Extremely Underwhelming (6/10)

Rating: 6/10 (25 May 2016)

I was really underwhelmed by this movie.
I have to disagree with the popular opinion. I was so stoked for this one, especially because The Winter Soldier is my second most favourite Marvel film after Iron Man, but I was left disappointed.
Spoilers up ahead!
Firstly, let's make something clear, it really wasn't a WAR. For 85% of the length of the film, it was a disagreement. And when we finally see the big twist happen, it still wasn't a war, because there were just 3 people fighting. I wanted every hero to be at each other's throat, but sadly that wasn't the case.
At the end of the movie, I was indifferent about which side to choose, because both were almost equally wrong. Iron Man's motivations for signing the accords didn't make sense. I mean, since the last 8 years he has been killing people and watching them die, and suddenly he meets one woman which instantaneously changes his mind. Like seriously? He created Ultron and even that didn't change his thought process, but after meeting a black woman for 30 seconds in a secluded hallway did.
Cap even once didn't mention how Hydra crept up inside SHIELD, and that is the reason they shouldn't sign the accords. The political angle should have been more fleshed out and written more articulately. They just skimmed over most of the stuff.
The only real players in the disagreement (not War) were Iron Man, Cap, Bucky and Black Panther. If you think about it, the movie would have been the same if you take away all the other characters apart from these four.
Scarlet Witch annoyed the hell out of me. Why? She kept creeping up in the middle of the fights in the airport scene and throwing the members from Stark's team away. I couldn't enjoy a good hand-to-hand combat scene between any of the members because the annoying little witch had to meddle in every character's fight. Is it too much to ask for a good hand to hand combat scene like the one in Winter Soldier? Honestly, Scarlet Witch is a bit too powerful for the MCU, and she should have been the one to die in Age of Ultron. Her accent is even more off-putting in this one. Nothing against Olsen, it's not her fault her character was written this way.
I actually ended up really disliking Cap by the end of this movie. He saw Bucky straight up brutally killing Tony's parents, and still he doesn't show any sympathy for Stark. His motivations were selfish which were clouding his judgement. For the whole film, he doesn't seem to realise that his best friend is a threat to humanity. A simple code can activate his prey instincts.
The famous Airport scene that everyone was boasting about was also surprisingly underwhelming. For the first 2 minutes it was great to see some of my favourite superheroes fight each other, but it got boring pretty quickly. Why? Because there wasn't any tension. All of the characters apart from Black Panther were pulling their punches. It was a practice session than a real straight up fight. It really wasn't War. Black Widow had the time to make jokes in the middle of the fight too.
And yeah, the movie was really predictable. Apart from the final twist, the movie played out exactly the way I had thought it would. I knew there would be an underwater prison, I knew how Black Panther would become a part of the conflict, I knew that either Bucky would be framed or manipulated to attack a major international organisation because it was all shown in the effing trailers.
One thing universally agreed upon about this movie is that the villain was unnecessary and I concur. His plan was extremely complex and it played out the way it did only because the movie wanted to. But, for a change it was refreshing to see a human antagonist who uses his wit and intellect to defeat the heroes. He doesn't have a grandeur motive to destroy to world, and I really appreciated that. That still doesn't take away the face that he was inessential to the overall plot.
The things I liked: The final fight between Cap, Bucky and Iron Man was really good. That was the point when the movie became enjoyable for me because the the tension escalated to a whole new level. The look of anguish and sorrow on Tony's face was intense. Sadly, it was too little, too late.
I liked Black Panther. He's introduced as a straight up badass, and I liked that. His motives made sense. He was part of the conflict for personal reasons and had his own agenda and that's why his character was intriguing.
Spider Man was so awesome. I was waiting to see a Peter Parker who looked and behaved like he was in high school. So that was splendid.
Finally, it goes without saying but the actors have really grown into their roles over the course of several movies and each one of them give an amazing performance. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans are just phenomenal in their portrayals. Even the new additions like Tom Holland and Chadwick Boseman are really good.
My final verdict would be a 2.75/5