|
|
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
|
|
HOLLYWOOD CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
EDITOR'S PICK
A civil war usually evokes sharp polarised reactions, and like any such situation, "Captain America: Civil War" is no exception. For the general audience, this film would be a chaotic experience. And for fans of Marvel films, this would be nirvana, with a few misgivings.
One has to be totally immersed into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to enjoy this film or even understand what's happening onscreen. This is perhaps owning to the fact that the directors go out of their way to pay homage to Marvel's earlier films, via characters, cinematography, stunts and everything else.
In this edition, after collateral damage done by the Avengers' action all over the globe, political pressure mounts. The world questions the Avengers' role of peace keeping and insist on installing a system of accountability. Divided over "rights" issue, with Captain America on one side and Iron Man on the other, a civil war ensues.
Once again teaming together after the 2014 release "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", script writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, along with director brothers Anthony and Joe Russo deliver a complex story packed with numerous characters like: Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Sam Wilson aka Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Peter Parker aka Spider Man (Tom Holland), Scott Lang aka Ant Man (Paul Rudd), Agent Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt), Baron Zemo (Daneil Bruhl), May Parker (Marisa Tomei), Vision (Paul Bettany).
Picking up threads from Marvel's earlier films, this one weaves a plot that makes it tedious to view, as a lot of what matters in Civil War isn't actually in the film at all. It takes a while for the narrative to sink in. And, unlike in a conventional script, this one does not give enough time or space for each character to settle into the narration.
With so many superheroes, this seems like an extension of "The Avengers" series. One thing that works in favour of this film is that the characters feel like real people. They are never cartoonish, and, ironically, they feel like they are at the most human, when they are behaving in superhuman ways.
The film is action-heavy with set pieces of hyper-lucid combat scenes that include chases and fights, where some personalities get to shine more than others. Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, Don Cheadle as War Machine and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow barely register, while Paul Rudd's Ant-Man has a prefect humour track with a wow-factor.
Production designer Owen Paterson's brilliant sets, enhanced by the effects team's elegant work, along with cinematographer Trent Opaloch's sleek visuals slickly edited by Jeffery Ford and Matthew Schmidt, gives a vibrant form to the Avengers' world, whether they are saving it or creating a mess.
Overall, "Captain America: Civil War" is a purposeless fantasy battle, punctuated with humour, that may appeal only to its fans.
'Captain America: Civil War' makes the super heroes look imbecileThere is something you should know. There is something seriously wrong with the world we live in. I am not saying it. The super heroes of the Marvel kingdom are. And they can’t be wrong. After all, they have the capability to save the world, as we know it, from self-destruction.
Lately, the super hero films have begun to groan under the weight of carrying the burden of the ruinous world on their strapping shoulders. The last big super hero film 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' was so dense in its plotting proclivities that no one in the world fully comprehended the full force of the fanatically niche-oriented proceedings.
To its credit -- and to our relief --- the hijinks of the super heroes is far easier to follow in 'Captain America: Civil War'. Some of them, like the new callow Spiderman(Tom Holland), are fun to watch. But I am afraid the fun element seems to be rapidly dwindling from the super hero franchise.
Even the ravishing Sacrlett Johansson’s Black Widow looks distracted, as though she has other worlds to save once done with this one.
Here’s what is going wrong with the Marvel movies. The blood of humanism is being drained out and replaced by the furious flow of virtual adrenaline. These are not men and women who care for individuals. Too busy saving civilisation from catastrophe, they end up behaving like automatons on speed.
The plot is so layered it seems to be constructed in a beehive. At some point or the other, every super hero is at loggerheads with one of his or her colleagues. Iron Man(Robert Downey Jr. ) and Captain America (Chris Evans), though on the same side, are this time ideologically opposed and trendily polarised. It is no longer enough to have the super heroes battling the Evil Force. That comes later. Intricate internecine wars are worked out by the super brains who supervise the super flicks about the super heroes.
It’s done to super-impress the hypnotised breed of humanity known as the Marvel maniacs. For the rest of civilisation, Captain America is one long exercise in self-pleasuring eruptions. Barring the Black American actor Chadwick Boseman who plays the bereaved prince of an African nation joining forces with the Avengers, the emphatically expressionless actors don’t seem to be having much fun doing what super heroes are supposed to do. Save the world, silly!
Clearly, Captain America misses the wood for the trees, or the fun for the apocalypse. By the time the climax has all the super heroes lining up against the villain (played by Sebastian Stan, looking more a rock star than a super-villain, frazzled than dazzled) the crammed canvas resembles the prized bookshelf in a little boy’s room with all the super hero figures lined up for a battle, that no one is supposed to touch, particularly not grown-ups.
There is one more super hero film about the masked and unmasked saviours of the universe waiting to erupt on our saturated senses. Alas, 'Captain America: Civil War' is not that film.
The dubbing in Hindi is fair to farcical. Varun Dhawan's Captain America is
frugally heard. This is a man of few words.
"Captain America" actor Anthony Mackie would love to be the next James Bond, but says he would prefer the character to be more "mellow" than in previous adaptations.Read More
Johansson uncomfortable talking on wage issuesActress Scarlett Johansson feels "icky" talking personally about the gender pay gap in Hollywood.Read More
