Civil War

When it was first announced that the Russo Brothers were being handed Avengers: Infinity War, I was a tad worried. Yes, Winter Soldier was awesome - one of the best Marvel films up to that point - but their inability to frame an action scene and KEEP THE SMEGGING CAMERA STILL put them in my bad books, and I envisaged big, explosive, overblown action scenes with Transformers level clarity. 

Civil War has put those fears to rest (and not just because they apparently bought each other steady-cams for Christmas). 

Every character is as well-played as they've always been. After 12 of these things, that's hardly surprising - I think RDJ's been playing Iron Man about as long as June Brown was Dot Cotton - but the level of performance extends to the recent additions. Paul Rudd is having as much fun playing Ant Man as his character is meeting Steve Rogers, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Betany have more chemistry after 2 minutes on screen together than Ed Norton and Liv Tyler manager through the entirety of Incredible Hulk (did you even remember they were in that?), I cannot wait for the Black Panther film, and Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man... 

Sam Raimi directed 3 Spider-Man films: one good, one great and...another one. Marc Webb directed 2 Spider-Man films, and we're all trying to forget (especially Sony). The Russo Brothers directed 5 Spider-Man minutes and I'd take watching them on a two-hour loop over watching four out of five of the previous films. 

But, for me, the most notable thing about Civil War is that it clocks in at just under two and a half hours; about the same length as Batman v Superman. The difference is that, while the plot is by no means simple - featuring twists and turns and characters old and new with shifting loyalties and complex motivations and a core moral dilemma that is in no way easy to reconcile - there was no point in Civil War where I thought, 'Wait, why's he doing that? That's stoopid!' 

As Mark Kermode said: "It's film you're meant to enjoy rather than endure." 

It makes sense, moves at a well-measured pace, features some of the best action of the entire series so far, and manages to be deep and meaningful without sacrificing fun.