REVIEW - “Captain America: Civil War”
Fresh off the adrenaline rush that is the third installment of Captain America, I can’t help gushing a little on the direction that Marvel has continued to take with the MCU. The thing that really drives it home and the thing that makes the MCU so captivating after 13 films, is the completely different genres of film it manages to include for the audience with an underlying complete story. We have industrialist war weapons and government with Iron Man, Space Operas with Guardians, Science Fiction with Thor, 70′s style espionage with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, bank robbing buddy comedy with Ant-Man, and soon to have mystical magic with Doctor Strange and a John Hughes film with Spider-Man: Homecoming...it really does find a way to include all types of audience, whether you are a hardcore comic book nerd or action film buff or neither. Unlike some other superhero films that seem to continuously have one dark, brooding and ultimately unwatchable ideal...Marvel really has found a way to keep something interesting for more than a simple trilogy.
Onto Civil War! (SPOILERS BELOW)
The first 20 minutes are a little jumpy, but it does get it’s bearings. Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier is easily the most psychologically pronounced character of the Captain America storyline. So much so in fact that we don’t get to see enough of him, and I for one hope that we get to see much more of his personality, his struggles and the complications he goes through as he wrestles with his humanity.
The Russo Brothers really do accomplish something great here. They have somehow figured out how to juggle so many characters that you care about while giving them all enough screen time to put depth into each one of their ideals, and they really show us which side of the line in the sand each character stands. Throughout the movie you can feel that each character is doing the best that they can do, they are responding to the facts they are given. No one is right, no one is wrong. This dilemma is shown the strongest with Tony and Steve, who spend the movie a little bit like a married couple. They stand on two different sides and they both want to be right even through they want to be there for each other. This struggle is carried out throughout the film.
The struggle between the two sides is put on a little strong to me when they include every single member as having this “married couple” dynamic. Time is spent on it between Wanda/Vision, Natasha/Clint, Bucky/T’Challa, Rhodes/Wilson, but they still managed to not make it too annoying, although I could have done without it being so obvious. I really do love that out of all the people that should be against the Sokovia Accords, Wanda stands strong even against her budding love with Vision (who were briefly married in the comics). Natasha as well was a fun surprise for taking the stance that she did with Tony even with her past dealings with the government and her life as a double agent. The balance was drawn nicely.
I don’t think I am alone when I say that the MCU has never been great with their villains. Even since the beginning with Obadiah to Loki and continuing on to Malekith to Ronan, the villains have been fairly weak. The MCU is a heroes game, and with their villains I think it’s the one place that DC wins out. Baron Zemo wasn’t much different. He was a pretty ho-hum kind of bad guy. He was vaguely angry, had a vague sense of intelligence, but it’s never shown truly why he should be the big baddie of the film. He accomplished his goal by throwing the heroes against each other, but this was the biggest part of the film that felt a little thrown together. To accomplish all that he had to do just to get the information to make the team go against each other...he could have easily come up with a much better plan (involving some real bad guys) to invoke terror and mis-trust among the group. I do enjoy that he was a more “behind the scenes” kind of guy, but he seems more like a villain left for “Agents of Shield”.
Newbie characters Black Panther and Spidey were obvious stand-outs.
Chadwick has a great presence during the whole film. He stands like a king, he talks like a king, and he truly fights like a king. The compassion and morals that he conveys is something that I can get behind, and I am very glad he will have his own standalone film to see what he can bring to the MCU.
Spidey stole the show! Tom Holland was a fantastic casting choice (and I was on team Asa during the casting rumors...). For comic readers, this Spider-Man is what we have been waiting to see. The slightly sloppy and super sarcastic high school teenager who happens to have fantastic super powers. He hit it in all the right places, and I was very surprised to see the chemistry Robert Downey Jr. and Tom had during the film. I have heard that some people are upset about certain costume eye movements that shouldn’t be happening and...stop it. His costume did it in the comics and as far as I know no one cared that Deadpool’s outfit had the same situation. It’s such a great throwback to the real Spidey and a part of who he is. Also, you’re watching a movie about people with super powers, so calm down.
All in all, Civil War is another stand-out in the MCU films. Winter Soldier was already my favorite, but they have come to build the same flare with Civil War and at the same time give it more richness. I didn’t expect the level of depth to come with this storyline, as well as the harsh psychological effects that the decisions will have with them all for the films to come.
Standout Moments:
+ Giant-Man
+ Spidey uttering the words “Holy Shit!”
+ T’Challa’s Voice
+ The car scene with Falcon and Bucky
Un-Needed Moments:
+ Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter kiss
+ (on that note) Peggy’s Death!
+ Not enough Crossbones
+ Not even a mention of Nick Fury...?
