Captain America: Civil War (2016) (Movie Review – First Impressions)
Friday, May 6, 2016
It’s no secret that superhero movies and comic book films are everywhere now, there’s no escaping them. With so many coming out year after year people may start to get board and tired of the same formula and flashy spectacles. Thankfully every once in a while we get something like “Captain America: Civil War”, which is the latest entry in Marvels Cinematic Universe, and personally one of my new absolute favorite comic book movies I’ve ever seen. This was a superhero movie that dared to do something different with the established formula, it didn’t rely on a cartoony plot and it had the courage to explore thought provoking themes and morals. This movie is laired with subtext revolving around friendship, vengeance, sacrifice, regret and so many things that you rarely ever see in a summer blockbuster.
In the beginning of the movie we see the Avengers taking out some bad guys in your typical fun superhero way. Our hero’s manage to stop the baddies, but unfortunately their victory comes at the cost of some extreme collateral damage. Our hero’s regroup and reflect on what actions they’ve taken and ponder how many lives were lost when they were out fighting the villains, even though the deaths were unintentional. Iron Man and many of the hero’s elect to join a division in the government in which they’d by more controlled, that way they can minimize collateral damage. Captain America on the other hand doesn’t want to controlled like some tool, and the other half of the team agrees that their stronger and more capable of doing good when they’re not on a tight leash. As these issues are dividing the team, a king in Wakanda is murdered by an assassin that’s assumed to be the Winter Soldier. In other words, Captains Americas best friend may be brain washed again, or maybe he’s just gone rogue. The Captain and the Winter Soldier meet and it’s revealed that he was in fact framed for the assassination. Now Captain America and half of the Avengers set out to clear his name, and discover who the real killer is. Unfortunately, Iron Man and the other half of the Avengers are determined to bring them in, and thus a Civil War erupts between the two.
First of all, despite addressing some deep themes, and charring some heavy emotional baggage, I love that the movie never forgets to have fun. Seeing these hero’s all together is still a joy to behold, even when their fighting each other. There’s a scene when they brawl at an airport and it’s arguably one of the most entertaining action scenes I’ve ever experienced in the cinema. The hummer is also very good, and despite featuring a big cast, the film really lets everyone shine. New characters like Black Panther fit into the film very well, and are very interesting on their own. I really loved the new Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, in fact it might just be my favorite rendition of the character I’ve seen in a movie so far, which is saying a lot considering he wasn’t even in the movie that long, but he still left an impact. I was really worried at first that Spider-Man would be too out of place, but he’s very important film by balancing out the drama with some much needed hummer, and it’s a dream come true to see him in a live action movie with so many famous superhero’s.
The action scenes are great, the story is structured very well and is infused with more than enough substance to make this film more than just mindless entertainment. I also really liked that the villain wasn’t a typical comic book villain, he was in fact a person who also tied into the themes and conflicts of the story. I never thought that Marvel could top their lineup of high quality superhero movies, but “Captain America: Civil War” is a solid piece of work, worth to go down in history as one of the great comic book movies, and it’s a satisfying continuation of the Captain America series.
I give “Captain America: Civil War” a strong 4 ½ stars out of 5.