The best Marvel film
yet?
Warning-
Mildly spoilerific review follows. Well you know it’s got Avengers in and
there’s a civil war right?
If The Winter Soldier was a rare example of
the intellectual blockbuster, then its sequel embraces both the political and
the personal. At a time when Western involvement in sundry conflicts around the
world is under more scrutiny than ever, here we have the freedom with which the
Avengers operate called into question to the point where they are all asked to
sign an accord which means any missions have to be sanctioned by politicians. This
sort of thing has been done before in the comics realm but rarely as well or
thoroughly as it is here. To the credit of the scriptwriters we understand why
each of the team takes the stance that they do and even more importantly the
team themselves outline their arguments reasonably because really there is no
right or wrong in this scenario. The result is that the film avoids becoming an
exercise in super -powered glowering and melodramatic confrontations, it’s
about different positions being taken based on beliefs. It is – in the best
sense- both big and clever!
