Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War

Once again, Captain America: Civil War shows the best and worst of what Marvel movies can offer. As both a sequel to Captain America: The Winter Solider and The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Civil War is indeed enjoyable, fun movie with great character dynamics. While the narrative isn't quite as suspenseful and gripping as The Winter Soldier, but it does improve on its handling of different characters than Age of Ultron. Throughout the years, Marvel has repeatedly provided movies that bring interesting character pairings to let the audience see how these superhero characters relate to each other and act when they're in disagreement or conflict. This film is no longer just about impressive individual character performances, but also character groupings which allow different characters to react differently for same issues at hand, to work with or against each other within the story.

After numerous disastrous events: the alien invasion attacks on New York City, the revelation that SHIELD is compromised and destruction of multiple heli-carriers, the fight against Ultron in Sokovia which caused tremendous deal of collateral damage and millions of innocents killed, including the recent mission in Africa which caused more damage, world leaders demanded oversight and accountability over the Avengers by signing the 'Sokovia Accords' - a treaty to force The Avengers to work under the command of the United Nations that determine when and where the team should go into action. Some of the team members began to experience profound sense of guilt after what happened in New York and Sokovia, especially Tony/Iron Man. Tony supports the oversight as he thinks that Avengers is responsible for the deaths and destruction and should be monitored or controlled. On the other hand, Steve/Cap America remains distrustful of governmental agendas after what happened to SHIELD and prefers the Avengers to remain free to act on their own. This created a rift between the team members and triggered the 'Civil War'.

Despite its wealth of characters, this is still considered to be the Captain's movie. He's the good man who needs to make the tough choices, to do what he believes is right even the world thinks otherwise. He tries to find and protect his friend, Bucky/Winter Soldier, who is to be hunted down and killed on sight after a deadly explosive attack happened at the United Nations conference. On the other hand, for such a carefree, fun, charming billionaire, Tony is rather down this time around, even more than Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron (aside from the guilt he felt for being responsible for the lives of innocent deaths in Sokovia, he also has relationship issues with Pepper Potts, which is briefly mentioned). The conflict between Tony and Steve is compelling enough as the movie shows both sides do have something to show that neither was wrong.

Most of the superheroes are given sufficient screen time and introductions (for Black Panther and Spider-Man of course). Surprisingly, Spider-Man steals the show, his appearance is the best thing that happened in the film. Black Panther's fight scenes are cool as well. However, do take note that the inclusion of Spidey is also expendable to the story, including Ant-Man and Black Panther. They could be cut out from the movie without making any difference to the plot, as if they're there to advertise their individual spin-offs. Another worthy mention is Civil War's airport battle scene which is considered to be the best superhero ensemble fight ever depicted on the big screen, with every character getting a moment to show their abilities in battle. It's fun, entertaining and enjoyable. However, it does getting quite unrealistic at times and certain scenes are quite chaotic with fight scenes keep on jumping here and there with different characters.

Now comes the worst part of the movie...its main villain. Marvel greatest problem has always been its handling of the villains. It seems that Marvel just not interested in developing their villains other than Loki, putting the emphasis on their superheroes' conflicts with each other instead. It's rather unfortunate that the main villain is just some random guy who tries to take revenge this time around. As the bad guy, Daniel Bruhl's Zemo could be the most underwhelming, forgettable villain in the Marvel cinematic universe so far. His schemes rely on far too many coincidences. There's no character development, so when his motives are revealed to the audience, it feels weak.

Aside from that, there's also a brief moment between Captain America and Sharon Carter that feels unearned, forced and inappropriate given when it happens in the story. In addition, its final dramatic act lacks the necessary energy to bring the movie to a satisfying conclusion and it feels rather forced just to add more conflict between Cap and Tony. Civil War shares similar themes with the recently released Batman v Superman, addressing the issues of collateral damage, the consequences of having superheroes in our world while didn't take itself too seriously. Any fans of the Marvel cinematic universe would be delighted to watch this.



Note: Remember to stay for the mid-credit scene and post-credit scene.

Rating comparisons with other Marvel Cinematic Universe films:

Iron Man	2008	8/10
The Incredible Hulk	2008	7/10
Iron Man 2	2010	7/10
Thor	2011	7/10
Captain America: The First Avenger	2011	8/10
The Avengers	2012	9/10
Iron Man 3	2013	8.5/10
Thor: The Dark World	2013	8/10
Captain America: The Winter Soldier	2014	8.5/10
Guardians of the Galaxy	2014	7.5/10
Avengers: Age of Ultron	2015	8/10
Ant-Man	2015	7.5/10
Captain America: Civil War	2016	8.5/10

"Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Doesn't matter what the press, politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. We stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and look them in the eye, and say, 'No, you move.'."