Captain America: Civil War (April 2016)

Official Australian release date: 28/4/16. Viewed: 28/4/16.

Director: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Actors: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: M   

‘Captain America 3’ is another great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time, the film’s basically ‘Avengers 3’, as it features almost every superhero we’ve seen so far, plus a few new ones. Natasha/Black Widow (Johansson) continues her close association with Steve/Captain America (Evans) – which worked really well in the last film – but Cap also has Sam/Falcon (Mackie) as his right-hand man too. The premise is quite simple: the “Sokovia Accords” (instead of the “Superhuman Registration Act” from the 2006 Mark Millar comics the film’s based on) are new laws forced on the Avengers by Ross (Hurt), U.S. Secretary of State, as the U.N. wants to see the Avengers held accountable for their actions, since too many people died in (the fake country) Sokovia during the events of ‘Avengers 2’. Tony/Iron Man (Downey Jr.) is all for it, but Cap is not.

Bucky/Winter Soldier (Stan) then becomes involved and a massive man-hunt ensues (the film goes to more countries than a Bond film!) and the Avengers are divided (into an even six vs six): Iron Man, Black Widow, Rhodes/War Machine (Cheadle), T’Challa/Black Panther (Boseman), Vision (Bettany) and Peter/Spider-Man (Holland) vs Cap, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Wanda/Scarlet Witch (Olsen), Clint/Hawkeye (Renner) and Scott/Ant-Man (Rudd). The fight, about two-thirds in with only the Hulk and Thor missing, is epic – definitely something everyone wants to see. Some great quips too (mostly thanks to Ant-Man and Spider-Man – would love to see that team-up film!), as there’s no malevolence, just a group of superhero friends/acquaintances fighting for what (and who, as the film’s definitely Captain America v Iron Man at it’s heart) they think is right.

There could still be a little more done with Bucky’s backstory – which kind of get mixed in with Iron Man’s – but maybe I just need to re-watch ‘Captain America 1’ again, as it just seems like his & Cap’s chemistry isn’t quite there. Also needs to explore the Sharon Carter (VanCamp) storyline more. The introduction of Black Panther and Spider-Man is handled superbly, with Spider-Man only getting two scenes, but Holland nails them – the new Spider-Man films will be in good hands. And Boseman as Black Panther is fantastic, full of poise and just the right amount of anger – plus great fighting skills. Can’t wait for his film in a few years.

I thought it was better than ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, but not quite as good as ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. The ending probably dragged out a little and didn’t quite resolve everything, with Zemo (Bruhl)’s plot not being as interesting as it could’ve been. Still, some great action, some decent ethical questions and some truly inventive fight scenes.

Overall: Another strong Cap film. Bring on the Infinity War!

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.  

The Jungle Book (April 2016)

Official Australian release date: 7/4/16. Viewed: 8/4/16.

Director: Jon Favreau

Actors: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba

Genre: Adventure

Rating: PG    

‘The Jungle Book’ is the sixth (?) adaption of Kipling’s 120 year old story, probably best known to everyone from Disney’s 1960s version. This time it’s live-action – well, it’s not a cartoon, but has such great CGI animals you spend most of the time trying to figure out if they might be real! Pretty sure everyone knows the plot – a boy, Mowgli (Sethi) is abandoned in the jungle and raised by wolves/a panther, until a tiger comes to kill him. It’s a little longer and darker than the cartoon version, but it does do away with the nasty vultures.

It’s still a family/kids film at heart, but there’s definitely a few scares and proper tiger v bear/panther/wolves fights! Not sure I’d recommend anyone take a child under 8. The film does a great job of bringing the wolves – Raksha (Nyong’o) and Akela (Esposito) as Mowgli’s ‘mum’ & ‘dad’ – into the story more, as they’re his true family. Kingsley as Bagheera the panther is stately and perfectly cast – a great mentor for Mowgli. Like the cartoon, the main gripe I have is: where is this jungle? Africa? We see rhinos, armadillos and buffalo. India? Tigers and monkeys. South America? Panthers and pythons.

And then the bear – Baloo (Murray). Either way, Murray has some great lines, but seems a little underutilised… the one big letdown for me was the songs – the ‘Bare Necessities’ is sung nowhere near as well by Murray, and while Christopher Walken is suited to King Louie, he does a horrible version of ‘I Wanna Be Like You’. Regardless, the score is great, the scenery/CGI fantastic, Shere Khan (Elba) us very menacing and Favreau (coming off ‘Iron Man 2’ and ‘Chef’) keeps the pace up, while allowing some sentimental moments.

Overall: Enjoyable and good-looking family film

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.