Captain America: Civil War

With 13 movies and counting the Marvel cinematic universe is still going strong. Ever since the success of The Avengers (2012) the superhero team just keeps getting better with deep story telling, bigger threats and great character development. In addition every time a new character is introduced people would assume the film would flop since the idea sounds so absurd like Ant-Man (2015). Only for the film to surprise everybody with how well executed and enjoyable the film really is. But lately their purpose as superheroes is not only being brought into question but to also a great dilemma as now they are forced to take sides of a controversial legislation. This is what leads us to their most recent entry, Captain America: Civil War (2016).

One year after the events of The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America, played by Chris Evans, leads the few remaining Avengers to stop a heist from Crossbones. To avoid capture Crossbones attempts to blow himself up and as Scarlet Witch tries to displace the blast with her telekinesis, the resulting explosion destroys a nearby building resulting in the deaths of Wakandan humanitarian workers. At Avengers H.Q. Thaddeus Ross, played by William Hurt, who returns from The Incredible Hulk (2008) informs them that the United Nations is preparing to pass the Sokovia Accords, which lets them gain control over the Avengers and their actions. Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., leads the pro-registration side, as he feels guilty for Ultron’s creation and Sokovia’s destruction. Whereas Captain America leads the anti-registration side as he has more faith in his own judgment than he does towards the government’s. The Cap’s reasons makes sense after the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) since S.H.I.E.L.D. was taken over from the inside by his old enemies at Hydra while trying to save his brainwashed friend Bucky Barnes from Hydra’s control. However the struggle to protect his friend grows difficult as a bombing in Vienna kills King T’Chaka of Wakanda and the blame is put on Barnes as T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa vows to kill the Winter Soldier as he becomes the Black Panther. To make matters worse, a man named Helmut Zemo is tracking down Barnes to use the same brainwashing tactics Hydra used to make Barnes a killer again, and the only way Captain America can stop this is for him and Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, is to go rogue. Because of that action Iron Man has Ross’s permission to form his own team to stop the renegades. Siding with Captain America is Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Ant-Man and Winter Soldier. While Iron Man is joined by War Machine, Black Widow, Vision, Black Panther and the newly recruited Spider-Man. As the heroes are forced to fight each other based on different ideologies in a race against time to stop Zemo.

From how I described the film it sounds like a lot to take in. Aside needing to see the past films, Civil War actually makes its own story easy to follow that everyone can understand and know why the characters made their choices. The complete opposite of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) where the story made no sense, the heroes didn’t feel like actual heroes and the entire conflict was so forced that its resolution made me feel empty and frustrated. Whereas in Civil War the characters felt like themselves and their points were valid and understandable. Every character helped contribute to the narrative, didn’t feel left out and kept the story’s focus on Captain America himself. Civil War also raises the stakes by making the audience decide which they feel is the better way to save the world. Do you let go of your freedom to be protected and secure by the government? Or do you hold on to your freedom with the cost of losing your own protection and safety? One of the best elements of the film’s story is that it would’ve been so easy to vilify one side over the other such as making Iron Man the villain since his ideals goes against Captain America’s. But the film lets the audience sympathize with Iron Man and those on his side while still showing why Captain America and his team are against the registration. People will pick one side over the other, but for many like me it is hard to decide because they make such valid points but there are flaws with both as well. Neither is perfect and yet all they want to do is for the good of the world, but because of past events, government intervention and manipulation from an outside source, this entire conflict is much more tragic than it leads on. Cause there is more to this Civil War than the clashing ideologies. Without giving away too much I can describe the cause of the Civil War with a quote from Camelot (1967): “Revenge…the most worthless of causes.”

With happened regarding Hydra infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D., the Winter Soldier, Ultron, and the events that happened within Civil War, the audience will see what happens when revenge consumes the minds of the characters, which sadly does reflect us in this time period making Civil War a more tragic story than possibly intended. In a time when we’re afraid of what could hit us next from natural disaster to terrorist attack, we look up to heroes like The Avengers to give us strength and hope in these dark times. But when we let tragedy turn to vengeance and release our anger and grief onto those that have sworn to protect us, it only leads to more suffering. And that to me is what makes this action packed flick a tragic superhero film. To see these heroes develop since 2008 to be torn apart not just because of clashing ideologies, but because they let outside sources manipulate them for a much darker purpose, and as a result possibly loose even more lives.

