Captain America: Civil War Review
Captain America: Civil War is the latest movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and serves as both a sequel to 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier,' and for 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron.' I had a great time with this movie, and the Russo Bros show that they do know how to construct these movies.
After seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Idiocy and then watching this, it occurred to me just how different the MCU is to the DC cinematic universe in the respect of tonality. DC could learn a thing or two from Marvel, and vice versa in some ways. For one, DC could stop trying to reflect Nolan's dark tone in every movie after the Dark Knight Trilogy. I could understand Batman v Superman having a darker tone, but a stand alone Superman movie with a dark and dull tone? What is the point of that? The grim tone feels so unnecessary at this point, with the already saturated superhero genre. This movie healed the open wounds that Batman v Superman made when it viciously tried to claw to my heart, but only succeeded in aggravating me and the entire audience. It felt good to have fun in a movie that is obviously not a cinematic masterpiece, but at the same time not frustratingly silly or stupid. This movie is relatively long, but so much was crammed in that it felt like no time at all had passed when it was over.
This Captain America stars most of the Avengers cast, with the exception of The Hulk and Thor. Following up The Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, this movie is more about the government's view on vigilantism. After many civilian casualties are blamed on the Avengers from Sokovia, various countries sign off on a law that gives the government supervision over the Avengers, to deem what missions the Avengers will carry out. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) agrees with the law and believes that it is a good idea to keep the Avengers in check while Captain America (Chris Evans) disagrees with this and does not want the government making the Avenger's decisions for them. The Avengers divide, choosing whose side of the argument they are on. Thus, we have ourselves a Civil War.
The movie is adapted from the Civil War comic issues somewhat, and some things translate to the big screen better than others. First of all, the movie is on a much smaller scale than the comic issues, where there are around fifty superheroes. The trailer fools the audience into thinking that the story is going to revolve around the political aspect of the conflict, much like the comic, but the much smaller scale of the movie allows for some emotional sides to the conflict. Even though the political aspects overshadow the central conflict's existence in the first place, I felt that it is more personal than anything else, which is disappointing. The Avengers choose their sides based on their feelings and personal experiences with the subject matter, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense for the world. It delves a little into if the Avengers could live with the loss of some lives, to save countless others. The movie's intention is to sway which side you stand with, but I found that Iron Man's arguments were kind of weak and left sitting in the air. The only parts that even remotely swayed which side I was on were the emotional reasonings for Iron Man going with the new movement because I found pity for him. Besides that, I found it hard to agree with Iron Man when he seems open to the idea of being in the government's hands solely because of one encounter he has at the beginning of the movie. There is also some awkward shoved in dialogue that makes Iron Man look like an idiot when the Avengers do start to debate whose side they are on. When a movie like this poses two sides of an argument, it's important that both sides are matched regarding valid points and emotional sway it has on you. Otherwise, it wouldn't be nearly as compelling as it could be. One side felt way easier to root for than the other, so I call bs on all the critics out there saying "If you don't feel emotionally swayed in Captain America: Civil War you're just stubborn."
There was also a villain in this movie; he was, unfortunately, one of the most forgettable characters I've ever seen. I can't even remember his name, but his master plan felt all too stupid to be taken seriously and was extremely far fetched. It was just unnecessary to have a villain in this movie where the main focus should be on the Avengers and their struggle within the team. The villain didn't fit in and was kind of stupid. Also, the confrontation that Iron Man has at the start of the movie felt rushed in, and the movie really should have taken more time with it so that it felt like there was more emotional weight to the conflict. There are no major issues with the script, thankfully. Some lines of dialogue feel forced from the actors, and some lines were noticeably out of place and weird. Sometimes dramatic moments were made so overdramatic that they were cheesy. There was a point in the movie in which, for some reason, it decides to glaze over Captain America's love interest. Marvel's weakest suit in these movies is most definitely the romantic relationships. The only convincing and well-developed couples in any Marvel movies were Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (only because they were dating in real life) from the Amazing Spiderman and Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in the original Sam Raimi Spiderman movies. It felt odd to have a certain random and undeveloped love interest come out of the blue for this movie. What's even worse, is that Captain America's new love interest is his old love interest's niece. I don't know if that was meant to be cute, but it was more awkward than anything. The first act of the movie had a lot of entertaining action, but I was confused as to why there were so many jump cuts and shaky camerawork. This problem thankfully clears up later in the movie but was still slightly jarring to see after the Russo Brothers did a great job with the action in The Winter Soldier.
