The franchise is alive and well

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2016)

Which side are you on? Are there sides at all? Do you support the ideology of freedom and individual responsibility or the one of security and obedience to a collective? Is either of those two polar opposites attainable in the first place or are they just illusions?
This film couldn't have been more topical if it wanted to. Wait a minute - it's the Election year in the US... it DID want to be topical. Nothing occupies minds of citizens of the Western hemisphere more than these issues nowadays and "Captain America: Civil War" addresses them with zest. Of course, it does so in Marvel style: punch up first, ask questions later, but it does address them with some unexpected insight and self-awareness.
Personally I found the premise a little ludicrous. If I was someone with superpowers and a proved record of integrity and reliability I'd be hard pressed to allow sneaky bureaucrats who elbowed their way to UN to "supervise" me; or to wait for months on end for them to reach an agreement on what to tell me to do. If I was an unreliable and/or immoral superhero, they'd see even less of me. So it's a no-brainer as to what side should any of the characters really take. I also found ironic that the thing "the Avengers" were accused of by their political opponents - routinely ignoring sovereignty of national states and acting as the World police - is what the US military does on a regular basis. But hey, the setup needed to happen and the screenwriters have put in enough effort to make it look as plausible and as realistic as possible.
The result is a very tense and well paced film that balances serious and fun bits pretty easily. All the characters of old as well as some new additions have found their place in it. Perhaps the most anticipated addition, the one of Spiderman, is the one most effective (and hilarious). Given how colorful that superhero bunch is, the fight scenes are naturally spectacular and very imaginative. I found the ending kind of anti-climactic and unfairly vague in resolution. Obviously a major Disney investment isn't allowed to really take sides and risk repelling some of the audience, and that warrants taking the rating down a notch or two. Still, overall it's a very satisfactory film.
Of course, comparison with another major conflict in a competing comic-book franchise is inevitable and kind of obligatory. So, as far as that's concerned, I'd say I find both films on equal footing. Both are overall impeccably produced and directed, both are marred with similar implausibilities in terms of main premises, and both can be forgiven for that because they're so damn well made. The only difference is "Captain America: Civil War" is more fun and "Batman v. Superman" has a more poignant ending.
But comparisons don't really matter to me - I like both franchises and I like to see them both alive and well because I've grown tired of TV-series. You see, ever since the early days of television the cinematographers are fighting to bring the audience back to theaters. A relatively easy task at first, it became harder and harder over the decades, as both TV-series and TV-sets kept getting more and more cinema-like. The 3D technology was the latest gimmick but it also ended up in living rooms. And now the film industry started copying television. Just as TV has series, cinema has "franchises". A couple of ongoing and very expensive sagas are set to entertain majority of the film-goers during the next decade or so. The companies can ill- afford any flukes and I root for all of them to succeed as far as possible. If they retain the quality of this year's entrances, it could be a long fun ride.