How adorable is it that Captain American has a tiny notebook to add things that he’s missed out on? Also, enjoyed Black Widow’s sass about picking up a fossil.

Omg! Sitwell! The thing about watching this quite close together is you see him pop up all the time. I imagine if you were dissecting the films after they were released and doing easter egg videos, this is hardly new. But since don’t, I’m now amused.

Oh man, there is so much set up. Chat about the helicarriers, visiting Peggy, Council being grumpy. Checkin at the VA with Falcon. Soooo much set up. So disparate. I don’t need stuff exploding all the time, but there are so many new people and things that I can feel my energy dropping.

However, I like from the beginning you get the sense that something is not right. The set up the distrust from the beginning. Fury and Black Widow vs Captain America. You just feel a bit anxious! All the music as well, just feeds the tension. Then Fury calling Hill, then being attacked. There’s just shit afoot and then BOOM. It all kicks off. Winter Soldier! Chasing! More shooting! Wah! Fury!

What I find interesting in retrospect, is that Robert Redford’s character telegraphs soooo much of what’s going to happen. He talks about burning the world down. He talks about people getting in his way and regretting it. He keeps pressing Steve about what Fury really said. He tries to mess with Steve by saying that Fury had his apartment bugged. I don’t think I entirely realised that the first time around.

The only thing that I don’t *entirely* buy that Natasha and Steve are that distrusting of each other. It’s as if they haven’t fended off an alien invasion together. You just would figure that they’d have just a tad more trust for each other. I suppose they get their shit together quickly enough though.

I do also like the drip-feed of the conspiracy unravelling. Even with the silly download of Zola’s brain into 1970s technology. But then you find out that Sitwell is Hydra! How sad! I do enjoy the re-employment of the smarmy senator or whatever from Iron Man 2. So clever! There’s so many different people they could incorporate from the previous films, so why not? Also lacing the future film, with the mention of Doctor Strange.

Bloody hell, I forgot how could that first real fight with the Winter Soldier is. Just so much insane car flipping, exploding, Natasha with fun toys, just nuts. I love how clever Natasha is as well, and its demonstrated with her seeing the shadows off the bridge, decoying with the phone. SHE IS VERY GOOD AT HER JOB. The whole intense fight between Bucky and Steve. Omg. So good. SO GOOD.

God, it just keeps going after that. It’s just full blown running until the end (almost). Return of Fury! Yay! Maria Hill! She needs her own film. The destruction of SHIELD and Hydra (though clearly, not entirely). I basically stopped paying attention to this review, if I’m honest. I was gripped! Even though I knew everything. I love how you can see how they took the thread of Steve and Bucky’s story and used it to great effect in the third film. Even just the earlier stuff with Steve questioning what he should do. It’s brilliant.

I think this shows Marvel at its best, twisting all these narratives together so that in Civil War it’s just so fucking heartbreaking! Ahhh! 3 movies to get through until that one. We’re half-way done!