Captain America: Civil War

By: John Delia

Probably one of the most dramatic Avengers film, Captain America: Civil War comes on the heels of another drama by a different comic book heroes Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They both have a similar theme and all the special effects in the world to back it up. But, as the two films go, Captain America wins out by far. There’s so much CGI in this film that it’s very hard to tell between reality and animated fantasy. Actually, your mind will be so boggled that there’s no time to think about anything except who’s the next Marvel superhero to appear in the film. With this Captain America sequel, it’s time to release more Avengers into the fray with more surprises that one can handle.

The American government has voted to gather as many worldwide countries to ratify an accord between the superheroes that will stop so much loss of innocent lives. Those adopting the accord will be limiting the heroes’ use of powers or force retirement. In return they will be forgiven for their crimes against the innocent. Those that refuse will be considered outlaws and be arrested.

During the meeting for the Slovakia Accord a ground attack begins against a team of invaders led by Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). During the melee an explosion occurs involving a skirmish between Winter Soldier and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) that kills hundreds inside the meeting. King T’Chaka (John Kani) of Nigeria is one of the casualties with his son T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) narrowly cheating death. Heating up the reason for the Accord, the superheroes start to split on their choices.

Sides are drawn and Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) decides to go along with the accord by putting a team together with War Machine (Don Cheadle), Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Black Panther. On the run are Captain America with his band of defectors Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Winter Soldier, Ant Man (Paul Rudd), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Scarlet Witch.

The Russo brothers who won big with Captain America: Winter Soldier keep on rolling as they expand on their wining effort with Civil War. Keeping it very real with exceptional CGI the movie blends into their first effort using Winter Soldier as the catalyst to set off a series of events that find the Avengers at odds with each other. This time; however, there’s more drama than unusual as they tell the story with intervals of long dialogue in an attempt to build story on why additional Avengers come into the picture. And there’s more than meets the eye with some very good comedy that allows for a break in the continuous action.

Although the regulars are the meat of the story, the inserting of some fresh heroes comes at a good time. Ant-Man gets called in to help Captain America in his quest to show the need for superheroes doing what is necessary to rid the world of antagonists. He’s got a lot of tricks and a new imposing posture that’s way above the other Avengers. When he joins the fight, tiny spaces are his targets and when it gets really heated up, he can grow to an amazing height.

Then there’s Spider-Man who joins Iron Man’s squad in the pursuit of justice. He takes control of the battle between the supermen who are duking it out over who’s in the right. With his web power, even Captain America and Winter Soldier have a hard time putting up a fight. The comedy involved with Spider-Man on the scene really helps the film by adding some relief to all the mayhem.

Now, the downside I found in the film that does affect the audience’s two and a half hours of entertainment. Iron Man becomes more morose rather than adding his usual comedy with his quick wit, the storyline has a very close premise to Batman vs. Superman and too much drama tends to bring on a yawn or two. Enough said.

Captain America: Civil War has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for extended sequences of violence, action and mayhem. The rating comes very close to Captain America: Winter Soldier so if you are on the fence with allowing your 11 and 12 year olds attending a showing, if they saw that Avengers film, you may want to take that into consideration.

FINAL ANALYSIS: A very good sequel to the continuing battle for justice in the world. (B)