browngirl: (Sam Wilson)
[personal profile] browngirl
Not really thoughts, more (hopefully) articulated feelings. I feel emotionally compromised by this movie.

I loved it but it left me both exhilarated and sad. A bit like TFA, but that left me more exhilarated than sad whereas this left me more sad than exhilarated. After all, even in the Russo's capable hands, it was a movie about watching people 's friendships break. You know that sinking-stomach distraughtness when two dear friends fight and you just have to helplessly watch? That was this movie. Writ large.

I mean, where there's life there's hope, but lots of lives are irreparably changed. Steve and Sam are exiles from the country they served, Clint's children may have to grow up without him (where is he?), Wanda and Vision have been broken up... there's a lot of work for fan creators to do to figure out plausible ways to fix all of this. Tony is Messed Up, Rhodey has a very difficult road ahead -- entertainingly, I'm least worried about Natasha, the character I was most worried about before I saw the movie, as I'm quite sure she went straight to the Barton farm to warn and help them.

(Man it hurt to see characters I adore be assholes to each other. Clint, that was a terrible thing to say, but, Tony, were you really going to let your erstwhile teammates grow old and die in a horrible secret prison?)

These aren't really complaints, so much as lamentations. I actually loved it, I'm just sad about it. It got me through the heart. I am holding onto the last image of Sam and Steve smiling at each other.

Speaking of things I loved, WELCOME THE NEW KING, T'CHALLA OF WAKANDA. I'm really looking forward to Wakanda, which I know nothing about (I'm sad I never found out about it when I was a Black teenager reading comics) and T'Challa was a great introduction to his country, brilliant and badass and regal and brilliantly portrayed by the as-talented-as-he-is-handsome Mr. Boseman. Also, it was lovely to see Sharon Carter being intelligent, informative, and badass. (I love Bucky, and I love his arc here, but I did enjoy seeing him him get kicked in the face by her, too.)

(Speaking of Bucky, oh my GOd the scene where Bucky was being triggered by Zemo, oh my God, he kept fighting the trigger phrases, I started crying watching him fight the evil programming. I barely heard "Ready to Comply".)

Some less necessary stuff, though, does include the Steve/Sharon kiss, which was kind of ... plunked in there, as more eloquent people than I have pointed out. I kind of enjoyed it but not how I feel it was meant. As a great big What Might Have Been, no way. As a gesture of "You are valiant and helped me and also pretty, and I can kiss you onscreen because society assigns us to different genders," heteronormative but aesthetically pleasing. I love kisses and I so don't want to sound ilk the kind of misogynistic fangirl who invents reasons to wipe all the female characters out of the story, but... To compare physical gestures of affection, Steve patting Bucky on the shoulder had more story and relationship behind it and therefore more emotional resonance and enjoyability.

In further complaining, neither Ant-man nor Spider-man needed to be there at all. The audience all around me liked them, but I was deeply unimpressed. (Am I the only person who really liked Andrew Garfield's Spider-man, at least till the unnecessary snatching-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory of the second movie's ending?) Also, a massive opportunity was missed by using Peter Parker AGAIN rather than using Miles Morales. Also, it's rather a pity that Zemo couldn't've been Strucker, whom we'd at least seen before a tiny bit, as Zemo was... a blob of villainy with a Standard Tragic Backstory who manipulated the heroes because the plot needed him to, rather than being otherwise memorable of himself. Compared to Pierce or Zola or Loki or even Red Skull, he was very lacking in personality.

ANYWAY. This is an emotional review, and I should wind it up with what I'm going to do with all my FEEELINGS. The knowledge of multiple Winter Soldiers is really intriguing. The ending cries out for a kajillion fix-its and reconciliations of various kinds. I can't wait to see more of Wakanda. And at least Steve knows where Bucky is in a freezer and has Sam by his side, even in a strange land. (THAT LAST SCENE OF THEM SMILING AT EACH OTHER.)

But man, my heart hurts.

Date: 2016-05-09 02:02 am (UTC)
ext_3545: Jon Walker, being adorable! (Default)
From: [identity profile] dsudis.livejournal.com
It took me until halfway through the credits to realize what song was playing and then I inappropriately cracked up while everyone around me was silently waiting for the last credits scene. :D

Re:

Date: 2016-05-09 02:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] browngirl.livejournal.com
WD was already pretending not to know me, because I screamed out across the audience "THERE ARE TWO POST-CREDITS SCENES", and then that song came on and I started dying of laughter. Poor WD. :D

Date: 2016-05-09 03:18 am (UTC)

Date: 2016-05-09 02:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hand2hand.livejournal.com
Hey, we watched the same movie!

Also, they've just rebooted Black Panther with a new comic written by Ta Nehisi Coates. You might enjoy it. I don't know much about it, but I knew about it because I've followed his writing for some time now.

Date: 2016-05-09 08:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lb-lee.livejournal.com
If you liked Black Panther (every appearance I've seen of him, I liked), did you know BET did an animated miniseries about him? It's pretty good! I've seen it and recommend it.

I always felt like T'Challa was one of the few superheroes that actually seemed emotionally stable.

--Rogan

Date: 2016-05-09 11:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] coyotegoth.livejournal.com
If it's any consolation, pardons are far from unknown in the Marvel universe; the Hulk got one in the early '90s, IIRC. Too, now that T'challa and Steve are pals, he may well be able to grease the skids diplomatically. Ant-Man and Spider-Man were more there as mood relief than plot mechanics (although Ant Man's surprise tactic was an utter high point of the movie for me; too, they finally got a Spider-Man who matches the one I imagine, although a Miles Morales version would be nice). Also, good point re Zemo/Strucker.

Date: 2016-05-10 10:16 pm (UTC)
danae_b: (Default)
From: [personal profile] danae_b

It made my heart ache too.   *hugs*  it was so amazing in so many ways and perhaps one of these days we can sit down and watch it together  <3

Date: 2016-05-11 12:26 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tendyl.livejournal.com

Oh...thank you.  I may not got see it right now then.  I've enough grief on my plate.

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