Did not deliver all that it promised to

Rating: 7/10 (1 May 2016)

We are so used to Marvel churning out a blockbluster in each of the many universes under its realm on a yearly basis that somehow we flock to watch them even when previous films in the series were not exactly inspiring. Such was the case with this movie. As visual entertainment went, it was mediocre among its genre. Marvel fans, however, would be disappointed as the crux that led to the divergence of the Avengers – the Superhuman Registration Act – did not even appear in the entire movie. The building-up of the tension was flimsy; Captain America's tie and loyalty to Bucky was unexplained, the reasons for recruits joining Cap's team were unclear (why would Hawkeye give up his domestic bliss to fight as an outlaw? How did they get Ant-man to join their cause?) and it appeared as if the whole point was to have two resultant teams with balanced numbers. Vision seemed somewhat weak – yes fans would know his attraction to the Scarlet Witch later – but wasn't it a little early to have him reduced to total putty whenever Wanda was involved? Black Widow did not appear to be the kind who would submit to supervision, and instead of outlining her inner struggle which ended up in her letting Cap and Bucky board the plane, now it was as Iron Man described – she acted like a "double spy" with no reason whatsoever. Some of the comic reliefs we liked – Cap flexing his biceps and using the helicopter as his personal gym trainer, Bucky and the Falcon gawking like a couple of schoolboys as Cap kissed his old flame's niece (anyone besides me feeling creepy here?), the verbal diarrohea of the teenage Spider-Man, etc. And after all that ado, we ended up with Avengers team A and team B – one to conduct UN-sanctioned missions and the other to have a free rein while keeping contact with each other? Would anyone remind me why we went through all that two and a half hours for?