Captain America: Civil War - 10 Most Hyped Moments
Great action, great dynamics, great balance? Can it really be true?
It's almost Civil War time, and the hype is so heavy you can almost taste it.
The film currently sits at a massive 94 % on RottenTomatoes, improving not only on The First Avenger's 79%, but also The Winter Soldier's 89% - and the sequel was long proclaimed Marvel's best along with Guardians Of The Galaxy (which hit 91%). Inevitably, time will take some of that score away as more critics see the film and more cynical voices normalise the review response, but that's still a phenomenal early haul from a critical community that positively mauled Batman v Superman.
Put that in your conspirator's pipe and smoke it.
It would be wrong to suggest that the film is perfect based on the reviews (if it was, that 94 would be a 100): but the reservations - about it being a little too long, or the annoying pre-release spoilers or Baron Zemo's muted impact - seem like mercifully non-fatal blows. And that seems to have validated Marvel's surprising decision to drop the embargo for reviews three weeks before release. That's a hell of a statement of confidence.
So, with the reviews out there it's irresistible to trawl through them and pick out the elements of the film that were most widely appreciated and critically acclaimed. If only to turn the hype up even higher...
10. The Airport Set-Piece
Until you see the film, you're going to hear a lot about the airport scene, judging by the early critical reactions. Though it is seemingly widely agreed that the film takes a long time to get to its climactic battle, with lots of flirting and lots of expectation, the pay-off is entirely worth the wait.
As Total Film puts it "the airport-set Battle Royale ranks among the most inventive and fun scraps ever committed to superhero celluloid."
That's quite a statement, but it's not isolated. Slash Film echo the sentiments:
"To say that the first battle between all of our superheroes in Captain America: Civil War is the best action sequence Marvel Studios has ever created is not hyperbole or grandstanding. In fact, this is just some of the best action in movie history. The scene is that good."
Birth Movies Death are similarly lavish in their praise: "I am not overhyping it when I say that the airport battle in Civil War is the best I have ever seen in a superhero movie."
So basically, it's the real deal.