Before anyone says "BLERGH! THIS GUY'S FULL OF IT! THE MOVIE'S NOT EVEN OUT!!!"
Shut up. I'm Australian.
ON WITH THE REVIEW!
So, is Captain America: Civil War worth seeing?
Heck yeah!
The Russo Brothers more than show their mettle with handling the universe in the third instalment of Captain America. But to call this Captain America 3 would be an understatement as it feels more like Avengers 3 built on the backbone of a Captain America movie. In no way however, is this a bad thing. None of the characters feel forced or needlessly shoehorned in, with every one of them having some sort of purpose and reason to be in the film, and I must add, all of them are entertaining as hell. (Particularly Spider-Man and Ant-Man)
Though just saying a movie has great characters doesn’t make a good movie, you need good motivations and story. Luckily, Civil War has both. The question of ‘Should the Avengers be accountable for their actions’ is handled in such a way that I found myself understanding Tony Stark’s (and everyone else on his team’s) decisions, even though I supported Steve Rogers. This works well as it doesn’t villainise the heroes so we can understand the stakes and heart of their conflict.
Speaking of villains though, this film’s villain, while not a huge amount of memorable screen time, was well fleshed and visceral; It was very easy to understand what the reasons were for doing what he did, and where he was coming from. Unfortunately however, he doesn’t get to spend much screen time with other characters, so he’s not given much to work with. However, his actions are well understood and, I believe, will have a lasting effect on the Avenger’s as a team.
Let’s get to the structure of the film itself though. While I really enjoyed a large portion of the movie, I found the first act a little slow. However, the content being presented in the first act was necessary but it felt more like they were just ticking boxes and setting up for the moment when the entire movie went from neutral into top gear. Once it did however, it didn’t stop. Chris Evans, as always, is great as Steve Rogers and Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark so well that you forget about his shallow quipping in the past few films and brings back some much needed heart to the character.
The story itself, as I said above, was more of a sequel to Winter Soldier with Civil War built on the back of it, but done so organically that it just felt like the logical thing to happen. In fact, this wasn’t a Captain America or Avengers sequel at all. The universe is becoming so vast and rich that it feels more right just to call it Marvel 13.That being said, the Winter Soldier storyline is carried through really well and ties off the loose threads from the previous Captain America 2 very nicely.
It’s amazing this movie was as good as it was considering everything it had to do. Be a sequel to Winter Soldier? Done. Sequel to Avengers 2? Done. Introduce Black Panther? (who is stellar, by the way) Done. Introduce Spider-Man? Done. Be a good film? Done and done.
I cannot say this enough, but this was just a great movie. Everything about it was just done so organically and believably that you can’t help but feel the stakes along with the characters. Yes the first act was a bit slow, but it was a necessary slow as the time bomb ticked over to the boom. It’s nice to know however, that a comic book movie can have so much great action and story and still have room for heart, and luckily, Civil War more than delivers.
Well worth your money, says this guy.
Now with this fantastic jaunt out of the way, I can only look forward with high hopes to see what the Russo Brothers will do with Avengers: Infinity War (here’s hoping for a Guardians team up) as they have proven twice now that they mean business with the Marvel franchise.
Thanks for reading guys, have a good one!