The Road to Civil War: Marvel Renaissance
Documentary charting the rise and fall of Marvel comics
Following Marvel comics from its near collapse in the mid-90s to its later success and eventual acquisition by Disney, this French documentary remains content to simply provide an overview of the company’s changing fortunes in recent times.
Sparsely narrated in French with English subtitles and relying primarily on interviewees, the film spends much of its first half detailing how shareholders and the banks wrestled for control of the company as it slipped into bankruptcy.
But with the outcome so well documented, the story lacks the sense of drama the filmmakers try to instil – the most tension the doc musters is when one of the interviewees glances nervously off camera and with a slightly desperate laugh jokes that the filmmakers are “going to get him fired” when asked about his feelings on the Disney takeover.
The film will likely be of interest to fans – but you might leave feeling your time would have been better spent watching a Marvel film rather than a film about Marvel.
The Road to Civil War: Marvel Renaissance screens in Glasgow Film Festival: 22 Feb, CCA, 8.30pm | 24 Feb, GFT, 1pm
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