This movie also gives the introduction to Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the new Spiderman (Tom Holland). Tom Holland is a great Spiderman and is incredibly entertaining on screen. He had a balance of humor throughout fight scenes that I fought were well executed. His new suit looks cool, with the mechanical eyes and classic Spiderman attire that pays homage to the comics. My tiny complaint about this rendition of Spiderman is how in an interview Joe and Anthony Russo say that they wanted to get a young, teenage Spiderman that is around the right age. For the most part, that is around the right age, but in the Civil War issues, Spiderman is much older. Tom Holland was pretty fantastic, so only minimal complaints. Chadwick Boseman convinced me of being Black Panther and had a few badass moments in the movie as well. Black Panther gets attention for a little while and his time to shine, and was treated with respect. His costume was handled well too and looked like a fresh, modernized version of a more simplistic suit from the comics. A lot of great, recognizable characters are kept out of the spotlight for the majority of the movie, and to be honest, I don't think Spiderman or Black Panther had to be in it. They don't exactly contribute anything to the overarching story. Let's be honest; they are only in this movie to sell their next one, which bugs me. The action in this movie felt more or less the same quality as The Winter Soldier, and there was an abundance of impressive action sequences.
This movie was handled with a lot of care and passion from people who very much do want this movie to be a solid product. A huge criticism I have with Marvel movies is that not much ever feels unique or stylized. Sure, plotlines and twists on the movies change, but I haven't seen anything too bold from directors. I never felt for one second in the theater that there would be any plot twist or significant story arc that could surprise or shock me. This movie is ballsy for taking on a huge storyline in one movie, but it is also reserved in other ways. The last Marvel movie to feel somewhat unique and set apart was Guardians of the Galaxy. I feel like directors could try to add something new, branch out or put more of a stamp on the movie genre than they have recently. Sam Raimi and James Gunn are the only directors that I can think of that added something new or put to use their own unique style. This movie worked for what it was, which is why I liked it a lot. This movie isn't so much thrilling, as it is just entertaining to watch.
The Marketing for Captain America: Civil War is what annoyed me the most. It is entirely responsible for the predictability that these Marvel movies can bear. I have tried to shy away from trailers as of late, seeing as how they reveal too much about the movie and have a diminishing effect on the movie theater experience. I refused to watch the 2nd trailer released for this movie since I was told it showed Spiderman. I am so glad I made that choice, as it made watching the movie less dull and unsurprising. This isn't precisely a criticism of the movie itself, but superhero movies or just big blockbuster movies, in general, have a tendency to give too much to the audience in a trailer. I wanted to be surprised by Spiderman's appearance; that's a part of the movie that should be enjoyed by everyone in the theater alone! I was lucky enough to stop myself from seeing that trailer, but what about the countless other people that couldn't help themselves, or didn't even know Spiderman was in the trailer? It seems somewhat dirty to do that when every audience member deserved to see it and gaze in awe or have whatever reaction in the theater! But no. It gets the tickets bought, and the money guaranteed. Instead of convincing the audience that the movie is worth seeing without revealing things that may be cool parts of the movie, they HAVE to show it just to pull at people's interests so people can recognize bits and pieces scattered throughout that they can recognize from the trailer. And it works. I sincerely hope that the Russo Bros weren't given a choice on what is in the trailer because I would be extremely disappointed in them as creators if they approved of the trailer, and had the chance to make a new one.
If these movies were marketed better, than it wouldn't have such a bad effect on the movie watching experience. I will make sure to avoid future trailers for any movie at this point. This movie, in all fairness, was fine for what it was, and what it was trying to be. I was invested in most of the story elements and had a great time. I also couldn't help smiling myself stupid in the third act when the impressive action sequences got to stand out. It wasn't as good as the Winter Soldier since The Winter Soldier had more of a clear focus. I would say that despite its flaws, that the rewatchability and fun factors add up to make this movie my fifth favorite out of all the MCU. That also corresponds to being 11th favorite out of all Marvel universes in Fox, Netflix, and Sony. The Avengers succeeds at having smarter dialogue and a more coherent story, but this movie is still a close second. The character building felt well balanced, even if not all made sense. I am glad where this movie went. This movie got all the right beats I expected, and more.
+ competently adapted story - Villain could have been scratched
+ Well balanced character screen time - Iron Man's arguments not as developed
+ A ton of rewatchability - Somewhat shaky camerawork for first act
+ Great action sequences - Lack of style or unique qualities
6.5/10
