On the back of DC’s Hero on Hero vendetta comes Marvel’s similar feature based loosely on the comic book with the same name and I have to say it was for the most part of it, very well done.
Marvel launched their phase 3 campaign with Civil War and it does a fair enough job of ushering their next batch of movies; doing well enough, predictably, to succeed at the box office and provide fans with something to hold on to, while also capping off Captain America’s Trilogy, albeit not enough to really leave you yearning for more, its quite a decent outing from the Disney owned studios.
So without further ado lets get straight into it, first off, if you haven't seen Civil War, why the hell are you reading this!? its a no holds barred spoiler galore from here on out, and pardon me in advance but I will tend to make a lot of subconscious comparisons with Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice on this one.
"if you haven't seen Civil War, why the hell are you reading this!?"
The Bad Stuff
Marvel’s Homogeneous Formula
I’m a DC fan, but first and foremost a comic book fan, not to mention that some of my best superheroes are from Marvel, so I’m being objective when I say that every marvel movie for a while now has tended to feel the same, 30 minutes into the movie and it feels like a bland, pedestrian and un-involving affair with nothing new to offer, and its the feeling I’ve grown accustomed to with each Marvel studio release, there are exceptions of course, but for most parts of it, its a severe case of dejavu, you know its going to be good, and you’re not expecting any surprises, you know how its all gonna play out; Good guys win, Bad guys loose, Good guy leaves unscathed, you’re just there to confirm your suspicions, there is no shock factor in the MCU, no risks dared to be taken. ‘Why change a winning formula?’ you might ask, well because Marvel are presently the unofficial trail blazers for the genre (which I think is unfair that they are used as the benchmark for comic book movies) and if they continue churning out homogeneous popcorn movies it may spell doom for upcoming movies in the genre.
The Sokovian Accord
Much like its comic predecessor, the division among the heroes is brought about by a ruling, among international governments that superheroes have to be held accountable for their actions through registration with the relevant authorities and must also divulge their secret identities, however in the movies Bucky, the Winter Soldier is really the crux of this superhero fallout as Captain America only wants to protect his friend who has been framed for something he didn't do and Iron man, the unlikely boy scout, more content on capturing the Winter Soldier for the government.
The Sovokian Accord may have caused the split in the Avengers but it gently fades into obscurity like a bad song before the movie reaches the 1hr mark, I think the accord provided so much thought provoking sentiments that should have been fleshed out in the movie, but sadly at the end of it all, one easily forgets it started the whole thing leaving it relatively unresolved, save for the incarceration of some of the Avengers.
However in the comics this aspect is deeply explored and it asks the challenging questions that strikes in the heart of these characters, with both parties deeply believing in their cause so much so that it leads to the death of a hero.......did i just hear SHOCK FACTOR?
The civil war comic, which is probably one of the finest story telling pieces ever published, was never really honored by the movie, understandably so, as a full on adaptation may require a full trilogy or at least two movies, not to mention the fact that the comic involves every hero in the marvel universe which would just be plain impossible for a movie. However with the necessary downsizing on staff and time period it could still have been a thought provoking piece of work.
Didn't feel like a Captain America Trilogy
Unlike what the 3rd chapter in a Trilogy is supposed to do, CW didn't feel like a conclusion to Captain America’s personal story, all though it was, I mean Peggy died, he and Buck were reunited and he finally made out with Kate!, mostly in part due to the presence of the other avengers and as it came on the back of AOU which made it more like an AOU upgrade than a concluding piece for Captain America. Its largely unresolved ending also didn't help matters as it felt like a season finale with more to come in the next (Avengers:Infinity Wars 1 & 2)
Boring Villain
So it turns out that all the fuss in CW was caused by an unassuming Baron Zemo downplayed in CW to ‘Lt Helmut Zemo’ a Sokovian ex military hit squad personnel who lost his family during AOU. In perspective he actually makes a good excuse for a villain; driven by revenge, patient, scheming, cold and calculating, but under-powering another Marvel villain is just wrong, you’d think they learned from Iron Man 3, That being said, he was a relatable villain, boring but relatable.
No cojones to make the tough calls
CW had quite a number of opportunities to provide the much needed shock factor and risk taking to take story telling in the MCU to another level, However they only flirted with them....with War Machine escaping inevitable death and Captain America and Iron Man coming to an assumable, unsaid truce at the end of the movie which is funny considering Tony just tried to kill both Bucky and Steve, In Steve’s letter he even tells Tony that he’ll be available whenever Tony and the Avengers need him, It would make more sense for the cap to just lay low, only for events of infinity war to force him out of retirement, he is after all, an outlaw now.
The Good Stuff
Lights, Camera, ACTION!
A friend pointed out that marvel movies always have an action sequence within the first 10 minutes of any of their movies, a trademark they continued with in Civil War. For all the depth we want to see in a superhero movie we want to see double of that in action, Marvel have this on lock and they know how to deliver the goods, The first action scene in Lagos (it really wasn't Lagos) was a good appetizer to get your juices flowing ,(something that was sorely needed in BvS) all subsequent action scenes were top notch and perfectly placed in the film.
Overcrowding? Where?
For all the talk of overcrowding in a superhero movie and how it would be a problem Marvel once again showed that this was no problem, from Avengers, to AOU, now to Civil War they’ve showed that with the right script and treatment you can have up to 10 superheroes in a movie and you can make it work fantastically, overcrowding? no such word. Take a cue Justice League.
The New Guys
Honestly, when I found out that Marvel studios had agreed terms with Sony to involve spider man in civil war and then oversee a couple of films afterwards I wasn't so psyched, a feeling, probably shared with a lot of spider man fans, I had thought the character’s story had been over-told and it was just going to be another rehash of Marvel’s most popular superhero, but man, Tom Holland’s representation of the web slinger is...and I don't even think it’s premature to say this, the best spider man ever! This is the spider man the way he was meant to be; Not overly nerdy as Tobey Maguire or as cool as Andrew Garfield, this guy falls right in between them and God the jokes! an element of spider man I never thought any of the previous iterations captured. Spider man’s first appearance in the MCU was glorious.
King T’Challa aka black panther was another new entry to the MCU and is equally as interesting as both himself and his alter ego, driven by a personal vendetta against The Winter Soldier, The black panther’s introduction in the MCU has us anticipating his solo movie with Chadwick Boseman reprising his role as the Warrior King of Wakanda. Hmm Warrior King.....if that isn't a kick ass job description I don't know what is.
Tom Holland’s representation of the web slinger is...and I don't even think it’s premature to say this, the best spider man ever!
Captain America: Civil War, is much more of an improvement on Marvel’s last year’s releases; Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. Yet in the midst of the heap of praises lauded on the movie that is not to say (in my opinion) that it is the best thing to come out of Marvel Studios (Captain America: The Winter Soldier holds this mantle for me). Civil War was rehash-ingly (yes, not a real word) what we’ve come to expect from Marvel, in the sense that the cliche Marvel formula applied again, It was a decent, enjoyable and almost emotionally engrossing piece of film work.
There are moments CW attempts to surprise us and burst their comfort bubble do just that, but just end up poking at the water with a very long stick wondering how deep it goes only to go back home thinking ‘Do I really want to swim in that?’ I could drown’ as it gets under its cosy blanket. BvS may have had many faults but Snyder was in no way afraid to do a reverse back flip with a twist into those uncharted waters.
This however doesn't take too much from Civil War, its not as thought challenging as it could have been but it still comes out decent enough for a good day at the movies. I score it a solid 7.5/10.
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