Captain America: Civil War (2016)
[usr 5]
Where can I start? @Marvel has a knack for capturing a great story in a comic book movie when even the story itself is weak. How do they do this? Great direction, a lot of awesome action scenes and otherwise characters we wouldn’t care about normally, we grow to not only enjoy them but anticipate their arrival on screen. Take Iron Man in 2008. Did anyone give a damn about him at that point? Guardians of the Galaxy? Captain America? No! We didn’t. We were probably all focused more on Batman and Superman. But since the Marvel Cinematic Universe decided to take more creative control of the characters they DID have, they made great stories and characters out of Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye and more. And now…we have those guys and more battling it out against each other because of what they happened to destroy in Avengers, Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Because of their less-than-suave approach to saving the planet which usually leaves trillions of dollars in repairs, entire cities destroyed, and thousands of people dirt-napping, Cap and his crew have been grounded due to the Sokovia Accord; a 100+ country-approved document that has more control of the Avengers than they do of themselves. Basically, they’re on a leash unless needed.
Captain America doesn’t like being on a leash and Iron Man’s Tony Stark thinks they could use one. He thinks this mostly out of guilt but still, he won’t budge. All the while, after a huge mission in Lagos, Nigeria goes right but with a few more people dead, a new threat is let loose with Secretary of State, General Thunderbolt Ross is breathing down their necks. So, what’s the problem? Well, after a meeting with leaders regarding the Accords ends up in disaster with the brothaman, T’Challa and his father, T’Chaka, the prince and King of Wakanda wind up in less-than-stellar condition, it begins to raise hell in Vienna. Why? Because Bucky, the Winter Soldier is involved and T’Challa isn’t happy about that. Considering his alter-identity as The Black Panther, it adds a LOT of chaos, action, and siding with the rest of the heroes although his mission is more personal. Captain America is Bucky’s oldest friend by about 60 years so his priority is to help his buddy while others try to capture him. This leads to some siding with Cap and others with Iron Man.
Character Line Up:
Captain America, Winter Soldier, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Ant-Man and Hawkeye vs.
Iron Man, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, Spider-Man, and Black Panther
The airport scene includes all of these characters and it’s impossible to digest all of what happens. Someone almost dies, many are injured, suits are destroyed, Brooklyn vs. Queens,..but why all of the fuss? Who is #Zemo? What does “freight car” have to do with the Winter Soldier? Exactly how bulletproof is Black Panther? Captain America carjacks people? House arrest? Arc Reactors? It’s too much…yet, it all works and all of the heroes have an equal amount of screen time. There’s literally nothing I can think of that’s really wrong about this movie that a comic book enthusiast wouldn’t enjoy!
The ending surprise really causes the civil war and we wonder if it can be repaired later in time. Who knows? This could’ve easily been called Iron Man: Civil War or Winter Soldier: Civil War. But after a couple of years, it was time for Cap to shine. And he did…Brightly!
Be sure to stay for the two post scenes for a couple of surprises to come.