Captain America Civil War

It takes all of twenty seconds to realize this is the best version of Peter Parker we’ve ever had. I loved the last two actors, but this one is awesome in the truest sense of the word. I thought Marisa Tomei would be distracting as Aunt May, and I’m still a little pissed Hollywood seems to think she and Winona Ryder and Diane Lane are old enough for these kinds of roles, but all my doubts are gone now that I’ve actually seen it. Throughout a lot of the movie they’re trying things differently, which is rare for a comic book movie, and even rarer: it works.

This is the movie we all wanted to see when we went to see Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Despite Disney’s best efforts to show us too much in the trailers (I’m officially done with official trailers from here on out) there are a lot of surprises left, particularly how the plot unfolds. Scenes I thought would take place later in the film take place early on and vice versa. Even if I were to tell you what splits the team in the opening act I would be spoiling a pretty big surprise. Just know it’s every bit as believable as the gritty political-thriller stuff from The Winter Soldier.

And that airport scene in the trailers? That’s probably the most exciting thing you’ll see in a movie all year. It’s an actual comic book battle on the big screen. I really want to tell you more about it, but you just have to see it yourself.

So many comic book movies have dropped the ball by trying to cram too many characters into the story, but this one skates right by the expected problems. This despite the fact it has about a gazillion characters in it. The original Avengers gave us what we always wanted when we were children. Civil War goes for that same level of excitement and knocks it out of the park.

As for the mid- and post-credits sequence? Skip it. They’re just going through the motions now and manage to reveal pretty much nothing about the future films. That’s probably the most disappointing thing in the entire movie, other than Ant-Man’s new helmet.

I wouldn’t say Civil War is better than The First Avenger and The Winter Soldier, but when was the last time you saw a third entry that could even hold a candle as well as this one does? I rest my case.