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| Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
Yeah, that's a pretty big cast for not an Avengers movie. And it's easy to see how you can be mistaken into thinking this is just 'Avengers 2.5', but it's more than that. At it's core, this movie is Captain America 3, and it's really Steve's story that drives the entire movie. I mentioned in a previous MCU review that these movies are getting more and more character driven as time goes on, and nowhere is that more evident than here. Every story beat in this movie is driven by something a character does or a choice a character makes, and those moments also having lasting effects on those characters. Yes. Lasting effects. Anyone saying 'nothing in this movie mattered by the end' is dead wrong. Especially concerning our principle main cast, no one ends this movie in the same place they started. Steve is changed by what happens. Tony is changed by what happens. Bucky is changed, Rhodes is changed, Wanda is changed, even T'Challa, a character only introduced in this movie, goes through a deep and personal character arc that resonates with him and affects his character moving forward. What's great about these themes, however, is how they've been building up over 12 MCU movies. When I said earlier that everything had been building to this, I wasn't kidding. Things that happened in previous movies affected the way characters make choices in this movie, particularly with Tony. The great part about that is you don't necessarily have to have seen all 12 other MCU movies since the movie gives you all you really need to know, the essentials so to speak, to understand it. It's an intelligently written script, and it's a lot more than people might have expected from a movie that promised to take our favourite superheroes and make them fight.
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| Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Chris Evans as Steve Rogers |
Which isn't to say the action isn't great, because it obviously is. Some of these scenes can get really intense, and each scene gives you just enough of every Avenger to really make you feel like they integrated each character to their fullest, which is especially impressive considering at one point, there are 12 heroes fighting. The airport fight is obviously fantastic the whole way through, but pretty much every scene nails it: the opening assault, the chase through the tunnels, the rogue Winter Soldier, the final bunker fight, their all gripping, engaging and exciting. And it would have been so easy to just get everybody suit up and have them fight and fight and fight until the movie was over, but there was more to it than that. Not only did every fight scene have the exact right amount of buildup and narrative purpose, but the characters were coming through all the while. Those moments of levity where the characters were just talking during the carnage are honestly needed to make you feel like they're still being true to their characters, and it's not always humour that comes out in moments like these. People will talk during a fight and try to talk the other side down on occasion, instead of just fighting for the sake of the audience wanting to see a fight *cough BvS cough*. When the humour does come through, however, it's usually great, and getting Scott Lang and Peter Parker to do most of the quote unquote 'quips' in the big fight was perfect seeing as they were really the only ones without a personal motive for the fight going one way or another.
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| Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa |
I've talked at length about the majority of the main cast in some capacity in my multiple other MCU reviews, so I'll just focus on the newcomers here. Chadwick Boseman was the perfect pick for T'Challa, and there's so much going on with this character that I don't really know if I can do it justice in the time that I have. He's got the royal dignity of a prince, the stern words of a warrior, the calm demeanour of a hero, he has it all and more. Introducing the character in this story was a stroke of genius, as it gets a lot of the character development for T'Challa out of the way so that the Black Panther movie could be what it was. Which isn't to say that movie wasn't T'Challa's movie as well, but they laid the groundwork here. The only other newcomer worth talking about here is Tom Holland as Spider-Man. Okay, it's like this: up to this point, I've reviewed pretty much every Spider-Man movie and, I have to say, Tom Holland is my favourite iteration of the character we've gotten. This was the perfect casting, and he's really the only actor that has found the flawless balance between shy, awkward kid and s***-talking, confident hero. I'll talk about him a little more in my Homecoming review, but something that shines in this iteration that really hasn't in the past is that Spider-Man is a kid. They absolutely nailed that side of the character, in my opinion, for the first time ever, and he slots in with the rest of the main cast wonderfully.
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| Tom Holland as Peter Parker |
As for the villain, Zemo, I honestly thought he was great for this story. In a movie where the big selling point is heroes facing off, you don't really want a villain that promises to fight the remaining heroes once the dust clears. A villain quietly scheming in the shadows works so much better. You can complain that every little thing worked out perfectly for him, but you'd be wrong. We're shown his plan not working. He wanted to get the Mission Report information out of the HYDRA soldier, but he failed. He's former Sokovian Intelligence, of course he's able to formulate a plan with contingencies upon contingencies that will most likely work out by the end. And Daniel Bruhl does a fantastic job in the portrayal, especially when it comes to the more emotional moments, because they're there for the villain as well. I honestly don't get the hate. He tore the Avengers apart without throwing a single punch. How is that not a great villain? I also want to briefly touch on the final conflict, and I'll try to do it in a way that doesn't spoil anything, though I make no promises. Right from the opening scene, you're expecting a final showdown that goes a specific way, but that's not how it goes down. It's honestly one of the most well-executed 'bait and switch'es I've seen in a movie, especially with how obvious it is on a repeat movie. A less intelligent movie would have had a final fight with some previously warring heroes vs a newly arisen villain *cough BvS cough* but this film is smarter than that. It delivers a final climax that is emotional for the characters, subverts expectations, is executed wonderfully, and all feels completely justified and in character. Not to mention one that leaves the heroes divided and shapes the way the characters will interact moving forward. Honestly, I have nothing but praises.
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| Daniel Bruhl as Zemo |
Captain America: Civil War (2016) is an almost flawless movie, and it's one I can watch over and over again yet never tire of. Seeing this in cinemas was one of my favourite experiences watching a movie. Absolutely wonderful. 10/10.
Next, it's Doctor Strange.
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