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Sean Rogers

Captain America: Civil War Review

Shared universes are simultaneously the coolest and the most harmful thing to happen to movies in the last decade. At their worst, shared universes churn out movie length trailers for future installments, forgetting to deliver on anything remotely entertaining. At their best, though, they leverage relationships audiences have built with characters for years to deliver some truly satisfying moviegoing experiences. Captain America: Civil War is one of those.

Team Captain, in order of least-to-most importance to plot.

Captain America: Avengers 3

Captain America: Civil War feels closer to an Avengers movie than a Captain America movie, but it never feels like a mistake. It features just as many (if not more) superheroes than an Avengers film, and surprisingly never feels cramped. The focus is still on Chris Evan’s pitch-perfect Captain Steve Rogers, but Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes share nearly equal time in the spotlight. Civil War’s runtime is only 5 minutes shorter than Batman v. Superman, clocking in at 2 hours and 27 minutes, but it refuses to drag like BvS did. Both movies have their fair share of convoluted plot points, but Civil War lets you leave the theater knowing what the villian’s motivation was. Good luck explaining Lex Luthor’s plan.

Civil War succeeds where Batman v. Superman failed.

The Best Of Both Worlds

Seeing superheroes fight each other is the dream most kids have held since age 9. So, appropriately, Civil War has a heavy dose of humor and childlike whimsy about it. When our heroes eventually clash, the titular fight scene is littered with plenty of jokes. This is another area that Civil War succeeds where BvS failed. BvS took the fight that every child has talked about since the dawn of time, and double dipped it in DC’s Signature Dark n’ Gritty Sauce™. Gone were the audience pleasing “oh FUCK!” moments (which Civil War is filled with), they were replaced with darkness and furrowed brows and rain and depression. Marvel has positioned themselves perfectly to allow their movies to aim for just about any tone, without feeling out of place. DC has made the unfortunate choice of doubling down on the darkness, making any attempts at humor feel strained. Make no mistake, Civil War finds its dark place, it just doesn’t spend the entire movie there.

In Civil War, each character is given time to explain their ideologies. In Batman v. Superman, they punch each other a lot.

Sequel Bait

Shared Universe films often can’t help themselves, they’re practically required to set up future movies. Think Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, for example. Remember when the movie grinds to a halt, so Wonder Woman can watch little clips of Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg? She doesn’t do anything with this information during the movie. These clips do nothing to service the plot. They’re only there for future Justice League movies. Imagine if that scene was removed entirely; would the story change at all? That’s sequel bait. It does nothing but set up future investments/films. Civil War, shockingly, has zero sequel bait. Sure, the post-credits scenes set up future films. But for the entirety of Civil War’s running time, the movie lives entirely in the present. This film seems so damn determined to deliver entertainment, and it shows.

Who Wins?

Audiences. Marvel delivers on the DC’s broken promises, refusing to let you leave without feeling satisfied. If Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice soured you on superhero movies, Captain America: Civil War will remind you what can make them so great.