LogFAQs > #970405077

Captain America: Civil War
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Stand-Out Character: Captain America aka Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans)
Best Scene: Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man

So let's talk Captain America: Civil War which may be one of the best Marvel movies.

Everything just absolutely clicks here with this film. Watching this so close to when I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron kind of makes this feel a lot better too. They don't give you jokes constantly. They let this movie and its drama breathe, and everyone seems like they have legitimate, serious characterization that isn't just surface level garbage.

But that's enough about Avengers: Age of Ultron. Civil War brings us legitimate super powered drama with a simple premise: do we let the government hold us accountable, or do we keep fighting on our own without government inteference? When Wanda Maximoff rolls in and royally screws the pooch, it makes that idea a little bit more muddled. Personally, I'm always Team Cap. Never going to change that. But they do present a pretty compelling counter-argument and allows for some serious schism between Cap and Iron Man that, while bubbling up before, really boils over here.

I'll talk more about characters later, but let's focus on the action here. It all rules, so much. The fight choreography is off the chain and they really make good use of showing off what each character is capable of. Stand outs include Bucky/Cap/Black Panther/Falcon chase scene, the Crossbones fight, Winter Soldier escape from custody, the Cap/Bucky/Iron Man fight at the end, and of course, the airport scene.

Cap, Bucky, and Iron Man's fight was a close contender for best scene here, mostly because of how emotionally charged and creative it is. It's an intimate kind of fight where every single thing they do matters, and changes the dynamic and flow of the fight entirely. It's seriously brilliant and if you break it down moment by moment, it's even better. I didn't realize it until this most recent re-watch.

So let's talk characters from minor to major, starting with Crossbones, played by Frank Grillo. My one complaint is that you have Rumlow be a significant part of the last movie, you give him a sick ass outfit and badass weapons, and you make him fucking awesome, and then you kill him off. Come on, you couldn't have just had Crossbones set off an explosive anywhere but on himself to have Wanda heave away? Why kill off an awesome character with loads of potential? Throw his ass in jail and bring him back. Crossbones rules. Imagine if we had a character like him floating around in say Falcon & The Winter Soldier to bring some more life into that show. Would have been awesome.

Minor players also include Everett Ross played by Martin Freeman, who I completely forgot was in this movie. But he does a great job in his role. I kinda like him as a hard nosed CIA fella. Also great is Emily VanCamp's Sharon Carter, who doesn't get much, but she's also perfect in her role as Cap's inside guy, and every scene they have together is great. And to round out our government folks is William Hurt (RIP) playing Thunderbolt Ross, and he's just perfect. He makes his salient point to set up the Sokovia Accords and makes the movie simple to understand from here, and he's the guy that is hard assed enough to keep pushing for it. All respect to Harrison Ford, I'm really going to miss William Hurt in the next Cap movie.

Ant-Man played by Paul Rudd is here! They had probably expected a lot of people to skip Ant-Man, which is fine, because they absolutely made sure to really give him some giant play in the fight scene at the airport. They really push the boundaries of what was established in Ant-Man and make him do so many cool things. Him mucking up Iron Man's suit, single-handedly fighting off Iron Man's team for a while, and providing some solid levity on top of that is awesome. Love Ant-Man in this.

And then there's Hawkeye played by Jeremy Renner, who just wants to retire but the man needs to do the right thing and also pay it back to Wanda. He has a sense of urgency and doesn't sweat it all too much and I love how he opens with a trap for Vision. He just has a bunch of nice little moments too, and I particularly like his monologue with Stark in the prison.

And of course we have Spider-Man's MCU debut with Tom Holland at the helm. I cannot tell you how happy this Spider-Man makes me. I have been waiting to see Spider-Man like this in the movies forever. He's charming, cracking jokes the whole time, and just earnestly trying to do the right thing. This is the Spider-Man I absolutely needed and I loved how they introduced him here. He got so much time to kick ass in the airport fight and he looked legitimately awesome.

War Machine played by Don Cheadle is great as well. He doesn't have much, but he is a no non-sense soldier who always has Iron Man's back. I particularly enjoyed after he was crippled from the fight and he's struggling to walk, he still tells Tony he believes in the registration. It just cements that friendship so much more with a nice moment of trying to make his friend feel better.

And going forward with characters who matter just a little bit more, Vision has a nice little arc here. Vision is looking at everything super logically. There's no pushing back at that. And when it comes to listening to reason or budging, he won't have it. He's like "Yeah, you made a mistake Wanda and I'm protecting you from yourself." Unable to comprehend that Wanda shouldn't be placed under lockdown for a mistake. And then Vision blows War Machine to the ground because he got distracted by Wanda and made a mistake. Perfect little arc there to conclude it's not all that simple and logical. There's layers to this, and Vision learns that here.

Speaking of Wanda, played by Elizabeth Olsen, I think this is about the best adaptation you can get to set off her comics story which is, uh, messy to say the least. She is to be feared, she can't control her shit, and she should never truly feel sure of herself. If anyone is going to kick off Civil War, it should be her. She's public enemy number one and the thing that makes me shake a little bit of my Team Cap resolve is that Wanda IS a danger. While she shouldn't be under lock down, I think something should have been done to help her get control of her powers or be more combat ready. Regardless of that, she just wants to do the right thing. She wants to do what is legitimately right and not be a prisoner again. They also give her some sick stuff to do in the film too. Her story isn't significant here, but it plays into the future. Also, her accent is much less thick here. lol

Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow needs to fight between logic and her absolute faith in Steve Rogers. She contends with it through the whole movie, being the more heart of Team Iron Man honestly. When she speaks, she's conflicted and she wishes they could all be on the same page, but it's not until the end where Natasha finally steps in to stop Black Panther from stopping Cap and Bucky does it really pay off. She believes in her friend, and despite the danger it puts her in, she can't bring herself to side against him.