Captain America: Civil War Review

     For years now, Disney has dominated the film industry with their massive Marvel Franchise. Consisting of 13 movies since 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated the box office with more than a few smash hits. Divided into phases, the franchise's second phase ended last year with the introduction of Ant-Man. Now phase three kicks off with one of the most anticipated movies of the year, "Captain America: Civil War." While the first "Captain America" was met with Luke-warm reviews, the sequel "The Winter Soldier" was met with much acclaim and is considered by a lot of fans to be the best Marvel movie. Many praised it for not just being an exciting action movie, but an intense spy thriller as well. It set a new standard for Marvel movies, and made "Captain America" the flagship series of the entire franchise. The latest installment, "Civil War," has had every fan jumping for joy since its announcement. Based off the comic of the same name, it brings in most of the existing characters in the franchise, as well as a few new faces that we've wanted to see for years. Made to set the stage for the movies to come, "Captain America: Civil War" might be the most important Marvel movie since "The Avengers." But not only does it manage to achieve those lofty goals, it stands out as the best Marvel movie made so far.

     About one year after the events of “Age of Ultron,” most of the Angers team are still together and fighting the good fight. But after an accident in Nigeria involving the Avengers that resulted in the deaths of several citizens from Wakanda, many of the world leaders started questioning the team. After that, a proposal was drawn up putting the Avengers under the control of the United Nations. While half the team, Led by Tony Stark, is on board saying that it's for everyone's protection, the other half, lead by Captain Steve Rogers, is against the proposal saying that it would take any sort of authoritative power the team had. While in Vienna at the ratification of the treaty, a bombing outside the building where the summit is being held results in the death of several innocent people. After security footage is released, many believe that the former Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes is behind it. An old friend of the Captain, he sets off to find Bucky but gets caught up in a whole new mess. With the team split in half, and many world governments against them, Captain America has to make a choice; do what he believes is right, or go against so many of his friends.

     Towards the beginning of the year I read a poll of a few thousand voters that claimed that "Civil War" was the most anticipated movie of the year, beating the likes of "Rogue One" and "Batman v Superman." And after seeing this movie, not only does it meet the high expectations people had for it, it greatly surpasses them. In short, "Captain America: Civil War" is the best entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; and I'd go so far as to say that behind "The Dark Knight," it is the best superhero movie ever made. And the people behind this movie's greatness are the directors, the Russo Brothers. The Russo's were also the directors of "The Winter Soldier," and you can tell that they took what they learned from that movie and cranked it up to 11. And I am very happy that they will also direct both of the "Infinity War" movies. Like the previous movies in the franchise, "Civil War" is an always entertaining action movie at heart. But going even a step further than that, this is one of the best action movies I've seen in years. There were several incredible action sequences that are among film's greatest, and with some well done CGI and practical effects, the best stunt coordination I've seen since "Mad Max: Fury Road." But like "The Winter Soldier," this film is more than just another action movie. The story is exciting and engaging and always keeps you guessing. It also raises some interesting political questions that people could have long debates about. One of my biggest concerns going into this movie was about the two opposing sides of the movie. From the trailers they made it look like it was going to be hard to go against Captain America since he is one the side of personal freedom and making your own decisions. But they actually did a great job showing why Iron Man has made the choices he has. He makes some really good points about the greater good and taking responsibility for your actions, and I wouldn't be surprised if he changed a few minds. When it comes to performances, everyone did a great job. More than a few of the actors gave their best performances in their respective Marvel movies. But the movie didn't just have great returning actors, but some new ones as well. The MCU finally got its first look at Black Panther and Spider-Man played by Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland, and they were fantastic. They both have the acting chops to pull these characters off and the portrayals as their heroes were great. Both stole a lot of the scenes they were in, and I immediately became excited for their upcoming movies. What really helped these characters was the movie's writing, which was great. The script and dialog was very well written, and the movie could turn from funny to heartbreaking in an instant. But with the story comes the film's single biggest problem, the villain. The entire movie, the villain was just used as a plot framing devices meant to move from scene to scene. I wasn't impressed by his plan or his motives, and by the end the reason he did everything just turned out to be cliché. Nothing against the actor who did a fine job, it's just that the character was so unmemorable; which is a shame because "The Winter Soldier" has one of the most intimidating antagonists of the whole franchise. Now this isn't a new thing, the MCU has had problems with making great villains in the past; but by now I was hoping they could fix that. But other than that one issues, this movie is damn near flawless. "Captain America: Civil War" managed to exceed my very high expectations and instantly become one of the best superhero/comic book movies ever made. It is exciting, action packed, and has a story that draws you in and never lets go. Marvel was looking to start off phase three of the MCU with a bang, and they managed to do that and then some. 

Pros: Best performances from the cast in Marvel movies, incredible action sequences, impressive stunt coordination, great direction from the Russo Brothers, funny and heartbreaking, well written dialog and script, engaging and exciting story, interesting politics, well done CGI and practical effects, always entertaining, great portrayals of new heroes, both Captain America and Iron Man have good points.

Cons: Unmemorable villain used only as a plot device.

4.5/5 Stars