tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post2724929844286152379..comments2024-03-28T18:35:54.237+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: "Captain America: Civil War": reviewKevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-40316205957071443932016-05-17T15:42:48.303+09:002016-05-17T15:42:48.303+09:00Yeah, I don't think the Venn diagram of "...Yeah, I don't think the Venn diagram of "MCU fans" and "Only You fans" has a very large overlap. I only know about the latter because HJ likes the film.Charleshttp://www.liminality.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-69575747226960220972016-05-16T16:51:26.928+09:002016-05-16T16:51:26.928+09:00Good thoughts, all.
Yeah, Zemo's plotting was...Good thoughts, all.<br /><br />Yeah, Zemo's plotting was contrived, and I don't think it was as well done as the Joker's plotting was in "The Dark Knight." Part of the reason is that, at least for me, the Joker isn't entirely an earthly being: there's something weird and eerily miraculous about his insanity, and I think both Nolan and Burton were at pains to enfold their Jokers in an aura of implausibility that suggested this unnaturalness (e.g., Jack Nicholson's just standing there while the Batwing came at him, guns blazing—something echoed by Heath Ledger's "Hit me! <i>Hit me!"</i> moment in Nolan's film, when the Batcycle came at <i>him</i> with guns blazing).<br /><br />Interestingly, there's a YouTube video devoted to the "four major plot holes" in "Civil War," and your beef about Zemo/Stark is one of them.<br /><br />Your Downey/Tomei reference goes way, way down the rabbit hole, at least for me, especially since I never saw "Only You."Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-43189974092828955322016-05-16T16:40:55.632+09:002016-05-16T16:40:55.632+09:00Oh, and another thing I thought of: I've seen ...Oh, and another thing I thought of: I've seen a number of sites now sporting lists of "easter eggs" in the film (term in quotes because most of these are "references," not easter eggs--not everything has to be an easter egg, guys), yet none of them have mentioned that Tony Stark/Aunt May flirting is actually a reference to RDJ and Marisa Tomei's fling in the 1994 film "Only You."Charleshttp://www.liminality.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-4575112056352398422016-05-16T11:47:58.425+09:002016-05-16T11:47:58.425+09:00Only commenting on this now because I just saw thi...Only commenting on this now because I just saw this yesterday.<br /><br />I enjoyed it in general, although I agree with your coworker that Zemo's plot was way too complicated and relied on things happening that he could never have predicted. In particular: How did he know that Stark would follow Cap and Barnes to the Siberian complex. Everything hinged on that! The UN bombing to frame Barnes was more reasonable--but it only seems so because we know that T'Challa is (or would become) the Black Panther. Did Zemo know this? If so, how? Even without this knowledge, the plot is still reasonable, as it does get the world (and the Avengers) searching for Barnes, but it's not quite as clever as it appears.<br /><br />And I agree about the camera angles in the Starks' death scene. First of all, why is there a camera there in the first place? If you look at the crash (which we see three times, I think), it's obvious that there is no building there that would need a security camera. Even if there was a building lurking in the shadows, Barnes causing the car to crash at that exact point would be quite a stretch. A camera on his motorcycle would make more sense, but wouldn't have been positioned properly to catch the action. A body cam would make even more sense, but would of course not show the face of the person doing the shooting.<br /><br />All that aside, though, even assuming that there is a building lurking in the shadows (two, actually, because I think we see wide footage of the crash from two different angles) that has a security camera trained on that exact spot, the camera <i>moves</i>. Not just in terms of panning and zooming, which would make no sense for a stationary security camera, but actually moving like a handheld camera. The whole thing was just ridiculous.<br /><br />So, yeah, I enjoyed the film overall, and I don't think I was bothered as much by the repetitiveness of some of the fight choreography, but just about every aspect of Zemo's final plot made no sense at all. It really annoyed me and took me out of the film. True, absurd plots that rely on a chain of events over which the villain has no control and cannot possibly predict are stock-in-trade for the film industry, but it still annoys me every time I see it.Charleshttp://www.liminality.orgnoreply@blogger.com