Film Review: Exciting & Unpredictable, Good “Civil War” Tries to be Great

By Anthony Hernandez

The Captain America series of Marvel’s wave of standalone superhero films is proving to be the most thought provoking and relevant of the bunch. Where the Thor films were fun and beautiful to look at (albeit hollow at the core), and the Iron Man trilogy, though starting out with a bang, eventually devolved into an amalgamation of wry comedy, endless explosions, and huge plot contrivances – Captain America – like a great wine – has gotten better with time. (But where’s our stand-alone Hulk movie, Marvel?)

The first film in the series (the weakest so far) was a solid launching point for its sequel, Winter Soldier (the best of the three) – which invoked some pretty dark themes and offered us an incredibly solid story for a super hero film that seamlessly mixed depth and emotion with a ton of action. The next installment, Civil War, is almost all that – and more… well, more action anyway.

Without giving much away, Captain America: Civil War finds our titular hero leading his team of Avengers in another mission to save humanity. But after the dust settles, the collateral damage from the fight prompts the government to step in and puts political pressure on an already volatile situation. The new system of accountability creates a rift between our characters, and eventually leads to two factions – one led by our hero, the other by another hero – Tony Stark. And as Iron Man and the Cap duel over ideals (Tony is all for government oversight, while Steve’s desire is for the Avengers to remain free to save the world as they see fit), the world comes crashing down around them as they battle for their future. What follows is an action-packed – yet, like all of the superhero films of late, over-long – cinematic event that somehow handles the numerous characters with surprising ease. And to top it all off, Robert Downey Jr – who has seemed kind of bored in his last few film appearances, hasn’t been this good since he first donned the Iron Man suit.

Though it could be argued that Civil War is more like a third Avengers film, rather than a stand-alone Captain America movie – it plays more like a human affair, rather than just a battle between the gods. Yes, there is more action, more battles, more fan-service with long shots of extra flashy close-ups, and lots more leg-sweeping, ground-pounding fight sequences that we’ve all grown to love (or loath); but hidden underneath, there is a much deeper story.

It plops our comic book characters into the middle of a political firestorm that raises more questions about the stability of a world that is driven by profit in endless war and government intervention. It also depicts a deep-rooted friendship that is tested by duty and a difference in opinions. The film tries to bring all this to the surface, but the real meat is sometimes smothered over with all that tasty, thick action gravy that we know we should hate, but can’t. Perhaps in more capable hands, the underlying story of about the ethics of unbridled power (both in government and in the hands of a select few superheroes) could have breeched the surface and elevated this installment from really good to really great. It’s still a lot of fun, though! And there’s Spiderman…

Captain America: Civil War does inject some much-needed life back into the seemingly endless string of superhero movies – of which there is no real end in sight. So as long as they filmmakers continue to proceed with the same kind of tenacity they’ve proven with Civil War – more, in this case, is more than welcomed.

Captain America: Civil War

Run Time: 146 minutes

Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of violence, action and mayhem

Starring: Chris Evens, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Renner, Paul Bettany, Paul Rudd, Chadwick Boseman, Marisa Tomei, Martin Freeman, William Hurt, Daniel Brühl

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely