Movie Review by Brian Wezowicz
Earlier this "summer"(It looks like summer movie season starts in March now) I sat through the much maligned Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and came away with the opinion that it wasn't as bad as the critics made it out to be. And yet, it wasn't a particularly good movie either. Sure,the action was top notch and the acting was fine, but it was lacking something. After further thought, the biggest problem with that film, and the entire DC Universe for that matter, is that it lacked heart. The characters were empty vessels, purely designed to further a forced cinematic universe. You didn't care for the people on screen because there was nothing to draw you in to their story. In only the second film in DC's canon, they were already doing superhero mashups. The only problem is that they forgot to develop any of the back stories. We were supposed to care about them simply because Batman and Superman were on screen together for the first time. On the other hand, after witnessing the latest entry in Marvel's cinematic juggernaut, I came away believing that they get everything right. Every step up to this point has been meticulously planned out, and that is why Marvel will always be a step ahead of their cinematic (and comic book) brothers and sisters.
Captain America: Civil War is essentially Avengers 2.5. Nearly every superhero in Marvel's cinematic universe has a role in this film (Thor, The Hulk, and Nick Fury are the only absentee heroes), but all these heroes never overshadow the fact that this is Captain America's movie. It is a continuation to the Steve Rogers story with a lot of supporting stars. Civil War picks up two years after the events of Avengers: Age Of Ultron. The Avengers find themselves in another sticky situation after another deadly mishap in a public area. World leaders react in the only way they know how... by forcing the Avengers to register with the UN (and thus, fall under a strict set of guidelines and rules.). They believe that The Winter Soldier is the cause for a bombing at a global summit, which results in the death of King T'Chaka of Wakanda (can I tell you how pumped I am for The Black Panther movie???). Captain America is sure that his friend is not responsible for this bombing and is determined to seek out the truth. He is also not willing to surrender his freedom to a group led by Tony Stark. Tempers rise, trust breaks, and soon our heroes are picking sides.
The Russo brothers (who are also directing the 2 part Avengers finale) really do a great job with balancing all the spandex and masks, giving each superhero a chance to shine. The mid-movie battle at an airport may be the best (and most humorous) superhero battle ever put to film. Team Cap, on the trail of the truth, must fight their way through Team Iron Man, and the results had me smiling ear to ear. I won't ruin anything here, but I will say this... Ant Man steals the show in this scene. For a D level superhero, Ant Man (and the phenomenal Paul Rudd) is quickly establishing himself as an equal to his much more famous brethren.
This film also introduces two new characters, and they both shine. The Black Panther (masterfuly played by the brilliant Chadwick Boseman) is particularly compelling in this film. We know almost nothing about him, and by the end of the movie, you are begging for more (and we'll get it with Panther's solo film!). We are also re-introduced to our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man (finally in the cinematic universe after the very public Andrew Garfield flameout). I am very excited to see what Marvel can do with this character now that he's finally back in the family. He steals every scene that he's in.
Civil War is getting very deserved positive reviews. There will be detractors, for sure, that claim that Marvel is only concentrated on setting up the next film (and there is plenty of that her), but it is not a distraction. We get a nice self-contained story that adds to the never-ending cinematic universe. Marvel will always be the cinematic king because it's able to tell an individual story while enhancing the overall cinematic universe without the two being in conflict with each other.
I'm giving this movie 3.5 stars out of 4. My only complaint (and it's a very small one) is that this movie takes shaky handheld camera work to an almost unbearable level. I wonder if some of the fights would have been better served with more stable camerawork.
This will certainly be one of the biggest movies of the year and it definitely deserves to be so. Go see it again and again.
Stay through the credits for the standard scenes. (Sidenote: how do people still not realized that there's scenes during the credits? Half the theater walked out. We're like 27 movies deep at this point... get with the program, people!)
