Captain America: Civil War
dir. Anthony and Joe Russo
In the opening moments of the film, we know that this isn't just 'Avengers 2.5' or a shameless prequel or set-up to future events/films such as the upcoming "Doctor Strange" or any of the upcoming installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead, 'Civil War' showcases a great balance of story and character intensity and summer blockbuster fun.
The intensity of the story comes from the previous encounters that both Captain America and the other Avengers have had from their inaugural battle in New York City to last year's fight with Ultron. The government wants to control them and sanction them with a registry but The Cap and some of the other Avengers don't agree which leads to a 'Civil War' with two factions and explores deep and political ideas that you don't usually see in a standard superhero film. The concepts and conflicts that present themselves show the maturity of all the Avengers. The story isn't just cobbled together or used for the purpose of name-dropping and scene setting like in other imitation style films like last summer's disastrous 'Fan4stic'.
The intense scenes are nail-biting but the film isn't totally serious and dark like 'Batman V Superman' was. We get a lot of levity and smile-inducing moments with Ant-Man and Spider-Man whom steals the show when he is on screen. If this film is meant to showcase and preview next summer's "Spider-Man: Homecoming", it succeeds and shows that newcomer Tom Holland is excellent in that role.
Flaws are minimal are only limited to it's somewhat overlong pacing and runtime (the film runs just over two and a half hours), the overall 'War' aspect feels more like an epic disagreement and the film's denouement felt more on par with "The Empire Strikes Back" and not an MCU installment.
Despite that, "Captain America: Civil War" is the perfect kickstart to this years blockbuster filled summer and only proves that Marvel Studios is afraid to balance somewhat mature themes with fun action sequences and to give other Marvel superheroes some overdue screentime. It's a fun and intense blockbuster and easily one of the best installments so far in Marvel's Cinematic Universe.
Rating: 4/5 Reels
