This weekend the new Capsicle movie came out and to me the title would be more apt to be Captain America V. Iron Man than Captain America: Civil War. Going into this movie I was trying not to get my hopes too far up because the more I expect a movie to be good the more I can be disappointed when it doesn't meet my expectations. That being said it is a good movie and I have seen it twice(once on Friday because I couldn't wait and again on Sunday as a Mother's Day activity with the fam). Civil War was not as good as Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) but was definitely better that Avengers: Age of Ultron (21015). This movie was more of what I would have preferred to see as an Avengers movie and with all of the brought back Marvel characters and the new ones introduced it easily could have been another Avenger's movie (the only reason it wasn't was the lack of Thor and Hulk).
Civil War carries on with the Phase Three of the Avengers movies and with Captain America, played by Chris Evens, leading the current Avengers Team consisting of Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson; Falcon, played by Sam Wilson; Wanda AKA Scarlett Witch, played by Elizabeth Olsen. Also thrown into the mix are War Machine, played by Don Cheadle, and Vision, played by Paul Bettany. If you are unfamiliar with the these and other Marvel Cinematic Universe Characters you will have a difficult time understanding and following the movie as my mother can attest to (who is that? Ant-man. Who is that? Ant-man. Who is that? ANT-MAN). The movie starts with the current Avengers Team on a Mission that has some unwanted casualties. This continues to throw the Avengers into a negative limelight and Secretary of State Ross, played by William Hurt, is leading the Sokovia Accords, to put the Avengers under United Nations control. Iron Man, played by Robert Downy Jr. is all about this as he is very down trotted this movie about the deaths of innocents during the previous movies. Captain America isn't for this as "the best hands are still our own." While these accords are being introduced it appears as if Bucky Barns/ Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan, bombed the summit, which really sparks the discord and opposing sides of Captain America and Iron Man. Also in the movie are Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Anthony Mackie as Black Panther; Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Tom Holland as Spider Man, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Daniel Bruhl as Zemo, and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross (Sorry if I missed anyone there are a bucket load of characters).
Although there are lots and lots and lots of Marvel characters in this movie they bring them in in a way that I do not have a problem with. That is introducing them slowing and giving each a moment instead of throwing them all at you in one go where they all muddle together. That being said there are so many that besides the main three (Captain America, Iron Man, and Winter Soldier there is not a whole lot of character development, just general excitement for each character as a character. There is a bit with Black Panther (looking forward to and independent film of him) and Zemo (main antagonist). I did continue to really enjoy Paul Rudd's Ant-Man and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this version of Spider Man. The casting was good and there wasn't anyone who didn't seem to fit as their character. Although the casting was very good and overall great rapport and chemistry between the characters and their sub pairs, there is absolutely no chemistry between Chris Evans' Cap and Emily VanCamps Carter. This was pushed at us without a lot of development (which is fine as a lot is happening in this movie) but I couldn't look over this because there was no tension or chemistry between these two on screen, their interactions were very wooden and without the underlying tension doesn't work. I like having a love interest for Captain but there needs to be chemistry for me to care.
Before I continue on with talking about the cinematography and other aspects of this movie, I am glad to say that Chris Evens continues to be super attractive as Captain America and I especially appreciated the seen showing his physics where he is holding the helicopter on the rooftop.
Civil War does the action sequence technique of very tight, fast cuts, a lot in this movie and it does it in a way that I hate the most in this movie. The first action sequence at the very beginning of the move (stop this movie makers, I like a build up to the action sequences not going full speed immediatley) felt like it was not only jumping around quickly but that it was speed up. It was like fast, fast, slow, fast, fast, slow, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, with all of this my brain cannot process what is happening and has to fill in the blanks. It would have been better to back up the action sequence and slot it down a bit. I know that this is possible because it is what was done in the main sequence between Team Cap and Team Iron Man later on in the movie. This sequences was AWESOME and knowing that I was going to see this again removed any concern I had about seeing the movie again. I cant wait until I can see this again as it is exactly the kind of thing I love in big budget action movies.
A lot of the CGI in this movie was distracting, especially the major CGI. I found it distracting when people obviously became CGI or when cars were obviously CGI, I think this might be related to the continued 3D stuff in movie, which to me doesn't really add much and makes everything less look real. The smaller details (such as Scarlet Witches powers) were done very well and added a lot to the movie. Although a lot of the action sequence CGI was distracting the overall production value and cinematography was good and I liked how the score was incorporated throughout the movie. It is interesting for me to see how the different themes are used.
Before I finish I once again want to point out that this was a Captain America V Iron Man movie and to me the most non specific character focused movie that is billed as one. If I didn't know it was a Captain America movie I very easily could have thought it was an Iron Man movie, even with the focus on Winter Soldier it still could have been an Iron Movie by how they worked it. The only thing to me that made it more a Captain movie was having Sharron Carter and not Pepper Potts as the girl.
If you like the Marvel Movies you will like this one and if I were to rank them all this would be one of my more favorite ones. It drags on for a while and continues for longer than I feel it could have. There was a fight sequence that felt like the natural climax of the movie but then it kept going and threw in a smaller scene in order to keep the Captain America V Iron Man thing going. Basically I recommend this as one of the better half of the Marvel movies. I continue to like how the Captain America Movies set up movies that follow it but are still good in their own right
My Rating: 3+
P.S. If you need to be told to wait until the end of the credits in a Marvel Movie, like come on. However make sure to stay through the end of the credits, there is a mid credit scene as well as an end credit scene.
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