Captain America: Civil War Review/Rant

Captain America: Civil War is the latest of successes for Marvel Studios. Boasting a giant ensemble comprised of characters from almost all of Marvel's previous films, this movie is packed to the brim with characters you know and love. I mean unless you only like Hulk and Thor, or the Guardians of the Galaxy. But otherwise this film has you covered. I mean they even have Spiderman and Black Panther. But is this movie as amazing as everyone says it is? Let's find out.

Let me get this out of the way now; yes these characters are well done, and this Spiderman is probably the best version of the web-head we have seen to date.

Despite the sheer number of characters on display here they keep the focus on where it should be: Captain America. This is still a Captain America movie and the other characters do not interfere with the bigger plot at hand. That being said I have a few problems with a few of the characters motivations. Iron Man just sort of seems to be shoved into the bad guy role, and we are never really given any reason to believe he should want to go against Cap. It seemed to be a lot more interesting and developed in the comic. Its funny because The Incredibles did this whole story a lot better, and it even came up with it. #MarvelStealsPlotFromPixarFilm

So for this next part I am going to be very ambiguous about what I am talking about. If you have read the comic book you will probably know what/who I am talking about, and it will be important in understanding one of my biggest complaints with this film. I am keeping it ambiguous for the rest of you because there is still a chance that what I am going to say may still happen in a future movie. Okay with that out of the way I will get to my point. There is one character in this movie who has already been established in a prior film. This character is really important in the comic for doing this massive thing right near the end of the comic. He/She is in this movie but, he/she does not do this thing and his/her inclusion in the film seems pointless because of this! This is not a good thing. In fact this thing the character does was the main reason I wanted to see this film. I was disappointed by this. 

Sorry about that. That was about as confusing to write as it probably was for you to read.

I have no problems with the dialogue in this film, and the acting is excellent. The music is not memorable but it gets the job done.

Let's talk about the action. I have noticed a trend in the Marvel films recently that they employ a lot of "shaky cam." This is not an inherently bad thing, but when the majority of the action scenes are like this it can be hard to follow what is going on. Remember that really cool shot in the trailer when Captain America and the Winter Soldier are bashing Iron Man? You know why that shot is so cool? Because you can see what is happening!!! This can get so problematic that it can even get hard to tell who is who. There is a scene where Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) is attacking Winter Soldier, and I did not know who he was because he was not wearing his costume. Now I am not racist, I can tell Chadwick Bosemen, Don Cheadle, and Anthony Mackie apart. But they all have a similar body type and hair cut. So without their suits and with super "shaky cam" it can be hard to tell who is who. To prove my point I blurred these pictures of them. I will let you try to figure out who it is in each one.

No say you can't? Ha! Well here they are;

Anthony Mackie

Don Cheadle

Chadwick Boseman

So yeah the action is not always perfect. The two main fight scenes in that you see in the trailer are great though. Oddly at these big set-piece moments are some of the times when it is easiest to follow the action.

Now its time for my biggest complaint, and this may big the biggest deal breaker for fans of the comic. (I keep bringing up the comic, because everyone who has read the comic will be bringing the expectations of most of the things I have been discussing). This is not only a problem with this movie but with the MCU as a whole. There is no tension in the movie because NO ONE is ever at risk of dying. Oh sure they make you think that it is a possibility that it could happen, but spoilers! No superheros die in this movie!

Everyone pretty much has a contract to keep being in the movies, so Marvel does not want to let their precious actors go to waste. The problem is that if no one even slightly important has a chance of dying, then the whole point of the movie falls flat on its face. In the comic it was such a big important event because it felt like it mattered. This just makes it feel like a dumb fistfight, not something you base an entire movie around. And this was even Marvel's chance to thin the herd a little bit. In this movie fans expect people to die, they would even be okay with it.

So TL;DR this is not the best Marvel movie ever. Some characters lack motivation, the action is hit or miss, and the movie doesn't risk killing anyone even if it would have made it better. Maybe I would not be so harsh if it didn't have the tagline of "Civil War." It just gets every comic book nerd excited for something that is not the best. That being said, its still a Marvel movie. Its still a really fun movie, and Spiderman and Black Panther are awesome. So you should probably just ignore this review and see it anyway. Anyway I am going to give Captain America: Civil War a seven out of ten. It is "fun to watch once or twice."

Meh!