10 Films That Won't Change Your Life

3. Captain America: Civil War

Civil War Spider-Man
Marvel Studios

For reasons of plot, Captain America and Iron Man have a falling out and call in Ant Man, Spider-Man and Black Panther, handily setting up each of their forthcoming movies in the process. Two and a half hours later, nothing has been resolved but the door is left wide open for the next Avengers movie.

That’s a reasonable summary of Civil War, which really is just a movie where a bunch of stuff happens. Together with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, directors Anthony and Joe Russo want it to be so much more, but they’re hamstrung by the MCU formula that renders each new movie a glorified trailer for the next film, which in turn is a glorified trailer for the next and on and on into infinity.

Loaded with all manner of digital trickery, this isn’t an action movie – it’s a live-action cartoon for adolescents of all ages, a crassly commercial “product” whose only message is “Buy Me!” Be sure to stay tuned through the credits for a teaser for Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'