Starring: Chris Evans, Roberrt Downey Jnr, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emly VanCamp, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, William Hurt and Daniel Brühl.
Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Budget $150 million. Running time 147 minutes long.
If I was to try and summarize the plot to this film I think it would take longer that the film's running time so I won't. Suffice to say, or nut-shelling it to a sound bite, the plot is something like this - the heroes gather after one too many incidents involving innocent bystanders and are forced to decide between signing up to a UN accord or going rogue, battle lines are drawn between Captain America and his chums and Iron Man and his, plus the arrival of two new supes, Spiderman and Black Panther. Meanwhile a shady looking young fellow is going around trying to get Sebastian Stan's Winter Solider blamed for the deaths of lots of people for his own nefarious purposes. After that, it's 147 minutes of near perfection.
This is, without doubt the best Marvel Universe movie so far produced, easily matching and surpassing Captain American's last outing and I thought that one was pretty damn good. The title is pretty misleading since there are so many characters it's more of an Avengers movie than it is a Capt American one however that's probably the worst thing you can say about this.
I was lucky to go into this film knowing little, apart from the trailers and for once the trailer reveals very little of this film! Plus, much of the trailer seems to have been made up of different takes and as such the film seems utterly fresh. The actors all seem to reveal in their roles so relaxed have they become in them. The plot is dense and complicated and builds nicely, never short changing you nor disappointing. The action is fantastic and the CG is used perfectly to enhance and not to create horrible plastic-looking monsters. There's little doubt that this will be the new benchmark by which subsequent super hero films are measured.
I bloody loved this film, it was effortlessly entertaining and the fights were genuinely peerless! you might have glimpsed the airport runway fight in the trailer but rest assured 'You ain't seen nothing yet!' in the true highlight of the movie the titular fight between the two bands of heroes is jaw-droppingly fantastic! And there are two sequences that had me not only gasping in sheer delight but whooping with utter joy, one is the introduction of the new Spiderman and oh boy what a glorious introduction that is, leading to a fight scene which eradicates the vile memories of the last three Spider Man movies in one go! And the other sequence I wouldn't dream of spoiling, it's just too wonderful for words, but it involves the Empire Strikes Back!
Taking time to develop the plot and giving each of the heroes time to shine, this was a film that despite it's long running time just zips along, a film that had me utterly engaged from beginning to end. The action sequences are fantastically mounted and the direction is lean and sharp.
I would suggest that if this is your first ever Marvel or super hero film then you're going to find it pretty incomprehensible but then that's your own fault for avoiding a simply glorious series of films, and it would pay for you to watch the last Captain America movie and the first Avengers one too before going in. However what makes this so good is that it doesn't all descend in the obligatory third act, final-fight showdown that often mars the Marvel movie template, this one ends in a much more personal way ending more with a whisper than a roar.
I won't take time to point out that this film is everything that the woefully piss-poor in comparison Batman Versus Superman would love to be. But the truth is that it is. Plus the Marvel Universe takes place in glorious day light and not the dreary, gloomy twilight fug of the DC-verse.
Without doubt the best blockbuster we're going to get this year!
See it once, see it twice, but whatever you do see it!
9/10
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