Review: Captain America: Civil War

Marvel Studios bring a new adrenaline-filled, comic-inspired movie full of twists: Captain America: Civil War. It was one of the most anticipated superhero movie of this year and was definitely worth waiting for. For those who were worried after Avengers: Age of Ultron, fear not for this one will meet and even go beyond most of your expectations. Truly, the force of the movie lies in the dynamism of all the characters, each individually as well as their interaction between each other, on top of the actions and fun wordplays between the characters, a famous feature of the MCU.

The plot, fluid but not too simple, finds the newly formed Avengers team involved in some collateral damage, resulting in public fear of them not being able to control their powers. Thus, the Sokovian Accords, proposed by the governments of countries across the world, proposes that the UN oversee and direct the Avengers. This new status quo fractures the team for the first time, resulting in two camps. The first led by Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and his desire for the Avengers to remain free from government interference, and the other by Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) who fears other casualties if the Avengers are left without the state’s supervision. But a bomb at the UN deepens the division among both sides, while the prime suspect of the attack is none other than the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), aka James Barnes and best friend of Steve Rogers, bringing our well-known heroes (and some new ones) to fight against each other.

The storyline, though maybe having a taste of wanting to say too much too quickly, is brilliant and never appears to have been oversimplified. Indeed, until the very end you will not know for sure what will happen. Mixed with amazing stunts and fight scenes, they did not forget to give an important place for the personality of the characters to be developed, bringing back some of our favourite superheroes, all having their own place and importance, and some new ones that appear as if they were always part of the team. One of the most exciting scenes being the first meeting between Cap and Bucky and an incredible fight against the Special Forces in a staircase. Also, finally seeing Captain America facing Iron Man is what most people were waiting for since the first Avengers’ movie when the two of them met, and believe me, you will not be disappointed.

I must also mention the great depth that was brought to every single character though too. Indeed, as the emotional vulnerability of Tony Stark’s is uncovered, and as the loyalty of Steve Rogers is tested, the others had their own individual development, such as Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her capacity to control her own power, or Clint Barton’s (Jeremy Renner) inability to live a quiet and peaceful life out of the action.

Still, newbies Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) take their rightful place in the movie. The first taking a great deal of the plot, the second taking part of all the action, and the latter most of the funniest moments. Furthermore, watching all of these heroes against each other is far more interesting than all of them facing a super-villain. At least, we have a great sequel to the first Avenger’s movie.

Unfortunately, the friendship between Cap and Barnes is, in my opinion, an oversight. All of the Captain America-centric movies seem to talk about it at length, and this third time is too much. Even if it is in correct adequacy with the plot, the previous movies already worked on that.

Finally, one of the most interesting features of the movie was the great deal of importance put towards ethics. Should our favourite heroes be placed under the government’s control, and therefore be subject to satisfy one’s best interest ? Or should they be left by themselves, and hope that they will never go to far on a mission to save humanity ? This issue is well brought into the plot, raising the question of taking over one life to save many, and making it complex for the audience to actually take a side.

Captain America: Civil War (2016), directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, is distributed in the UK by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Certificate 12A.