Movie Review – Captain America: Civil War

I just left the movie theater, and I need some time to process this.

Okay, processed...

I went into this movie with high expectations. No, let me correct that: very high expectations. What this film delivered was so much more. After The Winter Soldier, I believed Marvel would have a hard time trying to top that film; and I wasn’t wrong. Age of Ultron, as cool as it may have been, was a bit disappointing to me. Adding to that, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, though they provided a comic relief that made the films entertaining, lacked the quality that Winter Soldier had. After that, I came to the conclusion that the MCU* may have reached its peak with Winter Soldier. That is, until I saw Civil War. To summarize my thoughts, read my spoiler-less review below, or scroll to the end to read my one-sentence review:

*MCU = Marvel Cinematic Universe

1. First Impressions:

The first few scenes of the movie were not unlike the opening scenes of the other Avengers movies, giving us (the viewers) just a pinch of action as well as plot build-up to prepare us for what’s to come. Once the main conflict started, the entire movie became an action-filled, plot-driven superhero masterpiece, with enough battles, allusions to the comics, and surprises that could be enjoyed by both comic book fans and MCU-fans alike. The way the movie handled its plot(s) and managed to throw in so many characters and situations can be described (by me) as graceful (as opposed to the Avengers films).

2. The Black Panther:

Though I’ve enjoyed reading the Civil War comics, the Black Panther was never a favorite of mine (it’s enough to say that the only comics I have of him are those where he is merely a guest star). After seeing the trailers, I was a bit worried of how the movie would handle introducing a new character that is somewhat unknown to non-comic book readers, and make him an important character (from the trailers, we see that he’s one of the heroes on Iron Man’s team); all of this without over saturating the movie or taking attention away from the main plot and main characters (let’s not forget, this is a Captain America movie, not an Avengers movie).

The character’s role in this movie, from his first on screen appearance was handled really well. The movie did a great job at establishing who he is, what he does, and why he does it, without losing the pace of the film, shifting enough attention to him to make him important to the plot, but not enough to make him the center of the movie. In my opinion, this introduction to the character seems like a great bridge for his upcoming standalone movie. Speaking of which...

3. Spider-man

Spidey is probably one of my favorite Marvel characters, and one of the first heroes that I started reading on seriously. Though I was born in a time long after his first issues were deemed priceless, I still managed to catch up on Spidey thanks to the “Essential” compilations. After that I’ve also collected several of his story arcs, including the psychological thriller (IMO) Revenge of the Green Goblin, as well as the mystical The Other story arc.

I have to admit, I liked Tobey Macguire (at least in his first two movies), and Andrew Garfield was also okay. But I’ve never seen such a comicbook-friendly representation until seeing Civil War’s Spider-man. The filmmakers took somewhat of a risk trying to make Spider-man a bit closer to his comicbook-self (he should be 15 when he gets his powers), and I know the casting of Tom Holland wasn’t met with the best reception my MCU fans. But that’s because the Spider-man that they’ve come to know has been the young adult version portrayed in the movies.

In this movie, Spider-man brings us back to some of the early days, featuring his annoying wise-crack behavior, his antics, and best of all, his innocence (which, like Ant-Man’s, contrasts really well with the other broken and angry superheroes). The movie does a great job of introducing him without giving us the same origin story we’ve seen in movies, cartoons, comics and reboots. I think we see just enough of Spider-man in this movie to want to go see his upcoming standalone (same as with Black Panther). And, if what I’ve seen in Civil War is any indication of what the future holds, then Tom Holland will probably be the best on screen Spider-man we’ve had.

4. The Plot

Another issue that worried me before watching this movie was how they would handle the plot. I really liked the Civil War story arc, but the weight of that story was so big, and had so many characters and situations involved, that I doubted if the MCU could fit in such a powerful story arc into a movie, also considering that a majority of important characters were not part of the MCU (Fantastic Four, Hercules, Cloak & Dagger, Norman Osborn etc.) or were constrained only to the mini-series (Daredevil, Punisher). Since two very important Civil War events had to do with non-available characters (Hercules’death, Spider-man’s public reveal), the movie would’ve had to find some alternate events to weigh in the consequences that those two events caused.

The way the movie handled this was, in my opinion, good. They scaled down the events to a more audience-friendly tone. In other words, hundreds of people will not get blown up by Nitro. This scaling down of events allowed them to incorporate less superheroes (basically every hero from the MCU except for Thor and Hulk). This also had its downsides. Several important characters had to be excluded from this movie, such as Maria Hill. But IMO, if they had included many characters and sub-plots from the Civil War arc into this movie, it could have turned into a mess of a film.

One good thing about the plot is that, though it revolves around the renegade heroes vs. government heroes theme, it still manages to fit in an antagonist, who is unlike any other MCU antagonist we’ve seen. His slow reveal gives us clues into his identity and background without losing focus on the important topic (the Registration Act). The way this antagonist fits into the plot is subtle, yet powerful. I figure some may have mixed feelings about this, since, for some, fitting in an antagonist into this sort of story line may seem ‘forced’.

My favorite part of how the movie handled it’s plot was how a clear “good side” and “bad side” was not explicitly defined. Both Captain America and Iron Man showed a strong conviction to do what’s right, even if that conviction ended up placing them at opposite sides of the argument.Viewers may see themselves standing at any of the two sides; and even though the movie does attempt to shift odds in favor of Steve (since, this is a Captain America movie. Not an Iron Man or Avengers film), enough background on Tony’s motivations and reasons is given to present both sides as morally ambiguous.

5. Cons

Some cons to this film is that it cannot function well as a standalone film (you’d need to see at least The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, and Age of Ultron to understand why some characters are the way they are). People who are completely new to MCU should not see this movie before seeing its predecessors. However, it’s too much to ask for someone to go through 12 other films just to see this one. Other than that, there were one or two moments in the film which I did not enjoy, such as Aunt May’s personality and character (it’s the exact opposite of comic book Aunt May), and the overall interaction between Vision and Scarlet Witch (as comic book readers, we get it, but it seems slightly forced, especially since this is not an Avengers film, so the main focus should not be on the new Avengers).

6. Overall

This movie is very entertaining. I feel that it will be enjoyed by comic book fans and MCU fans alike. I feel that it’s a step-up or equal to The Winter Soldier, and that Marvel did a great job at this. This movie is what both Avengers films and Batman v Superman should’ve been like. My advice, if you go watch this film is to make sure you use the bathroom before, since it runs a bit long and several of the most satisfying events come unexpectedly. Enjoy!

So, if the above was too long to read, here’s my one-sentece review:

This is everything a great Avengers movie should be like.