Monday is $2 movie night for me and other local college students at the Silver Screen 7 in Gallipolis Ohio, and I treated myself to newest flick from Marvel Studios: Captain America Civil War *announcer voice*. Let’s get things out of the way early, it was definitely worth the watch and not worth complaining about every little thing that might have been wrong with it (Batman v. Superman) because, at the end of the day, I enjoyed it and there was nothing terrible about it. So it you haven’t seen it, stop here with the knowledge that you should. For the rest of you, let’s talk Captain America…
Captain America: Civil War (2016) Poster
Predicted to be this year’s box office winner, Civil War is the thirteenth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the third installment in the Captain America series, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like it. After the events in Sokovia in Age of Ultron, there is a cooling off period for the Avengers before the events of this film, though it doesn’t quite seem like it. Civil War felt to me like a direct sequel to Ultron with the Winter Soldier, aka “Bucky”, added into the mix. I liked that aspect of the film and it was a needed step in the MCU story line that gave motivation to many characters and basically drove the beginning of the story. There was a point where it started to seem more and more like a good ole’ Captain America movie, but it didn’t start that way. This, in a roundabout way, leads me into the point of this article which is the inclusion of every Avengers character, minus the God and the green guy, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After sides are chosen and battle lines are drawn, each team reaches into their bag of tricks to find an edge over the other. With this comes the inclusion of Spiderman and Ant-man into the Avengers-esc line-up, along with some of the other usual suspects. In addition to Cap, Bucky, and Mr. Stark, we have, of course, Black Widow, straddling the lines between teams, Iron Patriot, as Stark’s faithful companion, and Falcon, (or as I call him “bird guy”) as Rodgers sidekick. These were expected and necessary characters for the showdown between titans, but Ant-Man? Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t need to see Ant-Man in my battle royale movie. But that’s my movie, which, for some reason, Hollywood doesn’t ask my opinion. Spiderman also made his Marvel debut in a spectacular fashion (see what I did there) as he, and not-so Ant-man, battle it out. I enjoyed seeing Spiderman and his amazing (did it again) web shooting, Captain Rodgers butt kicking antics, but was he really needed in this movie, other than as an advertisement for his own sensational (okay, I’m done now) movie? He and Ant-Man neither one knew what they were fighting for. Their buddy just called them, or flirted with their aunt, and said, “Hey, you want to go punch some guy in the face for no apparent reason?” Granted, if my hero asked me to punch some super-human in the face, I would probably do it too.
There were other people in this movie too, many others. Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, and to a degree, though she never throws a punch, Sharon Carter, all chose sides and battled it out in the middle-ish of the movie. They too, in my opinion, were not important to the story-line but at least their presence made some sense. They had some skin in the game as the Sokovia Accords did involve them (I know what you’re thinking, but did it really include Ant-Man), but the fight was between Cap and Iron Man, not them. If they want to fight that might be fine, but with everything else going on, they distracted me. There were just too many people doing too many things I couldn’t enjoy all the destruction. That’s a lie, I enjoyed the destruction, it was just a little busy.
Black Panther also made his Marvel debut and I liked it. Yep, it’s that simple, I liked his character, his drive and reason for the fight, and his role throughout the movie. He even develops well throughout the movie, more than other characters. He is a very welcome addition to the MCU and I liked him in this film.
Overall, I greatly enjoyed Civil War. It didn’t have any glaring plot holes, the main characters were well developed, and it was a very enjoyable movie. Sure, it had far too many characters that were not developed well and did not do anything to advance the storyline, but I at least enjoyed the characters, yes, even Ant-Man, though I wish to never see again in another team-up flick. I liked the addition of two new characters into the MCU and look forward to seeing them in the future. I didn’t think this was quite up to the level of Winter Soldier, but it at least as good as Ultron, if not better. Captain America Civil War was a great introduction to the summer movie season and another great addition to the MCU and Captain America story line.