Captain America: Civil War (2016)

NOTE: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! WHILE I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT IT'S PRETTY HARD TO SPOIL A SUPERHERO COMIC BOOK MOVIE (since they're typically predictable), NOT EVERYONE FEELS THAT WAY. I DON'T NECESSARILY SPOIL *THAT* MUCH, BUT I DO REVEAL SOME KEY PLOT ELEMENTS AND MOMENTS. SO IF YOU DON'T WANT ANY SPOILERS....

STOP READING!

IF YOU'VE SEEN IT, OR ARE TOTALLY FINE WITH SPOILERS WITH YOUR COMIC BOOK MOVIE, THEN PROCEED!

After the disaster that was Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, it would be hard to blame anyone for worrying that Captain America: Civil War might wind up being equally bloated. However, it’s hard to forget that it’s Marvel, and they generally know what they’re doing. Where Batman v. Superman was a hot mess of completely disjointed and confusing ideas, CIvil War is actually pretty focused. It’s certainly not perfect, but it might very well be the best superhero movie to date.

The first thing I might suggest, though, is that people re-watch The Winter Soldier before going into it. There are a few things that don’t get a recap here. For example, Cap has a few moments with Sharon Carter, which appears to come out of nowhere. In the theater, I could hear people ask what the heck was happening because they were confused. Sharon and Cap share some chemistry in the previous film, of course, and the Russo brothers clearly want you to remember that since they don’t do that much to really further establish that.

It also admittedly feels a bit strange that the film is essentially a bigger, crazier - albeit far more fun - retread of The Winter Soldier. Let’s get up to speed with that. During World War II, Steve Rogers saw his best friend Bucky Barnes get knocked off a train and apparently killed. The Soviets, however, recover his body and turn him into the most accomplished assassin in history. They essentially give him tons of additional training (on top of his already extensive special forces training from the US) and a powerful metal arm. Then, they put him into deep sleep before awakening him and programming his brain through mind control.

In The Winter Soldier, Cap finds out that Bucky is alive and that the US government is after him. So, he essentially defies the authorities, going against the law, in order to find his friend. He builds a mini-team of Falcon and Black Widow as they uncover a plot wherien SHIELD and the US government have been infiltrated by Hydra agents, thus vindicating Cap’s actions.

So, what is the basic plot of Civil War? It becomes public knowledge that the Winter Soldier is still alive, causing the US and world governments to want to track him down. Captain America goes against the law in order to try and find his friend. He builds a larger team of Falcon, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and Scarlett Witch (and kind of Black Widow, sort of - she’s thankfully a bit complex) as they uncover a plot wherein the government has been infiltrated by Zemo as he attempts to frame Bucky as a means to tear the Avengers apart.

In essence, it really is just a retread. But it’s hard to argue that Civil War is a lot more fun, largely because of all the other stuff it has going on. It definitely lacks an alternative sub-genre the way that Winter Soldier was a political thriller on top of being a superhero film; that’s not inherently a bad thing though.

What’s nice and different about Civil War is that it doesn’t exactly have a large scale disaster. The world isn’t in peril here. Sure, Vision and Tony Stark occasionally refer to something bigger possibly coming down the pipeline, but largely, this is just about these heroes sorting themselves out. And yeah, there are large, global consequences to everything that occurs, yet it never feels like the world is in grave peril. It’s not. For as huge as some of the action sequences are, this is rather surprising and, frankly, super refreshing.

One of the big knocks on Marvel movies - and absolutely can apply here as well - is that their features haven’t exactly showcased strong, compelling, or interesting villains. Crossbones is essentially a nonfactor, other than as an early villain for the team to take down. Zemo, however, is the driving conspirator. He doesn’t get that much screen time, and he’s definitely not great, but there are elements to him that make him kind of intriguing. For starters, he isn’t totally behind everything. While his plot is ultimately behind the bombing at the UN, he wasn’t behind growing gobal discontent at the behavior of the Avengers. Instead, previous Marvel films set up the atmosphere of the world and Zemo just wisely captured the moment to his advantage. Smart. Additionally, he wasn’t initially behind the Sokovia Accords either, so there was already a wedge growing between Cap and Stark organically anyway. Again, he just capitalized on the moment.

The most interesting thing is his goal. Zemo isn’t out to destroy the Avengers. “Stronger men than me have tried and failed,” he tells T’Challa at the end. No, his objective was not about killing them. It was just about tearing them apart. He wanted them to fight each other, possibily even killing each other. Either way, death is not the only winning condition for him. The team is broken up with half of them imprisoned in the Raft at that point. Even more, the US and world governments are growing even more anxious about them as a result of their little war.

Still, Zemo’s motivation is a bit confusingly explained. Apparently, he seeks vengence for losing his family during the Age of Ultron events in Sokovia. Ok, makes sense. Except that when Cap asks him, “You’re from Sokovia. Is that what this is about?” Zemo answers something along the lines of, “Sokovia was a dead nation before you destroyed it.” It’s a tad confusing because that implies his motivation isn’t connected to Sokovia. Later when Zemo is talking to Black Panther, it’s revealed that it is about Sokovia. With reflection, it seems that Cap was asking if it was about their essentially ruining Sokovia as a nation, but that isn’t exactly clear. This motivation is also undermined a bit by the lack of adequate screen time for the villain. There are a couple of moments where he is listening to the last voicemail his wife ever left. It could have been touching, but feels a bit hollow since we know nothing about him.

