The MARVELous Movie Blog: Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Release Date: April 29, 2016

Films are like buses. You wait ages, then two films you want to see come out at once. Captain America: Civil War is the 13^th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first film of Phase 3. To kick things off with a bang, Cap is joined this time around by Iron Man, most of the other Avengers, and even two new heroes in the form of Black Panther and Spider-Man, both making their long-awaited MCU debuts here ahead of their own films. As you might be able to gather from the cast list, the film serves as a sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron as much as it does Captain America: The Winter Soldier. You may also remember that I liked Winter Soldier a lot, and Age of Ultron not so much. Therefore, I’m pleased to report that Civil War sticks closer to Winter Soldier tonally, while letting Age of Ultron influence some of its events, thus serving as the best of both worlds.

No plot summary again, as it’s a new release. However, it is difficult to discuss some things without making allusions, so although I won’t give away any explicit details, you might be able to infer things based on what I say. If you want to be as spoiler-free as possible, I’d advise not reading this until you’ve seen the film, just in case.

Despite what the trailers may imply, the entire film isn’t built around superheroes fighting each other. The film takes its time establishing why the characters feel the way they do about the situation, and their experiences in previous films also helps add to this. For example, Cap’s dismantling of SHIELD after HYDRA had infiltrated it means it’s perfectly sensible for him to distrust some sort of overview system, in case something similar happens again. Likewise, Tony Stark would want control to keep him in check because the last time he performed scientific experiments unsupervised, he created Ultron, and even before then he used to be a weapons manufacturer. It’s made clear that them fighting each other is the last resort, done only when all other options have fallen through. I also appreciate that the film has the guts to take its central concept to its logical conclusion, and avoid having the two sides reconcile while decking some CGI monster’s face in, as it means the central conflict is relevant throughout, and not just an excuse to have Captain America and Iron Man fight each other. The Marvel films have been around long enough by now that we, the audience, have gotten to know these characters well, and they can start to tell stories such as this one that rely on the shared history of the characters, and have them mean more to the audience thanks to that history. It’s a lesson the other recent movie where superheroes fight each other would do well to learn.

There was that one scene where Ant Man fought Falcon, remember? What movie did you think I was talking about?

You may think that with such a large cast list, the film would struggle to balance everyone without having someone overshadow everyone else or be shafted. In a pleasant surprise, this is not the case. Everyone gets a bit of focus and a reason to be involved, with nobody appearing for the sake of it. Some characters offer different aspects of the Sokovia Accords and how they’ll be affected by them. Others, most notably Spider-Man and Ant Man, serve as comic relief, but are capable of being serious when necessary. Even more impressively, Cap isn’t pushed out of his own film by having to share it with the rest of the Avengers, always remembering that it’s his name that’s in the title. There are two plots running alongside each other, the Winter Soldier plot that follows on from The Winter Soldier, and the Accords plot that happens as a response to the events of Age of Ultron. Unlike many of these kinds of films, the two plots here complement each other well and blend into each other, thus avoiding a stop-start feel whenever the plot focus switches, and keeping a smooth pace throughout. It’s thanks to this pacing that, although the film is 2 ½ hours long, it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

The new characters are particularly worthy of praise. After two Spider-Men that portrayed one half of the character better than the other, we have in Tom Holland an actor who nails both Peter Parker and Spider-Man (Turns out we didn’t need Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield to perform the Fusion Dance after all – or maybe they did and Tom Holland is the result?) Everything we need to know about the character’s personality is established in only two scenes via the medium of Show Don’t Tell, and without any expository dialogue or yet another retelling of his origin story, a blessed relief as Spider-Man’s origin story is common knowledge, behind only Batman and Superman.

(There is one thing that I should mention here. Spidey refers to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as "A really old movie." This line makes you old as the hills as it is, but it gets worse. Peter Parker is 15 in the film, which is set in the present day, so 2016. Peter Parker was therefore born in 2001. The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Putting these together, you realise Peter Parker is so young, he hadn't even been born yet when the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy started.)

Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther is excellent, his character established in a comparable way to Spider-Man, but with a more prominent role as the neutral third party of the Civil War. This role is a natural fit for a foreign diplomat to play, and in his very cool-looking costume, he proves to be more than a match, carrying himself with dignity and grace, but also fury tempered with skill. Like Spider-Man, Black Panther’s character develops naturally in the film, without it needing to pause to introduce him. The upcoming Spider-Man and Black Panther films just became very exciting prospects after Civil War. Also worth noting is the enigmatic villain Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl. He may just be an ordinary man without any superpowers, but he’s one of the Avengers’ most dangerous foes yet despite this, posing a challenge of a different sort. He’s also capable of subverting clichés and offer some new twists, with one particularly cruel one near the end that I won’t spoil. Best of all, unlike most Marvel movie villains not named Loki, he doesn’t die at the end!

War, War! What is it good for? Making kick-ass movies like this, apparently. Civil War is definitely as good as Winter Soldier, if not even better, bringing the MCU’s best series to an end with aplomb.

10/10