With all that said this is truly a film to see for the summer. Predictable admittedly given the track record the Marvel movies have had. But the main thing that makes Captain America: Civil War stand out from other superhero films is that it changes the status quo of how their built up their own films. Once united our heroes are now divided more than ever. Leaving us wondering if we will ever see any resolution to the events after Civil War. But considering the line up we have its safe to say for when that happens we’ll be able to see our Avengers Assemble once again. Till then, if you want a film of heroes clashing that gives you action and make you think, then look to the captain and his fight with the armoured avenger.

Ratchet and Clank

 

Movie adaptations of video games always have bad luck when being adapted as theatrical movies. Some can please the fans like Mortal Kombat (1995) while most of the time they alienate everyone like Super Mario Bros. (1993) and any film directed by the infamous Uwe Boll. Animated films of video games can provide the opposite result pending on intending target audience. The numerous films of Nintendo’s Pokemon have been successful and well liked among its fans but were made only for the fans and not everyone else. Disney’s Wreck-It-Ralph (2012) is the one exception that is well beloved by nearly everyone and they don’t need to know anything about video games to enjoy the film. The only downside for Wreck-It-Ralph is that the film contains an original story with video game elements and cameos of famous characters. Meaning that while it is still considered the best video game film, it is not a video game adaptation. Flash-forward to 2016 and we have Sony’s first video game movie with one of their famous Playstation mascots from 2002, Ratchet and Clank (2016).

Ratchet is a lone Lombax on the planet Veldin who is a skilled mechanic that dreams of one day joining the Galactic Rangers along side his hero, Captain Qwark. Elsewhere, Chairman Drek builds a robot army with the help of Dr. Nefarious for his plans to construct a new planet by taking part of other planets by destroying them. One of the war machines became defected and becomes the little robot Clank who flees the factory to warn the Rangers about Drek’s army. After Ratchet is rejected from the Ranger tryouts, he discovers Clank who crashes on his planet while trying to locate the Rangers. Ratchet takes Clank to planet Kerwan during an invasion and was able to defeat them, resulting in Qwark reluctantly recruiting Ratchet and Clank into the rangers much to his regret. Trouble brews as not only is Ratchet excited to be a hero while ignoring Clank’s warnings about the impending threat, but also Drek and Nefarious intend to succeed in their goal by manipulating the imbecilic and jealous Qwark under the promise of being popular again. So time is of the essence for Ratchet and Clank not only to prove themselves as heroes but save the galaxy from the evil that plans to destroy it.

Compared to other video game adaptations, Ratchet and Clank looks and feels 100% like the actual game. The settings are exactly as fans remember them, the visuals are smooth and crisp, no characters are redesigned and they have most of the original voice cast who played the characters since 2002. So this should be a perfect adaptation right? That is what I would say but the sad truth is that unfortunately it does not. As a fan of the series I do stand by that this is one of the better movie adaptations of a game we have had in years. Which makes the end result all the more disappointing when the story fails to deliver. The story is not awful by any means as it does stay true to its source material. But as a film it is criminally generic, as it does not offer anything new to fans and newcomers alike. The film basically goes from point A to point B, tell a few one liners here and there, pretty much telling the same kind of story we have seen before about an underdog who wants to prove their worth. It is like the film is set on autopilot the whole time.

I should note that before the film came out on April 29^th this year, the remake of the original game provides a different experience that I have to compare the two in this review. Like the film, the game is a retelling of the original that even includes some cutscenes from the film during gameplay. Unlike the film however, the game goes more of the original PS2 title that fans would remember as it even expands the plot. More importantly, the story and humour fairs much better as a game since players are allowed to experience it and feel the rush of saving planets with a massive arsenal of weapons to control. When comparing the two mediums however, I realized why the film was so mediocre. Remember the comment I made about Ratchet and Clank feeling like its on autopilot? One other film did the exact same thing, Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes (2013). Released first as a video game then re-released as straight to DVD film telling the exact same story without the player interaction. That realization to me hurts Ratchet and Clank even more since it was released weeks after the game came out. So now the film feels like a theatrical commercial for the more entertaining game instead of an original theatrical production.

I seriously don’t want to hate this movie cause it is not really that bad. Professional film critics who relentlessly slam Ratchet and Clank forget that this film was not meant for them. It was meant for gamers and fans of the franchise like myself while introducing the characters to a new audience. To its credit it is still very faithful to its source material. I just wish more thought and effort was put into the story to make the movie not only stand out from the game, but provide a long lasting impact that makes me want to watch the movie again. Hardcore fans of the series will certainly get their fill with this movie, as will kids who are new to the franchise. But as a moviegoer, I advise to either rent the film after home release or just play the game instead to get a richer experience. There is no reason for me to hate this movie like other critics do, but as a fan it just left me feeling empty.