Captain America: Civil War Review:
Rogers V Stark
BY IAN
TAN
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| Cap's looking pretty calm... |
Twelve movies in and Marvel Studios
still haven’t lost their touch. It’s quite amazing that despite having a dozen
films under their belt (thirteen including Civil
War), none have been total failures. Some are definitely brighter spots
than others, but for the most part, Marvel has succeeded in telling
interconnected stories (more so than not) in epic and satisfying ways. And Captain America: Civil War is another
awesome addition to the Marvel canon.
Civil
War sets the Avengers in conflict with one another
when the government bodies of the world decide that the collateral damage the
Avengers have cost throughout their missions is too big an issue to go ignored.
Hence, they provide Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with a solution in the form of the
Sokovia Accords, which will place the Avengers under the watch and command of
government authorities. While Tony Stark/Iron Man is all for it, Steve
Rogers/Captain America is not so convinced.
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| Up top |
Although Civil War can be seen as both an Age of Ultron and Captain
America: The Winter Soldier sequel, the core story is still centered mostly
on Cap/Steve Rogers, with the film’s central story being a direct continuation
of The Winter Soldier’s. However, the
writing, directing and the overall balance of story and characters in this film
works so well that by the end of the film you’d feel as though you’ve also sat
through Iron Man 4, Black Panther: Vengeance and The Even More Amazing Spider-Man. All
this, plus a focused Captain America story and an Avengers sequel all in one
movie – what more could we ask for?
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| The colours of America |
The Russo brothers, who directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier and
who will direct the Avengers: Infinity
War movies, do a stellar job with Civil
War. Everything from characters to action and motivations are all
spectacularly handled with little compromise in any department of the film’s storytelling.
Iron Man’s reasons for signing the Accords seem just as sound as Captain
America’s reasons are for not signing it; Black Panther has his own emotional
character arc in a movie that isn’t even his; the new Spider-Man gets an
extremely crowd-pleasing introduction; the characters all have layered and personal
reasons for the choices they make in the film; the stakes aren’t over the top
but feel heavier than ever before because the heroes themselves are against one
another, and the conflict feels real – Captain America: Civil War does it all with some of the best
character moments ever to grace a Marvel film. Other supporting characters,
aside from the ones previously mentioned, are given their own time to shine,
Scarlet Witch and Vision especially. And although Ant-Man hasn’t very much
screen time, the Russo brothers make up for that by using him in one of the film’s
best and visually jaw-dropping action sequences. Hawkeye, however, didn’t
really need to be in this movie, but Jermey Renner’s charm makes him a welcome
addition to the fight. Chadwick Boseman and Tom Holland are fantastic as
T’Challa/Black Panther and Peter Parker/Spider-Man respectively, and are great
additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The villain in Civil War – Helmut Zemo, played coldly
by Daniel Brühl – also happens to be Marvel’s best villain (or perhaps I should say the
smartest) since Loki, and his motivations feel real, human and understandable.
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| Black Panther never fails to nail his entrance |
Action-wise, Civil War has plenty of super powered set pieces that are extremely
well choreographed and executed. The airport battle between Team Iron Man and
Team Cap present in the marketing of this film does not disappoint and sets a
new standard of action for future Marvel entries. And by the final act of the
film, Civil War also sets a new bar
for emotionally charged, character-driven action that breaks the mold of
Marvel’s usual reliance on spectacle-based action. The aforementioned airport
scene was shot with IMAX cameras, and the scale of the action in that scene
really benefits from the expanded screen image and size of an IMAX theatre.
Unfortunately, a few action scenes prior to that – although spectacular – are
shot largely with hand-held cameras and may be a little giddying for some,
especially during the fast-paced opening sequence in Lagos.
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| Spider got your shield. |
Overall, Captain America: Civil War is Marvel’s most engaging film to date,
and is up there with the likes of X2,
The Dark Knight, The Avengers and Guardians of
the Galaxy as one of my favourite
superhero movies. Personalities and ideologies were challenged, every action
piece had a clear motivation behind it, nearly every character was compelling
and the action was exhilarating. It’s everything I wanted Batman V Superman to be and so, so much more.
