Captain America: Civil War

After civilians are accidentally killed when the Avengers thwart a bioterror attack, Secretary of State “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) presses the team to place itself under United Nations control. Guilt-ridden Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) agrees, but Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), who has grown suspicious of governments, objects. When Rogers’ friend, formerly brainwashed assassin Bucky (Sebastian Stan), is implicated in an assassination plot, the team is divided further, and Wakandan noble T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is drawn into the conflict. Meanwhile, Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) aims to manipulate Bucky for his own ends.

Though Marvel has – astonishingly – managed to avoid becoming a victim of its own success, this film, more so than any of its other offerings, seemed to be tempting fate. It adapted an extremely divisive comic book plotline, crammed in tons of characters (including a few who are introduced for the first time), and debuted not long after Dawn of Justice turned many casual moviegoers away from superhero films. Despite these factors – and despite being the third film in a superhero trilogy (paging Spiderman 3 and X-Men: Last Stand), Civil War simply had too many talented people working well together to fail, and so it didn’t.

Those without a Marvel pedigree may find this movie impenetrable, but anyone who has enjoyed previous offerings will enjoy the returning faces. In addition to those mentioned above, Civil War features Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Hawkeye, and Ant-Man. These aren’t just glorified cameos, either. Scarlet Witch is conflicted over the dangerous potential of her abilities while Vision continues to try to become human. However, the new characters threaten to steal the show. Boseman’s Black Panther is a powerful presence with a convincing accent while Tom Holland’s version Spider-Man – a brilliant but awestruck newcomer – is a refreshing take on a character who has been done to death. At its core though, this is still a Captain America movie, and Rogers gets plenty of character development. Most notably, this film pulls him further away from the boy scout archetype and shows him as someone who will try to do the right thing even if it puts him on the wrong side of the law.

The affability of these performances helps disguise the fact that much of the film’s plot is an excuse for these characters to fight one another. The combat is as capably choreographed as ever and the film glides through its two-and-a-half hour runtime without any pacing problems, but compared to the zeitgeist-tapping paranoia and spy intrigue of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there is some missing dramatic heft here. Superheroes being asked to confront the costs of their heroics has been explored many a time now, and though Civil War tackles this theme earnestly, it just doesn’t have the same resonance that it would have a decade or two ago.

While Civil War is not really a deeper film than its predecessors, it is arguably a more entertaining one. There’s more humor on display here than merely Stark’s now-familiar snark (Falcon, Ant Man and especially Spider-Man get some great lines), Zemo’s schemes keep viewers guessing as to his endgame, and the movie lays groundwork for more spin-offs and follow-ups without feeling at all like a placeholder. Even if taken as a lateral move rather than an improvement, credit directors Joe and Anthony Russo and producer Kevin Feige for being able to keep the momentum going.

8.25/10