The MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is something pretty extraordinary. First started way back in 2008 with “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk,” it has become a machine that churns out quality film after quality film. Personal favourites include: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “Agent Carter” (TV series). In regards to the now trilogy of Captain America films it has an odd quality trajectory.
The first Cap movie, The First Avenger, had a great first half but a lackluster second half. The Winter Soldier vastly improved on its predecessor and set a new standard for Marvel films in that there was actual tension and a reason for the fighting beyond, “Evil baddie X is going to murder everyone.” It gave me a reason to be invested in it. It’s like it wasn’t a superhero movie; it was a movie that had superheroes in it. You had to question it. You had to actually think about what was going on. My love for “The Winter Soldier” is obviously apparent, so when I say that “Civil War” is better in every conceivable way I hope that that alone will get you to watch the movie of the Summer.
The film itself starts out like the Russo Brothers previous hit, with a big action scene. The gang are in Nigeria stopping general terrorism and the like and one of the (I’m avoiding spoilers for this review) causes the death of some innocent people. This raises the question, “Are the Avengers heroes or vigilantes?” They do a lot of good but at what cost? Many people died in the battle for New York in the first “Avengers” movie. In the second film, Sokovia is decimated. In “Winter Soldier,” the capital of The U.S. is damn near turned upside-down. People have died and no one paid for it. This is when the Sokovia Accords are brought into play. It makes The Avengers answer to The UN and the various governments of the world. It makes them responsible for their actions. This is fine with Tony Stark but it doesn’t sit well with Cap. The two become the “leaders” of their sides and that sets up the rest of the movie.
This movie makes you sit down and think: is it okay to give absolute power to anyone? Granted they’re super-human, but what gives them the right to act like gods? On the flip-side, if it wasn’t for The Avengers, Earth would’ve been destroyed ten times over. It’s an interesting thought and makes it hard to pick which side to stand on.
That conflict is what I believe makes this film great. They’re not fighting for the sake of fighting. They’re fighting for what they believe. It’s like an actual Civil War. Every character has a reason to be fighting and I completely understand their reasoning for it. The script is air-tight on that end and it shows in the final product. They played with a similar idea in “The Winter Soldier” and they turned it up to 11 for this film. It’s outstanding as a story, by far the best script Marvel has ever produced.
There are of course other elemnts of the film I’d like to talk about. The introduction of three fairly big, new characters was a major talking point of the film. Zemo (Daniel Bruhl), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and of course Spider-Man (Tom Holland). What little screen time given to Zemo is still great thanks to a talented actor like Bruhl. It’s clear Zemo is a very smart character who is capable of destroying anything he sees fit and I look forward to seeing what Marvel hve in store for the character.
Black Panther shines in this movie. He’s an interesting character who has the proper motivation to be in the film and holy hell he kicks ass. This made me infinitely more excited for the upcoming Black Panther stand alone film. The last of the new batch to be introduced is an old favourite, Spider-Man. He is a snarky, sarcastic, arrogant teenage boy from Queens and it’s exactly what I wanted from a Spider-Man. Gone are the days of the emo hair and awkward dancing down the streets. This is what Spider-Man should be. Holland plays the roll to perfection and was one of the highlights of a very packed movie.
The other charcters have all seemed to up their game as well. Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barns gets a whole new layer added to his character. Robert Downey Jr. is back on form as Iron Man after what I felt were some disappointing performances in “Age of Ultron” and “Iron Man 3.” Elisabeth Olsen has some great scenes as Scarlet Witch and Paul Rudd was a lovely little surprise as Ant-Man who provided some much needed comic relief for one of the more serious films of the MCU.
When all these characters came together it felt like magic. It also lead to one of the best superhero fights on film, look out for the airport scene when you do watch it. “Civil War” delves into the morality of being a superhero. How do you deal with the guilt of killing civillains? Can you stand by your friends even though you know they’ve commited atrocities? “Civil War” is the best Marvel film to date. It’s smart in it’s writing but it’s still exciting to watch. It doesn’t treat you like an idiot and I knew why every character did what they did (Unlike certain other blockbusters released recently …cough……. “Batman Vs. Superman”….. cough).
In summary, “Captain America: Civil War” is a must see for film fans, for superhero fans, for pretty much everyone. Why are you still reading this review? Go buy a ticket dammit.
– by Paul O’Connor
