Some of Marvel's Best.

Rating: 7/10 (11 September 2018)

From what I can tell, this seems to be the first MCU movie that has somewhat lasting consequences. I don't want to say that it felt grounded in reality, but it was very refreshing to see some kind of acknowledgement of all the controversy that would logically arise from having superheroes exist in the world. I had a friend ask me whose side I was on in terms of the peace accords, and I had to say that I really didn't know. Obviously there is some indication that we're supposed to side with Captain America, but the ideological conflict isn't really resolved by the end of the movie. I'm going to put this out there as more of an unfounded theory than anything else, but I think that the powers that be in the world take Iron Man's side in this argument in most cases, preparing for what could go wrong to the point that nothing good can be done. The Avengers are powerful people with no loyalties or affiliations, which makes them volatile in a way that the rest of the world isn't ready for, and I was very glad that this was acknowledged even though it was sort of ignored after the airport fight.
Speaking of which, I must admit that the airport fight is very good and re-watchable. It feels a lot more like an X-Men fight scene where the outcome is determined by who is on what side at a given moment because of whose powers are nullified by the opposing side. Some of the light tone and humorous moments in the scene felt a little cheesy, but it made sense since they were all friends fighting each other. However, it is kind of hard to take certain aspects of the movie seriously when there are so many jokes squeezed in everywhere else. The other action scenes in the movie were also quite impressive and well-structured. Since it's Marvel, I knew that things would pretty much turn out okay, but consequences were felt right from the opening fight.
I very much liked the introduction of our new heroes, Black Panther and Spiderman. Andrew Garfield was better IMO, but I think Tom Holland gives a likable and distinct personality to perhaps the coolest superhero ever. The overall plot wasn't exactly forgettable but wasn't memorable either. Ditto to the ending which may have been surprising to those who saw it in theaters, but I had heard how it ended and found myself a little detached from the climax.
Most of the reason I watched this was to catch up for Black Panther and Infinity War. If you're trying to catch up on the MCU, you have to see this movie. There's not really two ways around it. This is pretty much Avengers 3, not 2.5. If you just want to see Black Panther, you don't have to see this or any other movie for that matter. However, I enjoyed and appreciated this more than I expected to. It proved that the people pulling all the strings at Marvel care a lot about the overall story that they are telling and are capable of balancing a lot of different characters in one movie, while making it look fairly effortless. It also showed that they were willing to go beyond what was expected of them and gave fans, or at least me, confidence that the build to Infinity War would pay off. Overall Rating: 7.8/10.