Film Review: Captain America — Civil War
Following the Iron Man saga, Captain America: Civil War (2016) marks the closing of the second hero trilogy produced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and was succeeded by Thor: Ragnarok (2017) which wrapped up Thor’s trilogy. The plotline of Civil War brought strong closure to numerous aspects of Rogers’ life.
The Characters and the Film’s Significance in the MCU
Captain America’s pal “Bucky” Barnes returns. He tries to console his brainwashed friend. Bucky even seems reformed in a way, and the Captain realizes he was not responsible for the countless assassinations he had carried out.
However, a man thirsting for revenge upon all the Avengers finds the codebook containing certain keywords which trigger Bucky’s “kill mode,” as it were. In the end though, Bucky is safe, sane, and secure (in Wakanda). This is a partial loose-end, but it does bring some ounce of closure for the time being.
Much earlier in the movie, we see Steve Rogers receive a message that his sweetheart (from 70 years ago) Peggy Carter passed away in her sleep. A funeral follows, and at this mournful event, Rogers along with the audience realizes Sharon Carter, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Captain America was introduced to in the previous film, was actually Peggy’s niece.
He definitely has a soft spot for her as we can see by watching them make out a further on in the film. Another more minor character whose termination takes place is that of the Hydra agent “Crossbones.” He returns extremely early on in the movie and is killed off just as quickly.
While several oldies are getting killed off, the movie watchers are introduced to entirely new superheroes and agents. They also get to see a handful of other characters who are still quite new to the MCU. For instance, for the first time on the big screen, we see Chadwick Boseman playing the Black Panther.
In addition to this, we see Tony Stark employ Spider-Man (as played by Tom Holland) for his team of superheroes. Thus, we get a glimpse of the Homecoming star in his Marvel character debut. Captain America: Civil War also managed to introduce Everett K. Ross, a CIA agent who went on to play a more major role in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther.
As we experience the exits, entrances, struggles, and submissions of the various characters, some hold on to the past while simultaneously claiming to be looking out for the future. Characters we can’t seem to get enough of that appear in the film include familiar faces such as Iron Man, the Falcon, and Black Widow alongside much newer roles like Ant-Man, Vision, and Wanda Maximoff.
Ant-Man was a sheer pleasure to see show up. Wanda’s character goes through some superhero crisis and eventually makes some drastic changes to how she responds to her powers and their consequences. So Civil War obviously closes some doors while at the same time opens several others.
This was very well executed. It has laid the groundwork and basis for dozens of side stories to be played out over the next few years in the MCU. Captain America is still the same honest guy he has always been; nothing too drastic plagues his character, but I just enjoy The First Avenger and Winter Soldier more over this final installment.
The Production, Cast, and Crew and My View
Anthony and Joe Russo are a pair of producing/directing brothers, and they are great at what they do. Joe Johnston, director of Jurassic Park III (2001), directed the original film in the trilogy, Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) which was a masterpiece in and of itself. The Russo brothers took over the saga after that.
Though Civil War was a fair movie, their best work to date, in my opinion, was on Winter Soldier. Anthony and Joe Russo work brilliantly together and are directing what shall be one of the biggest movies of the year, Avengers: Infinity War.
Taking various concepts from the Marvel comics produced over the years, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Steven McFeely. Both Markus and McFeely have done a significant amount of writing for various Marvel movies, series, and video games as well as working as screenwriters for the Narnia film saga, constantly working together on monumental projects.
McFeely noted one of the problematic elements in making this movie was, “the sheer number of beloved characters in the film.” But the crew are very comfortable working with one another; they are closely knit. They obviously work quite well under the same roof. I think this helps tremendously. The crew share a similar vision and passion.
Despite this strong familiarity and superb working skills combined, the daunting project brought with it a number of difficulties, particularly in working out the plot and individual character development. Co-director Anthony Russo stated, “It was very challenging on a storytelling level to put them [the Avengers] in a head-to-head conflict for the climax of the film.” He went on, saying the filmmakers had to make each character’s stances both “a little bit right and a little bit wrong.”
Sarah Finn took on the role of casting director. This woman has had this same position on well over a dozen other popular films in the MCU. She’s also done a significant amount of casting for the Marvel TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. For the most part, the casting of Civil War was spot on.
Chris Evans, of course, has to return as the Captain. (There is no other for the part.) Evans himself says of his famous Marvel role: “…through the years, I have really loved playing this character so much and I really like everything he stands for and the way he handles himself in these films.” More key character actors return in their recurring Marvel roles such as Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, and others.
My favorite non-major role introduced in this movie is that of Everett K. Ross as portrayed by Martin Freeman. I find it quite interesting how the Captain America saga often employs actors who appear in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. For example, prior to his appearance in the MCU, Freeman held the lead role of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit movie series.
Similarly, Hugo Weaving played the Elven lord Elrond in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. In between these two trilogies, Weaving played the main villain Red Skull in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger. In addition, Richard Armitage had the minor role of Heinz Kruger, an undercover Hydra agent who commits suicide, in The First Avenger. The very next year, he appeared as the key character Thorin Oakenshield in Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. So Civil War brings in another actor who made his mark on the Middle-earth saga.
Other actors I love seeing back include Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind) as Vision, Paul Rudd (Monsters Vs. Aliens) as Ant-Man, Elizabeth Olsen (2014 Godzilla) as Wanda, and Chadwick Boseman (Message from the King) as the Black Panther. Every member of this cast adds several new elements to the story and help to bring it together.
I agree with executive producer Nate Moore when he says, “the strength of this story is the friendship between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.” This strong, healthy, endearing relationship is the best aspect of the film, perhaps the strongest element of the whole trilogy.
Note: This article was originally published on Of Intellect and Interest’s main page here.
