Captain America: Civil War - Marvel's Triumph

By Trevor Durham on May 5, 2016

I’m a long time, hard-core, comic book fan. I’ve been hanging out with long boxes for more than half of my life. Millar’s Civil War isn’t one of my favorite Marvel tales, but I certainly found it a compelling Avengers story. A year ago today, I published a review of Avengers : Age of Ultron. I was as disappointed as you were. But the Russo brothers were said to be taking over, yanking the helm back from Joss Whedon’s horrors, bringing more of Winter Soldier and less of, well, Whedon-verse. The guys that made Community and the best Captain America film, perhaps Marvel film to date, had my full trust.

They have not disappointed.

Captain America: Civil War may not just be the greatest comic adaption film to date, it may be one of 2016′s most compelling films.

Perhaps I’m a Russo fan boy, perhaps Chris Evans (and Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, and Paul Rudd) is a favorite of mine, and perhaps I needed some action sequences in my life. But the Russo brothers took a complex story line, adapted it to their Captain America, and gave the finish line to the Marvel Universe people have thought-on since Iron Man 2 showed Fury. James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy, wasn’t wrong when he called Civil War “one of the best Marvel movies ever”.

As for plot, Civil War doesn’t follow the comics so much as take inspiration from them. Following the mass destruction incurred by the Avengers, Steve Rogers, and Iron Man in the past twelve films, the United Nations requests the Avengers become a public good rather than a private institution. While Steve’s old friend Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, comes out of hiding, the pressure on Stark and the Avengers to come in quietly forces Steve to make a rough decision about finding his friend.

Civil War sounds like, and appears to be, a mindless super-hero movie- one with the chance to end up a mess, a la Spider-Man 3. It never comes close to it. Many have seen the Airport Scene stand-off in trailers and dismissed it as another forced clash, a line-up battle. The Russo brothers spent so much time and effort in this sequence to have perfectly set it up, never once making it feel forced, and never have people ended up in a line more smoothly or accidentally. I didn’t realize it until the fighting had begun.

The second the film recreated this frame, my jaw hit the floor.

Let’s talk about the fighting. Do you remember the Winter Soldier’s intense hand-to-hand combat scenes, with Steve and Bucky trading a knife while battling to the death? Civil War will leave you breathless. They brought back James Young on fight choreography. Civil War marks the first time a fight has left the ground and felt realistic, with people attacking on all sides, switching foes, and turning up the tension as opponents trade intelligent blows and strategize. The Airport Scene will leave you hooting and clapping with childish joy, while the tense, gritty fights towards the film’s end will have you gritting your teeth and wanting to catch your breath. The dark, brutal violence of the Netflix shows has landed in the films. Civil War will have you wincing and wanting more.

Captain America: Civil War also gives audiences the performances we’ve been longing for: Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is the web-swinger of comic book readers’ dreams. He’s adorable, sweet, sincere, awkward, and you spend your energy laughing at the jokes too corny to make anybody on-screen crack a smile. He’s perfect, and I for one cannot wait for his Homecoming.

Chadwick Boseman may have a short list of credits, but he is a skilled actor who plays the diplomatic T’Challa with the poise needed to rule a country, and follows suit as the Black Panther without batting an eye. The ruthless warrior gives us a more tense chase scene than Winter Soldier’s Fury chase, and his quest for vengeance parallels the heroes with a touch of maturity and wisdom. His solo film will be equally fascinating.

The cast all around is phenomenal, with each actor or actress giving exactly what was needed (no quippy Whedon one-liners to kill the character sincerity). Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Bettany’s Vision feel as real as possible, with their relationship increasing in drama. Renner’s Hawk-Eye makes a return, bouncing well with Rudd’s welcomed light-humor as Ant-Man. And Anthony Mackie makes the best foil to Sebastian Stan- trust me.

Civil War gave us two opposing teams, with opposing viewpoints, and by the final scene, you want them both to win. The stakes have never been higher, and we’ve seen New York attacked by aliens. At the end of the film, I was breathless. The Marvel Universe was rocked more than Ultron or Loki ever could. For one, Bruhl’s evil Zemo was the most human villain the Marvel Cinematic Universe has ever received, but his villainy still doesn’t reign high. It’s the loss inside. People are crippled so painfully that no death could have been harsher. If I give you one spoiler, it is this- nobody will die. And you will hurt for it.

It isn’t who wins… the question is what will be lost?

Civil War is the Marvel movie you have wanted. It is not silly, it is not funny. It is hard to sit through. It is realistic. You see pain, the effects of the last two decades within the Marvel universe. Captain America: Civil War is also a threat of what is left to come. My expectations for the Russos were sky-high, and they still knocked me over. Civil War has leveled the playing field for Marvel’s Phase Three, and the eventual Russo Avenger’s films. See this film. But be warned- every-one will have to pick a side.

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