Movie Review - Captain America: Civil War

So this is about a week late, but I saw Captain America: Civil War and I loved it. After a bit of  a rocky Phase II for Marvel, Civil War starts off Phase III with pretty much everything we were missing from Avengers: Age of Ultron and builds upon that in many satisfying ways.

I'm not going to talk spoilers here so this will be a more general review, but let's just say I really enjoyed the plot of this movie. Before seeing Civil War, I insist that you have seen Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. While it isn't a direct copy of the comic from which the name comes, the writers give a good interpretation that fits the Marvel Cinematic Universe way more than the comic storyline would have. So in the movie, The Avengers are pretty much running missions without an organization, acting on their own, and in the first encounter we see in the film, Scarlet Witch happens to make a choice while using her powers that saves everyone directly next to her from getting blown up, but instead a section of a building gets blown up. This starts the main plot of the movie, as the government insists this kind of thing cannot happen and wants all the heroes to sign this agreement that says they'd operate on the decision of the U.N. alone and not by themselves. This sets up a divide between our heroes, as Tony Stark is at the forefront of signing this agreement, and Captain America is on the opposing side, insisting on being able to freely act as he sees fit.

Both Iron Man and Captain America have good, valid points Although I do feel like since it's a Captain America movie they spend a little more time showing you Captain America's stance, but they do give Iron Man time to explain his side as well. Along with this main plot line we have several others, but the other big one has to do with Bucky and what should be done with him. Protected because he was brainwashed as The Winter Soldier, or kept as a prisoner because while he was The Winter Soldier he did many, many bad things. These two story lines are excellently divisive. Both have arguments that you feel like you can agree with, especially as the movie goes on.

The action choreography, the superhero team up fights, and even the dialog in general is a step-up from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now while I don't hate Age of Ultron, it drops the ball several times in order to set-up some other movie, this one especially. While Age of Ultron ultimately ends up trying to serve too many masters instead of accomplishing anything on it's own, Civil War sets out to tell it's own story, and while it does take time to set up other movies in the universe, it is first and foremost telling the story contained within, which I think is it's greatest achievement. Everyone gets something to do in this movie. Some smaller than others, but still, everyone has something to do, big or ant-sized.

Before I wrap it up here, I gotta totally admit that as much as I enjoy the main characters of this movie, it's the set-up of Black Panther and Spider-Man and how they exist in this universe that really stole the show for me. Black Panther is a lot of fun, and they set him up to be the badass that he should be, and make him an integral part of the future of the cinematic universe. This Spider-Man is seriously the best representation of Spidey that we've gotten in movie form. I love Spider-Man 2, and there are things to like about both Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man and Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man, but neither of them get the character as right as this movie does. Civil War is an incredibly enjoyable movie in it's own right, but what it did best for me was actively make me excited for Black Panther's and Spider-Man's movies that come out in the next couple years.

I actively enjoyed Civil War, and I am going to be seeing it at least one more time in theaters, something I can't say I've done with an MCU movie since Guardians of the Galaxy. I just cannot wait until a home video release to see it again, I need to see this on the big screen, and so should you!