Just came back from a screening... I am trying so hard to think about ways to nitpick my way out of it. but this movie is one of those rare achievements that can juggle between being so gleefully exiting, serious, tense and foreboding yet remain so cohesive and committed to it's narrative. I had high expectations, the Russo's didn't even care about my comparatively lowly expectations, because they had their own.

this movie is the overachiever of the MCU, it brings you the goods, and THAN SOME. everyone has their glory moments, but at the heart it's an epic dispute between friends, idealists and pragmatists. what's amazing is that it's not only a struggle between Cap and Iron Man (and also Bucky) it's their own internal struggles, and that echoes in all the characters.

it's actually the newcomer who come on top of it all, and that is Black Panther who is easily one of the most well put together heroes I've ever seen come through such a short introduction. he along with Winter Soldier get to make choices you wouldn't assume a comic book character would, choices that get into resolutions through unconventional means.

Spiderman is a glorified cameo, I gotta admit he is, but good god Marvel is in so much swagger they can get away with it! Tom Holland finally nails it and you know why? because he doesn't try so hard to be a silver age impossible nerd ala Maguire or the market approved "millennial" Garfield Spider-Man. you just look at him, and he totally naturally IS that nerd, you believe he is Peter Parker from Queens and you believe he is Spider-Man.

the beginning of the movie sets the precedence for everyone incredibly well and it's all just a natural progression that gets into the airport. now the airport fight was so amazingly choreographed, everyone gets to do something absolutely amazing and it had so many moments straight out of... yeah, I know it's been chewed out that line "straight out of a comic book page". I've heard that said before, and I think it's arguably true- this might just be THE best or at least the most grandiose fight ever to put on film between superheroes.

Civil War even beat Batman V Superman in what BVS set it's goal to be- CW is way darker at the heart of it's conflict, it touches dark violent history behind some characters and thematically it approaches dark material with incredible maturity, a maturity BVS's infantile teenage like angst attitude couldn't approach. the climax is tense, it holds no reservation about how violent the clash between our heroes can escalate into and it makes us understand everyone, even our villain do what they do.

Civil War is a triumph, it shows us just how far Comic Book movies can reach when they put their A game into it. it also shows that absurdity and nuance are not oil and water. we should all celebrate this triumph, we earned it!