Captain America: Civil War isn’t just a refreshing change of pace from Marvel’s routine formula in its winning franchise strategy, it is simply a great movie. Though exhausting in how it juggles its staggering ensemble cast, Civil War is a thrilling, heartfelt, and often times funny smash and bash rumination on accountability and oversight in the 21st century. Though it doesn’t come away completely unscathed, when the smoke clears Civil War will be celebrated as a total victory for Marvel and the entire superhero genre.
Inevitably, no matter how close you get with co-workers, friends, and family, eventually you want to punch one of them in the face. The premise behind Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War directed by Joe and Anthony Russo and loosely based on the 2006 comic of the same name, is of course more complex than that. But the rage is palpable for those of us without superpowers: Following another international incident that causes brutal bystander casualties, the privately-operated Avengers — led by the square jawed but complex Capt. Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America (Chris Evans) — are coerced by the world’s governments to come under multinational oversight. Former Avenger and billionaire Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) is the right kind of type-A personality who leads several of the Marvel heroes’ support while Rogers opposes, refusing to shift blame to others. The two titans of Marvel clash, attract new superheroes to the cause — Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) — while a neutral enemy plays their card in a terribly distracted world.
The 13th film in the ever-expanding Marvel “Cinematic Universe,” Civil War is a retroactive “fix” or a sneaky jab to critics who complain these films fetishize 9/11 imagery for spectacle. Civil War re-contextualizes the sweeping victories in 2012’s The Avengers and 2014’s The Winter Soldier into something more consequential. Maybe Hulk smashing does cause real damage. After the mind-numbing death orgy of 2013’s Man of Steel and its succeeding Batman v Superman, Civil War is like a sincere apology on behalf of the genre to a weary audience. And as an apology, it presents breathtaking, incredibly choreographed action and some really knee slapping hysterics.
Of all the things to consider Civil War, one would assume “funny” could be the last adjective. But Civil War is light, very light, without treading on childish goofiness (though I personally like when superhero movies embrace that). Even in the middle of jaw-dropping action there’s time for a joke, and it’s never forced or even insincere. Step away from the politically presumptuous comic book from Mark Millar and what Civil War is is an excuse for superheroes to fight. Marvel is, always, an obscenely budgeted, delicately crafted, A-list starring version of a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers script. And yet the magic of Marvel is that it revels in that joy without posturing, or even feeling embarrassed by its kitschy roots.
Positively, Civil War is stacked with characters. Regrettably, it juggles them so much it’s nearly tiresome. Civil War by its nature will attract fans who could tell you everything about T’Challa and Wakanda before Chadwick Boseman walks on screen (Boseman is GREAT, by the way, and the Black Panther costume is pure eye candy), but in the nearly two and a half hour running time you witness a revolving door of characters, who all come with their own arcs, backgrounds, and motivations. For so long one could skip the last Marvel movie, but Civil War will punish that. The Russos should be commended for the tight wire act they display with the film’s characters, but it’s not perfect and could never be. So those who didn’t bother with Ant-Man or, more importantly, Age of Ultron will find themselves at a loss with who’s who.
I have no where to put this sentence, but it bears mentioning: Sebastian Stan’s Bucky, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, is very much the centerpiece of Civil War in a way he never was in the original comic book. And Stan performs reliably well as a cold (excuse the pun), detached puppet for a darker enemy. Everything extends like a web around Bucky, whose presence is very much why almost everything in Civil War works.
Speaking of “webs” and working, Civil War has introduced us to our best Spider-Man yet. Tom Holland is a real delight as the teenaged Peter Parker, considerably younger and whimsical than previous actors Andrew Garfield and Tobey McGuire, who Holland outshines. He’s charismatic but comfortable in the role, as comfortable as the bright, vibrant suit he wears as the webslinger. The film really does speed through Spider-Man’s “origin” to the point it’s almost barely mentioned — and yeah, because we know it already — but it’s there and you can bet it’ll be explored at length in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Civil War is a lot of things: Funny, tense, well-paced, exhilarating — go in to the German airport fight scene knowing nothing, it’s better that way. It also falls victim to some of the trappings of the Marvel Universe. The stakes are tangible and, most importantly, there, but they also somehow aren’t due to the inevitable sequels and bombastic Infinity War on the horizon. Still, Civil War is a real win for the summer movie season. No matter the reasons why they fight or who wins — and there is a winner! — who doesn’t relate to wanting to sock the annoying one in the car complaining about where you’re going to eat, or a co-worker being smug in the email thread or Slack channel? You don’t need superpowers to maybe think these guys are still just human.
Captain America: Civil War gets 4 1/2 out of 5.