Most people have a big misconception about Captain America.
Many think he's just a patriotic boy scout that will blindly follow orders from anyone with United States military ranking or governmental authority. And when your uniform is basically the American flag, this perception is easily justified.
However, The MAN who embodies the symbol of Captain America has always been only one thing:
A GOOD MAN.
A good man that recognizes that at times being a "patriotic boy scout" involves reminding the very government that you serve to keep in line with the basic fundamentals that binds the country together. Even if that means going outside the very laws that your government has put in place.
And for those who have read the exploits of Captain America in the comics since his defrosting in the mid-sixties, this is closer to the reality of who Captain America really is than the perception of some blindly patriotic boy scout. He has regularly been the conscience of the very government that he serves and has always been willing to go outside the law to bring America back in line with its basic fundamentals.
Captain America has always been a champion of the America People and the American dream... not American politics.
Captain America: Civil War is a movie adaptation of the popular comic book mini-series where Captain America did just so when the government wanted to regulated and registered costumes superheroes after the actions of costume heroes in an incident that caused the death of innocent people.
This is the same impetus for such a policy in the movie version when Captain America and the Avenges goes to stop crossbones and to save thousands of people the Scarlet Witch misuses her powers that ends up killing hundreds of innocents from the nation of Wakanda.
This policy don’t sit well with Captain America because he recognized that the government officials doesn't always see the long term outcome of this knee jerk policies and will endanger more costumed heroes and innocent people. To complicate the matter further, Bucky Barnes, Now the winter Soldier, Captain America long time best friend, have been tied to criminal incidents that the authorities want him to answer for.
To get Captain America on board with their policy they bring in Captain America founding Avengers member and friend Tony Stark/Iron Man, to get Cap to see that this new international policy to regulate the actions of the Avengers will help saves lives, including the Winter Soldier.
This is the set up for a very complex movie and very personal story arc that could either lose the movie going audience and core comic book fans or become one of the most interesting and intriguing comic book movies of all time.
I'm very happy to say it's the latter.
There is so much to love about this movie for fans and movie goers alike. This is one of the few movies that get the persona of their respective comic book characters so right on screen you will swear they step right of the omics to the big screen.
And believe me there is a lot of characters to juggle in this movie and yet they are all distinct in their characterization and respectful to their source history.
The Russo already shown they got Captain America right as a character in their last movie, but this even further solidifies they understand the character so well with his portrayal in this movie.
Chris Evans is Captain America.
And whether in his words or actions he embodies what the character is truly about. As a lifelong Captain America fan who's been reading his comic since the early 70s, who always felt he never got the respect from the mainstream and even comic book readers, I’m more than happy that he is now getting the respect in the public eye that he rightly deserves.
Even more impressive is the way they handle Tony Stark/Iron man.
It's beyond repetitive to say that Robert Downey jr. is an incredible actor and is perfectly cast as Iron Man, (he's proven that even in two crappy sequels in his own movies) but he delivers the best performance as Tony Stark and the Armored Avengers that remind us why we repetitive say he is one of the best actors ever and perfectly casted as Iron Man.
And in the major reveal in the third act when he learn that the Winter Soldier was the one who murdered his parents and Cap had known about, is perhaps one of the most emotional charged performances he ever given! As someone who has always been on the side of "Team Cap", in this very moment, after this scene, I became a member of "Team Iron Man", and I was all for him killing the Winter Soldier and stopping Cap. It's one of the best moments in CBM history! Just amazing!!
All the other major characters in the movie are portrayed well by their respected actors but the
two new members of the MCU stands out as exceptional.
Chadwick Boseman portrayal of Black Panther is a sight to behold.
As the first live action appearance of the character this is one for the books, and has some of the best action scenes I have ever seen in a comic book movie. But what makes the performance stands out more is how REGAL and DIGNIFIED he plays T'Challa and I was more than happy they made him not give in to his more basic instinct to kill Zemo but let him live to pay for his crimes.
And I can't thank the Russo enough for the way they directed Tom Holland as Peter Parker/ Spiderman!!!!
Yes. Spidey is home in the MCU and where he belongs!!! Not that I didn't like the ORIGINAL Sam Raimi movies (at least the first two) or Tobey McGuire portrayal of the character, but the recent movie incarnations
literally pained me to see as Spidey is my second Favorite comic book hero.
And Tom Holland does an exception al job as the dorkishly charming book worm Peter Parker and the wise cracking web slinger here we all love, Spiderman. And to see him interacting with the rest of the MCU had me grinning from ear to ear during the whole fight scene at the airport!
And speaking of that airport fight,
IT IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING BATLES IN COMIC BOOKMOVIE HISTORY!
Yes, it lives up to all the hype and more! I was tranformed into a 10 year old kid with eyes wide open during that scene watching a comic book come to life! All those primary colors on super powered beings doing extraordinary things are what will always SEPERATE and Comic Book Movie than your standard action movie!
Marvel/Disney seriously needs to do whatever they can to bring all their characters that are under other movie studio into their own. I NEED to see the HULK fight The THING or The HULK take on Wolverine in a movie before I Die!!!!
Additionally, the interaction between Bucky and the Flacon is a nice touch as well as the chemistry (yes, I wrote that) for the possible romance between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch.
I can't praise this movie enough!!!
And I have been one who have recently been critical of the MCU movies in their "phase two" (outside of "Winter Soldier") but if this style of movie is the direction that their "phase three" is going to take then I can’t wait for the upcoming movies they have in store.
One of the big difference I notice in this movies is that the Russo’s didn’t shy away from going
“darker” in the tone and style than most directors for recent more “family friendly” style of movies the MCU has produced (something the Netflix television shows does quite well) especially in the graphic nature of the Starks death and the excessive violence between the fighting of Iron Man Captain America in the end.
Of course, no movie is perfect. And neither is this one.
At times the story drags a bit I think it was a bad move to kill off Crossbones as early as he was severely underused.
But my other complaint... (And this may sound silly)...
did they have to have the title of the scenes where they are be so BIG?
They covered the entire movie screen. The standard sized one at the botom would work just as fine. It was very distracting.
Conclusion: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVL WAR IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIE THE MCU HAS EVER PRODUCED AND ONE OF THE BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIES OF ALL TIME!!!!
Yes, that's right. Even over the first Iron Man movie. The first Avengers movie. And even of its predecessor, the WINTER SOLDIER. Three movies I hold as their finest!
This is the Best the MCU has offer up and the direction I hope the MCU is heading!