CAPTAIN
AMERICA: CIVIL WAR:
WHILE THE
TITLE IS A BIT MISLEADING, THE FILM CRANKS UP THE MARVEL AVENGERS STYLE ACTION
TO INFINITY!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
MARVEL
STUDIOS
Captain
America (left) VS Iron Man (right) in Captain
America: Civil War
The “Marvelous” fireworks continue as Marvel kicks off Phase Three
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a
big way, Captain America: Civil War,
the third Captain America film with
Chris Evans (Fantastic 4, Scott Pilgrim VS The World, Snowpiercer) returning as the “Man out
of Time” Steve Rogers/Captain America and Winter Soldier directors, Anthony and Joe Russo returning to direct. But that’s
not all, they also brought in billionaire Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey
Jr.-Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Tropic Thunder, Sherlock Holmes), S.H.I.E.L.D. assassins, Natasha Romanoff/Black
Widow (Scarlett Johansson-Lost in
Translation, Her, Under the Skin) and Clint Barton/Hawkeye
(Jeremy Renner-Mission: Impossible 4
and 5, The Bourne Legacy, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and
fellow Avengers, Vision (Paul Bettany-A
Knight’s Tale, Master and Commander:
The Far Side of the World, Margin
Call), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle-Traffic, Hotel Rwanda, Flight), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony
Mackie-The Hurt Locker, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Night Before), and Wanda
Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen-Martha
Marcy May Marceline, Oldboy, Godzilla), tons of fan-service, and the
return of the badass dude with a metal arm, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
(Sebastian Stan-Rachel Getting Married,
Black Swan, The Martian), honestly it’s another Avengers movie one year after
last year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Obviously this was one of the most
hyped up comic book movies of all time and the second superhero smack-down of
2016 following March’s Batman v.
Superman: Dawn of Justice. But unlike that movie where they tried to cram
in as much fan service as possible, this film adds lots of fan service and it
doesn’t lose its focus, the characters brought in spend just the right amount
of time in the movie and they don’t overstay their welcome.
Captain
America: The First Avenger was good, Captain
America: The Winter Soldier was awesome, Captain America: Civil War however is without a doubt one of the
best comic book movies I’ve ever seen, yeah I’m talking Avengers, Guardians of the
Galaxy, Dark Knight, Iron Man, Spider-Man 2 material. Captain
America is also the first superhero where all of his movies get better with
each sequel without any downfalls.
After the battles in New York (The Avengers), Washington D.C. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier),
and Sokovia (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
we find Steve Rogers/Captain America slowly getting his best friend’s Bucky
Barnes’ memory back after being brainwashed by Hydra, but unfortunately his
Winter Soldier mind gets triggered after a series of words is said. But that’s
only the least of Rogers’ problems, in comes Tony Stark/Iron Man and General
Ross (William Hurt-Kiss of the Spider
Woman, A History of Violence, The Incredible Hulk) trying to convince
his Avengers teammates to sign a law allowing the Avengers to be associated
with the government.
Rogers does not approve the law and
what starts off as a debate between why the Avengers should and shouldn’t sign
the law turns into a Marvel free-for-all between Captain America, Iron Man,
Black Widow, The Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, War Machine,
Falcon, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd-Anchorman
1 and 2, Dinner for Schmucks, The Perks of Being a Wallflower), and
newcomers, Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman-The
Express, 42, Get On Up) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland-The Secret World of Arrietty, The
Impossible, In the Heart of the Sea)
to decide what is right for the world. Also there’s a secret plan involving
Sokovian terrorist, Zemo (Daniel Bruhl-The
Bourne Ultimatum, Inglourious Basterds,
Rush) as his plot unfolds by having
the Avengers turn against each other and eventually destroy each other.
Overall, Captain America: Civil War is everything I look for in a Marvel movie times infinity, exciting
action sequences that leave me on the edge of my seat, strong character
development, humor, and surprisingly effective drama, even for something as
silly as a man dressed in red, white, and blue battling a man in an armored
suit. That’s an accomplishment, the film is thoroughly popcorn fun but at the
same time it takes itself seriously and none of it makes the movie go downhill.
This is what Zack Snyder missed when
he directed Batman v. Superman: Dawn of
Justice, he focused too much on fan service and developing his cinematic
universe where this movie has a strong balance between fan service and telling
the story that’s given to them. Yeah I’m open to the DC Extended Universe but the Marvel
Cinematic Universe will always be miles ahead of it.
The film brings in Ant-Man, Black
Panther, and Spider-Man and they all have the right amount of screen-time they
should have with this film, none of them overstay their welcome and it doesn’t
distract from the Captain America VS Iron Man plot element. I already discussed
Ant-Man in great detail in my review of the film, however the take on Black
Panther is pretty awesome and Chadwick Boseman is such a fantastic actor he
makes a man dressed as a cat hunting down the man that killed his son just as
serious as a Batman story, I’m
excited for Marvel’s Black Panther
movie coming out by the way.
Okay, let’s talk about Tom Holland
as Spider-Man, for a supporting role in this movie, he plays Spider-Man very
well, he’s not wide-eyed like Tobey Maguire in the Sam Raimi trilogy or as
cocky as Andrew Garfield in the AmazingSpider-Man movies, he’s got a retro new costume with Deadpool style eyes,
armed with web shooters, and several one-liners. I can’t wait to see more of
him in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
This is a Marvel movie that delivers all the goods and doesn’t carry the
Avengers name, if you love the previous films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’ll be in heaven with Captain America: Civil War, it’s
everything I want in a superhero movie multiplied by infinity.
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