I went to see this over the weekend and still can't wrap my head around how good it is. Highlights for me:
- The action scenes are always amazing, but the stuff cap does with his shield right out of the gate and the way the knock each other around was insanely cool. Straight out of a comic book.
- The airport fight scene is amazingly done, bouncing from one fight to the next all at once. I don't know how they perfectly timed all of that.
- The rationale for the fighting was far superior to what we got with Bats vs. Supes. There was just enough debate and discussion between the characters to effectively support both sides of the issue and it felt like a slow build they were trying to avoid versus just jumping into the fray. I still don't know which side is "right."
- Marvel continues to master the comedy as a tension reliever in the middle of that action. I was laughing my head off with Falcon/Bucky in the Beetle, great Spiderman quips, and basically any time Ant Man is on screen.
- Speaking of Spiderman, I thought Tom Holland was too young and didn't fit the role at all when I first heard about him, but he is awesome in this movie. A perfect match for young Peter Parker. And hellloooo Aunt May.
- I really liked the Black Panther role, but was even more impressed by what they did with Vision - showing his power set so naturally, becoming more "human," questioning his origin, etc.
- I loved how the heroes fought side by side, but didn't just jump in like they knew each other. They question other people's power sets and don't even know each other's names in some cases ("Arrow-Guy!, Yeah I know you - you're....awesome"). Just seemed so much more real and funny.
The best part of the movie for me though was that every single character played a meaningful role. Not one character felt just thrown in or unnecessary. Cap and Iron Man definitely take center stage, but they made the most of every comment from the littler guys to further tie all of the stories together. There are a bunch of these amazing little side stories echoing the comics that don't detract from the main story at all. At best they set up potentially larger storylines in the future, at worst they provided some meaningful character development and sweet fanboy nods to the comics.
I have progressively enjoyed the Marvel movies more and more, but this one really tops them all in action, fun, and just tying it all together. They even find a cool way to end it, leaving some things a bit ambiguous, but on an up note. Can't wait to see it again.