Captain America: Civil War

I enjoyed watching it, but one thing I don't quite understand is how it's any different to Batman vs Superman, which everyone hated. For me both are three star films: fun, enertaining, visually impressive but really silly. As usual, there's good stuff and bad stuff. Good stuff: Iron Man becoming a more complex character, Spider-Man, Ant Man, Scarlet Witch, the action scenes. Bad stuff: Young Tony Stark, Vision staying at home to play chess. Biggest problem: the main villain is dull and has a confused motive that doesn't really match any of his actions in the film. But I don't mean to sound too negative. As I said, I enjoyed it. A better than average Marvel film: 3 stars.

I think that the difference is that this movie was allowed to build off of the work and characters that have been being developed since 2008 (first Iron Man)...so a lot of the emotions, characters, and seeing people grow and be challenged didn't need a lot of set up in this movie, in particular, since we've had literal years of set up in advance.

BvS, on the other hand, didn't have the real luxury of having built and established character set or world to live in. So the character motivations were oftentimes questionable or even absurd (you hate Superman so much and consider him a global threat, but will instantly join him because his mom happens to have the same name that yours did...really?).

I... will say that I didn't hate the film. I thought it was better than Avengers 2 from last year, but as far as a Captain America film goes, The Winter Soldier is still the best one. I was really taken aback by how much screen time the other characters took up, to the point where I started questioning if this was really a film focused on Captain America. It felt like Avengers 3 in disguise. It had a couple forced moments for the sake of battles, which kinda made me shrug in the theaters, too.

If one wants a film primarily focused on Steve Rogers with supporting characters kinda-sorta in the backdrop, it's kinda disappointing, but as a blockbuster, fanservice-y film containing most of the Marvel characters, it does its job.

I'd actually argue that, since Cap is the "leader" of the Avengers...it makes a lot of sense for it to look a lot like Avengers 3. At least me, when I'm watching a lot of other movies in the MCU, I'm always wondering why other Avengers aren't stepping in...it isn't like they are hard to find or that help isn't needed when these guys are struggling. I mean take Iron Man 3...why doesn't Stark just call up Shield and ask for some intel on the Mandarin...or get some help from the Black Widow during his final assault with War Machine (who was working with the government, not Shield, at the time).

I do feel that a couple characters were shoe-horned in there...like Hawkeye having little reason to join or Spider-Man (although i did absolutely love every scene with him)...but I didn't think it was so out of place as to be unforgivable either.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I agree that it's weird that the Avengers were questionably absent in movies like Iron Man 3 or The Winter Soldier, and it makes sense for them to have an ever-present role in this movie. I guess personally, I just have an issue with the title of the film; if it's going to be called Captain America, I expect the focus to be on Steve Rogers for a solid portion of the film, which is why I wished it was called Avengers 3, instead.

I did enjoy the scenes with Spider-Man, as well, regardless of its odd presence in the movie. I also thought the airport fight, in all its goofy glory, was one of the most enjoyable battles in the MCU.