam was massively unnecessary and annoying. Captain America as a whole is a little gimicky and hard to get behind, but I do like Chris Evans. Sebastian had a good energy about him. Bucky had a lot of funny lines, like when he asked Sam if he could move his seat forward, and when he told him that he hated him.

 I guess the Black Panther was a cool character. The claws were a little lame. They reminded me of Catwoman. Spiderman and Ant-Man were a little weird. They were obviously there for comedic effect, and they were funny and all, but they seemed a little out of place. Wanda was a cool character. I guess she's technically part of the X-Men universe. It did seem like she should probably rein it in a little.

The plot wasn't ever really fully engaging; I kind of spent the whole movie wondering "is this all it's going to be?" I don't think Zemo's plan of getting the Avengers to crumble from the inside by having Tony kill Bucky and/or Cap would've worked, anyway. You've still got the rest of the gang who would carry on. The far more effective split was created by Wanda's "last straw" of throwing the exploding guy into a building. I would have liked to have known more about her and Vision's powers – I guess I missed that in the second Avengers. I find it hard to believe that Sam and Tony couldn't stop James from falling and getting paralyzed.

It was interesting watching them fight each other, except when it got serious like with Cap and Tony. Then that's just a lose-lose situation; you don't want to see either one of them really get hurt. I liked seeing Hawkeye come back, and the part with Ant-Man inside Tony's suit was cool.