Captain America: Civil War
That rare case where the third movie in a trilogy is far from the worst of the bunch
When we hear the phrase “Civil War”, we think of a large scale battle between countries and entities that have large scale ramifications on those involved. The blowout is usually massive and takes a lot of time to contain and wading through the debris to know what the true root cause was isn’t always the easiest. Look at the Civil War that occurred in Nigeria between 1967–1970 and you’ll have a picture of what I’m inferring. On that note, the title of this movie is a bit of an exaggeration in the sense that there is no large scale battle on many fronts even if there are large scale consequences. It is instead a fallout of what has occurred in the preceding Avengers movies and the previous Captain America installment (Captain America: Winter Soldier).
If you’re reading this, odds are that you’ve seen a couple of the trailers for the movie so you know that after the destruction of New York in the first Avengers, the destruction of a part of Washington during Winter Soldier and the devastation of Sokovia during Avengers: Age of Ultron and then a subsequent attack in “Lah-gos”, Nigeria; the governments of the world feel that the Avengers have too much power and that there’s too little control over their actions and decide to come up with a Unified Instruction called the Sokovia Accords that would govern their actions subsequently. Of course this doesn’t sit well with everyone and so we have the Team Captain America and Team Iron-Man split and when you look at it closely, you realise that they are both right from their perspective and it now comes down to this; “where do we compromise?”
The film handles this in such a practical manner that sometimes it’s hard to see it as a true superhero movie as it plays a lot like a political chess match with more going on than we are aware of. To go into that however would be to go into spoiler territory. Civil War does a lot of things right. It’s a serious movie that plays more like Avengers 2.5 than a Captain America sequel as it has all the Avengers save for Bruce Banner/Incredible Hulk and Thor. It has the big hitters like Captain America/Steve Rogers, Iron-Man/Tony Stark, War Machine, Vision, Scarlet Witch (although not once is she ever called this), AntMan (who has some pretty neat action sequences), Black Widow, Hawkeye, Falcon, The Winter Soldier (who plays a very key role in the plot) and then introduces Black Panther played by Chadwick Boseman and Spider-Man played by Tom Holland. Yet even with this packed lineup, never does the movie feel packed to bursting and each character (yea all twelve of them) get their individual moments to shine and they shine very brightly, showcasing their skills and showing why they are worthy opponents.
it’s hard to see it as a true superhero movie as it plays a lot like a political chess match
The Russo brothers once again show that they know how to handle a crowded lineup while shooting some of the best action sequences in a superhero movie (without destroying a single building and the collateral damage being only the heroes involved *take that BvS*).
Before I go on, I’ll just get this out of the way and say that the two new characters introduced were spot on. Black Panther is a character that has been in the comics for such a long time and there was always the fear that by the time he was introduced to the lineup of the Avengers, something might be done to the character that might be off. Nothing could be farther from the truth in this case. Black Panther is perfect and played superbly by Mr. Boseman. He is a true leader, he is focused, he’s more logical and more level headed than Iron-Man and boy does his suit look amazing!! Whether in his Vibranium suit or in a two piece suit, he was a character in control, a character who was sure of himself and an individual who could throw down with the Winter Soldier even without his suit. You need to watch every scene he appears in to imagine what his stand alone movie would eventually be like.
The second character of Spider-Man was also done pretty well. He’s no longer the constantly sad young man played by Tobey McGuire or the dark “angsty” youth played by Andrew Garfield, he’s instead a teenager who has gotten cool powers and loves them and while he has been through a lot, doesn’t allow it to dampen his spirit and thus we get a Spider-Man who is upbeat and fun and I can’t wait to see what Homecoming delivers next year.
That being said, the movie isn’t without it’s flaws. The first most noticeable scene was also in the trailer so it isn’t a spoiler. The Winter Soldier is about to escape the facility were he was held for a short time and he hopes to escape through a helicopter and Cap is able to stop him by using pure raw strength to stop the helicopter from taking off. Now my science nerds who know about the laws of physics than I do tell me that this is impossible no matter how strong Cap is and that while it may look cool on the screen, it’s a bit of a stretch. So I put it in as a mark against them. The second is the main course of an action sequence that was beautiful to watch and very innovative in the sense that it didn’t feel crowded or forced and just flowed from one sequence to the other. Why I say it is a flaw, is simply because it doesn’t drive the plot of the story forward and just looks cool.
The second is the main course of an action sequence that was beautiful to watch and very innovative in the sense that it didn’t feel crowded or forced and just flowed from one sequence to the other
I’m sure a level head could have prevailed and the scene wouldn’t have been necessary but that would have been a downer right? The other scene (now this is me nitpicking because this movie had very few flaws) would be the final motivation of Iron-Man at the close of the third act. It felt right sure, but I felt it was a bit on the far right of what Disney usually does and this left me with mixed feelings although the final showdown was worth every minute of it and gave a satisfying conclusion to a beautiful movie that isn’t without its flaws.
I should mention though at this point the “Lah-gos” business. Take a look at this link below, I know every Nigerian can relate. Truth is let’s face it, if we had gotten a true depiction of Nigeria, Nigerians and especially Lagosians would have been offended but they could have at least gotten the pronunciation right! That being said, that sequence set the ball rolling for what occurs in the movie and it was a pretty cool scene so that’s all I’ll say about that.
In the end, watch Civil War because it is a movie with a story to tell that ties off the stories of Iron-Man, Captain America and the Avengers leaving us eager to see where they go to from here. Watch Civil War because you want to see the wonderful introduction of Spider-Man and Black Panther. Watch Civil War because you want an action movie that has a heart and wants you to care about the characters involved and watch Civil War because it is one helluva ride and in my personal opinion one of the best movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After thirteen movies, it would be folly to bet against Marvel at this point and I look forward to the next installment with bated breath.
