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Saw Civil War yesterday
Relieved to be able to stop the spoiler blackout, mostly.
I didn't hate it, but as much as it annoys me to admit this, I do think when the whole fandom predicted it would be a depressing, bombastic, badly written mess, I should probably have listened, because you all were right. It was very much along the lines of those old 1980s superhero "Hulk vs. the X-Men!!" type events, where the heroes beat up on each other for 22 pages because of some implausible paper-thin pretext and then you pick up Hulk #204 to continue the story (or whatever). I also think the hand of editorial meddling was really obvious. I read an article last summer about the Avengers franchise pointing out that it's become too sprawling to produce good movies anymore; like the comics, everything is now setup for other movies, tying in plot threads from other movies, shoehorning in superheroes from other movies ... and they're right.
All that said, I definitely enjoyed the experience -- I mean, c'mon, I'm a superhero fan from way back. Bombastic, stupid movies about superheroes beating on each other are fun for me. Plus, they're fun to see in the theater. The crowd wasn't as invested as the one for Avengers last summer, so there wasn't as much audience reaction, but the whole theater gasped in unison when Rhodey hit the ground. I'm glad I did manage to spoiler-blackout myself and was able to see it without knowing anything about it. I also seriously expected someone to die, especially in the fight at the end, and was completely shocked that no one did.
I really loved the Sam and Bucky bits (I'm super easy for those two, and Stan & Mackie play off each other so well; someone give those two a road trip movie), the Rhodey and Tony bits ("Give me back my Rhodey!"), and to my complete shock because I had 0% interest in the character up 'til now, everything to do with T'Challa. He's great, the actor's great ... I'm really looking forward to the Black Panther movie now! The fight scenes were a lot of fun and well choreographed, though now I spend half my time feeling sorry for the actors when I'm watching these movies since the whole process of making them, and getting ready for them, looks so grinding and miserable.
And I wondered if Tony's "I'm just doing what has to be done" was a deliberate callback to Agent Carter, knowing the writers are at least somewhat involved in that show as well, and since it was used in a very similar context to the show's recurring use of that line.
I'm much more tempted to write fic than I was expecting. The idea of everyone on the run and hiding out in Wakanda opens up lots of fun possibilities (and exploring Wakanda as a setting looks like loads of fun; plus, you just know Natasha is going to be cheerily double-agenting between the rebels and the official group of superheroes, and possibly Sharon too). On the other hand, I'm not sure if I actually feel like wallowing around in this canon right now, since I suspect thinking about this movie in too much depth would blow away most of the actual enjoyment I got out of watching it. And I don't think the fandom is interested in the kind of fics I'd be wanting to write for it anyway. (Not that that's ever stopped me before.) I suppose I'll see how much inspiration comes along.
ETA: Oh, I forgot to say - it was fun to see that some of what I've been writing in fic actually turned out to be canon, like Sam's goggles having a HUD. I also feel like the actual, canonical post-WS Bucky is really close to how I used to write him - soft-spoken, stubborn, grouchy, a little shy around the Avengers (or at least very uncertain of his welcome, for obvious reasons), messed up but still functional and competent. If I do start writing him again, I don't think I'll actually have to change my characterization at all.
I didn't hate it, but as much as it annoys me to admit this, I do think when the whole fandom predicted it would be a depressing, bombastic, badly written mess, I should probably have listened, because you all were right. It was very much along the lines of those old 1980s superhero "Hulk vs. the X-Men!!" type events, where the heroes beat up on each other for 22 pages because of some implausible paper-thin pretext and then you pick up Hulk #204 to continue the story (or whatever). I also think the hand of editorial meddling was really obvious. I read an article last summer about the Avengers franchise pointing out that it's become too sprawling to produce good movies anymore; like the comics, everything is now setup for other movies, tying in plot threads from other movies, shoehorning in superheroes from other movies ... and they're right.
All that said, I definitely enjoyed the experience -- I mean, c'mon, I'm a superhero fan from way back. Bombastic, stupid movies about superheroes beating on each other are fun for me. Plus, they're fun to see in the theater. The crowd wasn't as invested as the one for Avengers last summer, so there wasn't as much audience reaction, but the whole theater gasped in unison when Rhodey hit the ground. I'm glad I did manage to spoiler-blackout myself and was able to see it without knowing anything about it. I also seriously expected someone to die, especially in the fight at the end, and was completely shocked that no one did.
I really loved the Sam and Bucky bits (I'm super easy for those two, and Stan & Mackie play off each other so well; someone give those two a road trip movie), the Rhodey and Tony bits ("Give me back my Rhodey!"), and to my complete shock because I had 0% interest in the character up 'til now, everything to do with T'Challa. He's great, the actor's great ... I'm really looking forward to the Black Panther movie now! The fight scenes were a lot of fun and well choreographed, though now I spend half my time feeling sorry for the actors when I'm watching these movies since the whole process of making them, and getting ready for them, looks so grinding and miserable.
And I wondered if Tony's "I'm just doing what has to be done" was a deliberate callback to Agent Carter, knowing the writers are at least somewhat involved in that show as well, and since it was used in a very similar context to the show's recurring use of that line.
I'm much more tempted to write fic than I was expecting. The idea of everyone on the run and hiding out in Wakanda opens up lots of fun possibilities (and exploring Wakanda as a setting looks like loads of fun; plus, you just know Natasha is going to be cheerily double-agenting between the rebels and the official group of superheroes, and possibly Sharon too). On the other hand, I'm not sure if I actually feel like wallowing around in this canon right now, since I suspect thinking about this movie in too much depth would blow away most of the actual enjoyment I got out of watching it. And I don't think the fandom is interested in the kind of fics I'd be wanting to write for it anyway. (Not that that's ever stopped me before.) I suppose I'll see how much inspiration comes along.
ETA: Oh, I forgot to say - it was fun to see that some of what I've been writing in fic actually turned out to be canon, like Sam's goggles having a HUD. I also feel like the actual, canonical post-WS Bucky is really close to how I used to write him - soft-spoken, stubborn, grouchy, a little shy around the Avengers (or at least very uncertain of his welcome, for obvious reasons), messed up but still functional and competent. If I do start writing him again, I don't think I'll actually have to change my characterization at all.
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