Friday 29th April saw the release of Captain America: Civil War, with some eager fans attending the triple run, midnight screening. Civil War is Marvel’s response to DC’s Batman VS Superman, with two superheroes battling it out to see who wins. With a projected $200M international gross for the weekend alone and a 8.7 IMDB rating, it’s not hard to see why fans are flocking to see this film.
Zemo played by German actor Daniel Bruhl sets off a string of events involving the Winter Soldier so that The Avengers are forced to duke it out over whether there should be limits to saving the world. Iron man (Robert Downey Jr.) believes that their ought to be restrictions and that The Avengers’ need to be “put in check”, whereas Captain America (Chris Evans) believes that you should be fighting for the helpless no matter what the cost because “the safest hands are still our own”. Zemo is a fantastic addition to the cast, he’s not a super powered mutant or a god, he’s just a man. A man who has lost everything at the hands of The Avengers. Therefore he doesn’t use power to divide Tony and Steve, he uses their weak spots. Which so happen to be familial attachment and the pain of loss. He does act like Lex Luthor in BVS though, pulling all the strings without either of them realising.
Iron Man is very arrogant in his approach, if he had not been told that he has caused death and despair then he probably wouldn’t have known. He’s the billionaire playboy who doesn’t understand that Bucky is brainwashed. Captain America is trying his best to honour his best friend and keep the other Avengers happy, it’s a task he doesn’t achieve. You can see it as him being the most moral, even when he was a skinny kid in the first film he threw himself on top of a hand grenade to protect others.
Team Cap consisting of Falcon, Ant Man Hawkeye, Captain America, Scarlett Witch and The Winter Soldier, get ready to fight.
This leads to what is undoubtedly the most pointless and absurd fight ever seen between a group of friends. ‘Oh we’re always fighting and causing a mess, I know, why don’t we fight it out and cause more mess’. It was Captain America VS Iron Man but with other superheroes that got roped into the fight without much information on what they’re actually fighting about. Case in point, Spiderman. Spiderman if not wrongly persuaded by Iron Man would have definitely been on Captain America’s side, since his MO is all about protecting the little guy.
Tom Holland joins the cast as Peter Parker AKA Spiderman.
Tom Holland is doing a great job as Spiderman. I admit I wasn’t too sure about Holland’s casting because I think Andrew Garfield is the most suited actor for the role however, Holland played the jittery, sometimes-cocky teenager role to a tee. This Spiderman seems to have skipped over the origin story and spidey is as flexible as a Power Ranger and as fast talking as ever. Joining him on #TeamIronMan is Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who despite only being a combat fighter, never seems to majorly struggle in a fight. Black Widow is a notorious double agent so you’ll probably not want to tag her on any team immediately.
Alongside her is Black Panther. Chadwick Boseman (T’challa AKA Black Panther) is a highlight of this film; his suit is made of vibranium making it impenetrable. The black suit and pointy ears actually reminded me of Arkham Knight from the Rocksteady Batman/Arkham series. He’s incredibly fast and flexible, not to mention, very persistent. It’s also worth a note that Chadwick’s Wakandan accent is pretty convincing for a fictional nation.
Chadwick Boseman makes his debut as Black Panther.
On Captain America’s side we have Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who seems to despise Tony by the end of the film, which will make an interesting Avengers: Infinity War. He is fighting alongside Scarlett Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) who is my favourite character and also the most interesting. We’ll skip past the fact that it’s her fault that everyone is fighting in the first place…
Other additions include Antman (Paul Rudd), the superhero version of a borrower, Revenge’s Emily Vancamp who is too beautiful to be real and of course Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). If you step back and look at the film as a whole it almost becomes the ‘Bucky Barnes show’, most of the main fighting is spawned from his misdoings and also later on in the film his brainwashed alter ego keeps fracturing friendships. It is quite interesting that at the end of the film, the characters are not at each other’s throats but they are not best friends either, they have destroyed each other’s trust and respect which in turn will see a very disjointed Avengers.
Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, a brainwashed friend of Steve Rogers.
The main fighting scene is very well choreographed, as is all the fighting. I won’t gripe about the fact that most if not all is unrealistic. Yes, they are enhanced individuals but in real life when you jump off a high-rise building and land on your legs and back then there is a high chance you wont get back up again. I suppose that’s what makes these films so enjoyable and so appealing to our ‘escapism’ voice; they are not believable. Another gripe, which has nothing to do with the narrative or structure of the film but annoyed me, nonetheless is that it was in 3D. I went to see this film in 3D X-plus and I love the X-plus part but I hate the 3D part. I think it blurs the imagery and makes the set look less vivid; it’s not even a film where things jump out at you.
It’s interesting to point out that the war reflects how we operate in society, many people prefer Iron Man because in this day and age, we are more preoccupied with looking cool and having money than actually doing the right and moral thing.
All in all, many critics and fans have praised this film as being the best Marvel movie ever made and whilst I enjoyed it and admired how it was put together, it wasn’t a film that jumped out at me as being ‘FANTASTIC’ nor was any of it particularly terrible, it’s very good and I can see why people love it but for me it wasn’t a 8.7, more like a 8.0. Patiently waiting for Thanos to turn up now…
8/10
