Captain America: Civil War Review

Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: "Sorry, Tony. You know I wouldn't do this if I had any other choice. But he's my friend."

Iron Man: "So was I."

            Captain America: Civil War is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, episodes of Community) and stars Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Don Cheadle as James Rhode/War Machine, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch, Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Paul Bettany as Vision, Daniel Brühl as Zemo, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt as Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, and Marisa Tomei as May Parker.

Oh my god, what a large and damn good cast! Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man!

            With the world putting its foot down on the Avengers' total destruction after the events of New York (The Avengers), Washington D.C. (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), Sakovia (The Avengers: Age of Ultron), and a destructive chase in Wakanda during the beginnings of Captain America: Civil War, the superhero team is now divided into signing the Sakovia Accords. The Sakovia Accords would allow the United Nations to oversee and put strict regulations on what The Avengers can or can't do in order to maintain the safety of humans all over the world. Tony Stark signs them because of the realization of death tolls he has caused, but Steve Rogers does not want to sign the Accords because he thinks everything he has done has been for the good of human-kind and putting restrictions on The Avengers' missions will decrease the safety of everybody on the world. All the meantime, Steve's old friend Bucky Barnes is present and is behind the destruction that was caused in The Winter Soldier and in Civil War. Steve knows he has just been brainwashed by the notorious organization known as Hydra, but Tony doesn't care and thinks that since he has done the damage himself, he needs to pay for it. Heroes take their side on whether to sign the Accords or not and they'll do whatever they can to have their side win, even if that means killing each other to do it.

This far more adult themed and emotional than I thought it would be.

            Alright. So as a comic book fanboy (of both DC and Marvel), I did read the Civil War comic books and loved them. So when it was announced that Marvel Studios was going to put out a Civil War film, I was absolutely overjoyed. Then I saw the DC version of big superheroes colliding on film: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I became worried about whether or not Civil War would take that route and not have much substance in story. That is totally NOT the case. This movie kicked ass! The story, like the superhero clashing, is a fantastic representation of bringing figures that people looked up to as kids and as adults to the big screen. The biggest reason I loved this movie was really because of how grounded the story was. If you have seen the previous Marvel films up to now, you'll realize that there was actually a lot of destruction and clearly people died. It was just never addressed in those other films. Here in Civil War, they address this situation of civilian fatalities and it tears the heroes who try to protect the world apart. It's a real detrimental situation that can very well damage these larger than life heroes, which it does, but still is believable and confusing. I say confusing in the way that you get both sides of the argument (Cap's and Iron Man's), you're just flip flopping back and forth because of the good points each side comes up with (which I won't spoil or list all of them now). Captain America: Civil War could have certainly been another Amazing Spider-Man 2 or Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice where there was just too much happening: too many heroes or villains on screen who either are useless in the roles given or not enough dialogue/screen time for their part. I'm extremely pleased with how the Russo brothers maintained all the heroes so well on screen while still centering the film on Captain America, hence the title. Kudos, guys!

Joe and Anthony Russo in the back are probably bickering on whether or not to have Cap stand sideways or forward. Typical brothers annoying each other.

            It's a given by now, I hope, that you're going to expect Captain America: Civil War to have cool fights between different heroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like the Russo Brothers do so well, the fights are spectacular, especially the hand-to-hand combat. The trailers show the two sides rushing towards each other to fight in grandiose fashion at an airport and boy, oh boy was this one of the best action scenes I have EVER seen in an action movie. Yeah, I said action movie like all action movies including Die Hard, Aliens, Rambo, and most Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. This was a scene that I could never imagine seeing, let alone so well done. All of the heroes brought their strengths to the table and, unbelievably, had their moment in the spotlight. I honestly can't explain to you how I felt with words. I can only say I was smiling and giddy the whole time, but with an extra oomph with the smiling and giddiness. Along the lines of how cool the heroes were, introducing and incorporating the new heroes like Black Panther and Spider-Man seems to be a crazy thing for the Russo brothers to wrap their minds around. This had to be done in such a way that they provided the progression of the story, not shoe-horned in for the sake of fanatics, and give the characters vague, but not so vague back stories so that Marvel Studios are able to make solo films of them. Yes, Black Panther and Spider-Man are getting solo films. For those of you upset about another Spider-Man film, the Marvel Studios version coming out next year will not be an origin story. Plus, Tom Holland played a spot on Spider-Man that I can't even get enough of.

When you realize that the two new guys in the MCU, who are powerhouses in the comic book world, are on the other team, but you still won't back down. Hang in there, Cap! You guys have Ant-Man who can literally breaks the boundaries of human physiology and physics by shrinking and growing.

            There are a plethora of heroes to be seen in Captain America: Civil War, but like any superhero movie, there has to be a villain or super villain to go against the hero. Marvel's streak of disappointing villains continues here with a pretty forgettable one named Zemo. I'm not saying Zemo is the worst villain. However, I'm definitely not saying he's a good villain either. his motives, unlike the motives of the heroes who fight each other, is not the most original or believable: revenge on the Avengers. The annoying part is that he is in the background of the heroes' war which shouldn't bother me that much, but if a viewer questions all the routes of the villain throughout the movie, as one should, and they consider all possibilities, then they'll realize that Zemo did not affect the plotline one bit and be, once again, disappointed. Yeah, he may have had one part in the end where it all goes down with the heroes, but even then, a small rewrite could have seamlessly taken him out of Civil War. Again, he would be on the bench of my MCU villains team as maybe the second back up of another villain, yet still be on the roster.

Mr. Zemo, the confusing "doesn't need to be here" villain of the MCU!

            All in all, Captain America: Civil War is an excellent film that brought out my nerdiness and happiness. Seeing all those heroes pitted against each other, while still having a grounded and interesting plot that makes you walk the line on whose side you'd lean to, is beyond words. The debuts of the two newcomers in the MCU also helped with the overall awesomeness that Civil War deserves. Even with an OK villain, these heroes gave the performances of their lives and it shows. Of course these heroes I'm talking about are Joe and Anthony Russo!

4.7/5

PRO

• Grounded and believable premise of conflicting heroes
• Kick ass fight scenes!
• Directors Joe and Anthony Russo
• The variety of awesome heroes on screen isn't too much to handle

CON

• Zemo is a bland and throw-away villain

Captain America: Civil War is rated PG-13 for  extended sequences of violence, action, and mayhem

Click here to watch the trailer 

Captain America: Civil War is in theaters everywhere now

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