Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War deeply reminded me of my joy of reading comic books as a kid.  I was at that time a deeply committed DC Comics fan.  My favorite back then was Batman.  The stories of the character were so deeply rooted in questions of morality and strategic manipulation of horrible situations that he was always a character I was willing to root for.  Marvel, had fights with an expanded rogue gallery but at that age that was all I saw when looking at Marvel Comics.  Surprisingly, the same aspects of storytelling I enjoyed from DC Comics as a child can now be found in Joe and Anthony Russo’s latest Marvel Cinematic Universe directorial effort Captain America: Civil War.

The story of this film takes place some months after Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Captain America (Chris Evans) is continuing to do missions with the Avengers and keeping the world safe as much as possible. While on a mission in Lagos trying to stop Crossbones from stealing a biological weapon collateral damage as a consequence of fighting the villain.  The tragedy that occurs forces Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr. to work with the United Nations and General Thaddeus Ross to create the Sokovia Accords.  The Accords are basically a book of conditions to be signed by the UN that says the Avengers can only intervene when a country calls upon them to do so.  Stark loves this plan because he still feels immense guilt over the fallout of the events of Age of Ultron.  He feels the work the Avengers do should be policed because it prevents further loss of life.  Steve Rogers disagrees implying that we can’t just sit around and watch disasters unfold when we could be saving lives. This conflict between two heroes is only further strained when a bombing occurs at the Accords signing and it appears as though the person responsible is Steve’s best friend and current hidden vigilante The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan).

I really love the fact Marvel really took their time in giving audiences the origins of these iconic characters because now three film phases in we know the character’s moral standings and personality quirks.  This information dispensed throughout each character’s individual stories or group interactions really enriches the conflict that is the central plot of this film.  At any point in this film audience members may find themselves agreeing and disagreeing with the arguments of either Captain America or Iron Man given the evidence they are presented with.  The film is also helped by some of the strongest acting performances from Downey Jr. and Evans respectively.  You can tell that both of these actors are truly enjoying playing these characters and evolving as actors because of the emotions they are asked to portray and the stories they have to tell.

While most of the weight of the story rests on Evans and Downey Jr.’s performances no one in this movie is phoning it in especially not new characters like T’Challa or Peter Parker.  Both characters while not integral to the overall conflict are soldiers in this war.  Chadwick Boseman had a challenging role to play as he was portraying someone who was bitter and out for revenge because of how the bombing impacted his life.  Tom Holland is a superb addition as Spider-Man providing plenty of quippy humor and fun to the film’s second biggest battle.  Peter also has heart because in Holland he is portrayed as a down on his luck hero who just wants to make the world a better place with the gift he has been given.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo may place a deep importance on getting the story right but they don’t skimp on the action either.  I love the way the last two action scenes were filmed because as many characters that were screen they all had their own portions of the battle to fight.  While every hero may have not been given equal time it was a pleasant experience to see it filmed so cohesively.  In contrast to the compliment I just paid to the brothers, the first action scene of the film looked like it was filmed strictly with shaky cam and that fight took me completely out of the action and the conflict’s beginning.

Overall Civil War does a lot to improve upon what made these characters so memorable and fascinating to watch, and it’s a joy to see them grow and change as people.  Much like the comics I read as a kid, I can’t wait to see where their next adventure takes them.