Iron man vs Captain America: Dawn of nothing in particular but a very interesting movie that's way better than that other one.

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2016)

Seems that this spring-early summer has turned into a sort of 'pistols at dawn' between DC and Marvel. DC fired first but shot themselves in both feet and blew their noses off too for good measure. If only they had stuck to Miller's excellent template it would have worked beautifully but David 'hands of death' Goyer and Zack Snyder had to show off how clever they were...'Have to save...MARTHA!' 'Riddle me this...Dad beat me and God must die...Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!' 'You won't ever make Holly Hunter drink P***!'
So Marvel has basically already won it by default but fortunately their volley turned out not to be so bad. Not brilliant but good. Certainly better than 'Age of Ultron', a movie that was not so much birthed as miscarried. Seems they've learnt their lesson and this third Avengers movie (never mind the Captain America tag. It could just as easily be called Iron Man Civil War) matches the character interaction and big fight fun of the original with the darker 70s thriller vibe of 'Winter Soldier'.That movie was a good thriller but non existent as a superhero flick and was marred by yet another 'there is no terrorism out there its just the guys in charge trying to scare you into submission line' that seems to have become the default position for many before the sheetstorm sweeping the world right now, the mantra to shout out as you see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. There are politics here too but they are more balanced and a real dilemma is presented to which they thankfully do not offer a solution. That dilemma, can super powered individuals operate at their own discretion as judge jury and executioner or must there be government accountability?, is one that has powered many comic book masterpieces including the 1987 double whammy 'Watchmen' (which Snyder made into a great movie) and 'Dark Knight Returns' (which Snyder turned into a pile of sheet) It powers the conflict between the characters until more personal and visceral ones take over.
The scene everybody really wants to see is the 'Burly Airport Brawl' where the two sides go at each other with all their skills in a noisy and surprising battle that is light-hearted and fun in a way the rest isn't. That could be a mini movie in itself and its worth waiting for. There are a few action scenes around including yet another African rundown, this time against the masked Cross-bones and his crew, and the spectacular 'down the stairwell' and 'Tunnel chase/Audi Q7 advert' scenes in Bucharest but like 'WS' the rest of it is mainly downtime, yet the tension never drops and we feel the pressure building on everyone.
There isn't really a villain here as the two sides are providing the opposition. Someone helps stoke things up and he is Helmut Zemo played by the brilliant Daniel Bruhl. The film doesn't 'stick like glue' (HA!) to his comic book character and they are only using the name here. In fact it could be argued that Zemo isn't even a villain and he is ultimately deemed too pitiful to even kill by his opponents once they see who he is and why he has done what he has.
Spiderman is finally brought into the MCU and takes his place as an Avenger after years of protest with his backstory already done off screen (God, would we want to see it AGAIN?) with Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Marisa 'still so hot' Tomei as the comically sexy Auntie May. Black Panther also makes his début and despite his costume looking a little goofy he fits in well as does the now properly realised Wakanda. Hope they will be as well used in their own movies. - Ant-man makes the appearance promised at the end of his standalone but he is there to take part in the 'Big Brawl' and doesn't do much after. Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Vision are all beefed up and given more time and character depth here while Black Widow sort of hangs around the edges and doesn't get very involved in things for once though she too is in the action. Excuses for why Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't appear continue and are getting more and more stretched. Just recast and have done with it please!
Again, a summer blockbuster that is marketed at kids but is geared entirely at adults (after BvS and Zootopia) and will mean very little to younger audiences though the big fight will be sure to entertain.
So a victory on points for Marvel but a well deserved one and definitely worth going to see.