Civil War

If you've been online in the past twenty four hours, then you've probably already seen the new trailer for the next Marvel movie installment - Captain America: Civil War.

If not, here it is. Enjoy.

If you're a Marvel nerd like me, then you're probably shitting your pants. 

All your favorite characters, plus some new ones, fighting each other in a battle for righteousness. 

We got the Captain himself, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Bucky Barnes, and Hawkeye versus Iron Man, Black Widow, War Machine, The Vision and (introducing) Black Panther. And then there will be cameos from other characters like Ant Man, Baron Zemo, Crossbones, and the new Spider-man played by Tom Holland (who I hope will redeem the catastrophe that cry-baby Andrew Garfield gave us). 

Anyways, a lot of people have been asking - why are these heroes, who are supposed to be on the same side, fighting each other?

The same applies to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Why are these heroes fighting?

Well, if you haven't read the comic book, Civil War, (which I highly recommend before seeing the movie), the government has issued a Superhuman Registration Act, a legislative bill which requires the mandatory registration of any person based in the United States with super powers. The act arose due to public pressure for accountability following a series of superhuman-related events causing significant damage and death within the Marvel universe. Iron man thinks this is a great idea. Captain America does not. This then escalades into a great battle between those in favor and those opposed.

The comic books features a lot of characters that probably won’t make the movie – including the Fantastic Four, Punisher, Tigra, a lot of the X-Men (who are owned by Fox) and many, many more.

But the thing I’m most concerned about is if Marvel will have the balls to really make this a good and gritty story. (Hopefully, they’ll learn from the success of Deadpool) But I don’t mean that there needs to be dick jokes every thirty seconds or Tony Stark has to say fuck a lot. What I mean is that you have two of the mightiest heroes in the Marvel Universe going at it in a war. And, in war, there is always a loser, and there are always casualties.

From the looks of the trailer, it looks like War Machine will definitely be one of these casualties thus making matters more personal for Iron Man.

I personally can’t wait for the movie.  And I can’t wait to see how they’ll end it. Because, we have two of the most beloved Marvel characters fighting, but one of them has to lose.

WHO WILL IT BE?!

I guess we'll just have to wait until May 6th...

Super Hero Movies

During my usual week check on Rotten Tomatoes, I noticed that the new Captain America movie scraped in 95 million dollars at the box office. It really made me think, why the hell are these super hero movies grossing so much money? What makes them so appealing these days. Well for one thing Super Hero movies are a form of escapism. We love rooting for the underdog, and in every super hero movie the underdog quality is always there. One interesting fact I noticed that the last time super heroes were so big was during their debut in the 1930's. The 1930's was the time of the Great Depression, comics like Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Wonder Women were all made to help people escape via reading during tough times. I find it so fascinating that these films have becomes so popular during tough economic times. "In the 1930s, the American Dream had become a nightmare, and I think comic books and superheroes in particular provided an escapist form of entertainment that allowed the American public to go into a fantasy world where all the ills of the world were righted by these larger-than-life heroes," says Erin Clancy, a curator at the Skirball. Despite weather you like these films are not, they definitely give us a lot of hope during tough times. 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Did you watch it? Well if you didn't, then do it. Seriously. Now.

This trailer has revived my faith in reboots. At the start of the trailer, we see Captain America (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) discussing their weekends. The short conversation brings back much of the light humor from the first film as well as a reminder that Capt. isn't in his domain anymore--keep in mind he was frozen in ice for many decades.

As he jumps out of the plane, it's hard not to smile. "Was he wearing a parachute?" "No. No he wasn't." From those two lines, viewers are reminded of Captain America's greatest superpower: courage. It's cheesy, I know, but that's why Steve Rogers was chosen to be the world's first superhero, anyway. Wasn't it? Besides his super strength, quick reflexes, and devilishly good looks, the greatest thing about this hero is what's inside. It's why we all grew to love him in the first film.

"I joined SHIELD to protect people." This line worked as another great reminder of why we love this hero. The only reason Captain America does what he does is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. He swore that he would use his powers for the greater good of the world. Without his promise, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to be the hero he became.

"Captain, to build a better world sometimes means turning the old one down. And that makes enemies." Oh no! Conflict! What could it be?? We don't know, and that's the point. A good trailer doesn't need to flat-out tell you what the main conflict in the story is. Can they? Sure. But I'm personally a fan of showing rather than telling, which is what the trailer goes on to do.

We are then shown a shot of this man...

Say hello to The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), the newest addition to Marvel's movie heroes. The Falcon, also known as Sam Wilson, has the powers to telepathically communicate with birds and can see what birds see. Who knows if Marvel will stay true to these powers, considering they seem to like to stay away from supernatural powers in their films, but this hero is also highly trained in hand-to-hand combat and, yes, even gymnastics. I'm not quite sure how our new character will be incorporated into the storyline of this film, but at least Marvel can throw him into the Avengers in the upcoming sequel.

"Look out the window. You know how the game works. Disorder. War." It's easy to tell that this Captain America sequel will be much, much darker than the first. After just listening to this one line, as well as watching cars blow up, I suddenly knew that this film will probably not be nearly as light-hearted or comical as the first. Marvel seems to be going down this road with all their sequels. Iron Man 2 was clearly much darker than the first, but then much of the humor we loved from the first film  was brought back for the third installment. The upcoming Thor sequel looks much darker in content has well.

"We want to neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen." "I thought the punishment usually came after the crime...This isn't freedom. This is fear." I guess Marvel decided to take a more real-world approach in this film! Often with government agencies--the FBI, the CIA--people question the morals of the things they do and the way those things are carried out. Captain America takes the stance of much of the general public when Nick Fury tells him that SHIELD is taking a new approach to fighting possible threats. He accuses Fury of what many people accuse the U.S. government of doing--acting without just cause.

Next, we see Captain America kick and punch a group of guys in an elevator. Many explosions follow.

In the ending shot of the trailer, we finally get a better look at the villain of the film. They call him the Winter Soldier, but his real name is...wait for it...almost there...getting closer...Bucky Barnes!! Yup! It's Captain's best, dead friend from the first film. How is he alive? No clue. I'm sure I could ask Google and I'd find out in a matter of thirty seconds but I'd much rather find out when I see the film in theaters--probably on opening night.

Along with the excellent dialogue selections they chose from the film, the makers of the trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier used some very visually appealing shots to even further enhance the effectiveness of the trailer. I'm not usually one to enjoy sequels, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jumping up and down in my seat after watching this trailer.