Other than that, it’s hard to complain about much else throughout the course of the film. As has become the norm of Captain America movies, the action is awesome and fun to watch. It’s clever and creative and captures a lot of the comic book spirit. The standouts and things people might be talking most about afterwards are Black Panther and Spider-man, who both make their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. Spider-man has a minor, but memorable role. If you were anything like me and were a bit nervous about the new guy, you’ll might very well walk out like me thinking that the new guy is totally fine. He was very funny, with totally natural dialogue. And, of course, he had very, very awesome Spidey action moments. The future is bright for Spider-man (also, it’s probably no coincidence that one of the phrases used for mind controlling Winter Soldier is “homecoming,” which is the subtitle of the upcoming Spider-man movie).

To me, Black Panther was the standout newcomer. His action was every bit as awesome as I expected it to be, and T’Challa is just as smart and badass. It could be argued that his character is the only one that truly goes through a complete arc, starting the film seeking vegence for the murder of his father, while ending with the realization that vengence is too short-sighted and itself dangerous. What’s nice is that he wasn’t just randomly thrown in there. Black Panther actually plays a fairly substantial role. He’s even the one that captures Zemo (since Stark and Cap are too busy punching each other in the face).

Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me, and the best thing I can say about the film, is that it’s surprisingly well balanced for a movie that features a dozen superheroes. (Zack Snyder and Warner Brothers should take note.) Yes, most of the characters - like Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and War Machine - all have minor roles and basically just show up for the big fight sequence, but each one gets their moment. While Iron Man gets a good chunk of significance, the Russo brothers do a good job keeping the focus on Cap and his team. What’s pretty funny is that where Batman v. Superman featured hyper-contrived reasons for the two to fight, and featured just two seconds of Superman trying to talk to Batman, Captain America actually tries several times to explain what’s really going on to Stark. He even gets it out several times, but Stark is so wrapped up in his ego that he doesn’t listen.

Balance doesn’t just apply to character focus either. The tone of the film is also well thought out. Most of the film is actually pretty serious, with Cap himself moping like we’ve come to expect. At the same time, they are careful to never let it get too serious. Civil War features some of the most genuinely hilarious lines and moments in any Marvel movie. (Paul Rudd as Ant-Man is an even more perfect casting here, and Spidey offers some of the funniest Spider-man dialogue to date, perhaps including the comics!) I’ve been a bit critical of Marvel’s overreliance on comic relief, but it was almost perfectly executed here. All of the jokes came at exactly the right time, and they came when needed and applicable. Nothing really felt that forced or shoved in there because there needs to be X-number of jokes per minute.

Without question, the biggest gripe I have with the film is with the end. It’s not necessarily that it’s a “bad” ending; it’s more that it felt rather unsatisfactory. I’m not entirely sure what exactly was concluded by the end. The last two movies were all about saving Bucky and bringing him back to the brink. They finally accomplish that, only for Bucky to decide he’s going to put himself in deep sleep again, removing him from the picture entirely. Then, there’s voice over narration from Cap, reading a letter he wrote to Stark, about how the Avengers are Stark’s now, and that Cap will be in the shadows, showing up only when needed. It’s a neat way to basically say, “No more Captain America solo movies,” but it’s a bit confusing when it ends with Steve Rogers - sans costume and shield - freeing the imprisoned Avengers from the Raft. Meanwhile, Stark is god knows how far away, doing his own thing. Plus, his last moment of the film is him essentially giving the middle finger to Thunderbolt Ross (who, by the way, it’s really nice to see him back in the fold).

Then there’s the matter of Stark’s feelings towards Bucky. Zemo’s ultimate plan is to frame Bucky for the bombing of the UN, further pushing the Sokovia Accords and dividing the Avengers. Then, he would reveal that he was behind it all - not Bucky - in order to bring Cap, Bucky, and Iron Man to his lair, where he would then reveal that a mind controlled Bucky was responsible for killing Stark’s parents. This further divided the parties. So, we’re left thinking that Stark and Cap are now beyond repair. Yet the final sequence with Cap’s letter indicates that maybe Stark is starting to come to on the idea that Bucky was mind controlled and not really responsible. But there’s no reason for him to actually feel that way at that point. They could have easily worked something in wherein maybe it’s explained that Bucky was essentially a weapon, no different than a gun or a missile, and that after his initial emotional outburst, Stark is starting to realize that’s true. He is super intelligent, after all.

So I’m not totally sure what gets concluded here. Bucky is now out of the picture entirely, not included back in it. Cap also tells Stark that he’ll always be there to help him if he needs it, so they’re not actually beyond fixing. Overall, the ending feels a bit rushed and, to some extent, a tad pointless.

Still, that hardly derails the previous two plus hours. Captain America: Civil War succeeds in ways that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice completely fails. Each character gets the appropriate amount of attention and focus, complete with tonal balance. It never really feels bloated despite having almost a dozen superheroes, though there are some moments that feel a bit sidetracked.

Captain America: Civil War - in my opinion - is without question the most well balanced and fun team superhero movie I’ve seen. This includes those X-Men movies or earlier Avengers movies. It sees an awesome introduction to Spider-man and Black Panther. It features extremely fun action. And most importanly (at least, to me as a comic nerd), it feels the most like a comic book, with each character feeling accurate to the comics. That’s all I want. This was obviously never going to be like the Civil War comic, and that’s totally fine! I don’t want straight up, shot-for-shot adaptations of existent stories (*cough* Snyder…). I just want the characters to feel close enough, and the action to be fun.

The Russo brothers nail it. This is the first time in a while that I actually can’t wait to watch it again on the big screen. (Plus, more Community cameos.)