Captain America: Civil War

(Here’s my look back at the Marvel Universe if you want to check it out before the review)

I like my drama fictional.  Give me an epic battle of good vs. evil; give me star crossed lovers; give me a guy in a mask killing people; give me a song and dance.  Of course drama works in the realm of fiction due to it’s ability to reach our reality.  We resonate with it, and remember the times in our lives when we had to make the same choices.  The choice of whether or not to kiss the girl, punch the guy, or to give someone a piece of our mind.

I hate real-life drama.  I do my best to not cause any for others, and dodge it when I see it on the horizon.  Yet life, such as it is, will inevitably run up to your front door with a fruit basket full of problems for you to deal with, and no matter how hard you try to avoid it, you must leave your home at some point.  And problems don’t always come in the usual of monthly bills or monotonous work.  They come in form of people.

So what is there to do when you’re presented with another person’s point of view; with their anger; with their grief.  When is the right time to fight back?  When do you let them be right? When do you compromise?  I’ve always been big on the whole “meeting people in the middle” thing, because it causes the least drama and it saves my anger for when I’ll  truly need it.  Now, if you argue with a friend, the argument is usually in a form of a debate.  It’s usually easier to compromise.  But what happens when that compromise is impossible? What happens if you’re both right and the only way to win is to cause pain?

Captain America: Civil War causes pain, and it does so it spectacular fashion.

The film presents a moral dilemma that’s disputed from the opposing view points of Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.  Two guys that are at odds by their very nature, but have grown to respect and admire one another.  Stark had a noble awakening late in life, while Rogers was seemingly born as a perfectly straight arrow.  Rogers has slowly seen himself be at odds with the world he so desperately wants to keeps safe, while Stark has become traumatized by that same world.  He wants to keep it safe just as badly, but he’s more pained by the consequences of being a hero.  Rogers sees those very consequences as a lesser evil.

The film begins with Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) leading the newly formed team of the Avengers against a team of mercenaries led by the villainous Crossbones (Frank Grillo). It’s business as usual until it results in yet another form of collateral damage.  Causing political pressure to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team.  Meanwhile, Tony/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) gets some bad news from a parent of an innocent bystander caught between the Avengers and Ultron.   This makes Mr. Stark, already upset by his love-life, agree with the proposed interference.

The details of the act is described to the group by General Ross (William Hurt) in a way that doesn’t talk down to the Avengers or the audience, but makes them understand the importance of accountability.  He states that the Avengers misplacing Bruce Banner is akin to losing a hundred war heads; equally unacceptable.  The collateral damage is the real problem though, and the proposed act will allow the United Nations, not the Avengers, to deem it necessary when to get involved.  Normally this stuff would induce an eye-roll from me as how can you go against the Avengers?  But in a time when social media scrutinizes everything, it’s very possible to see how this kind of stuff would create opposing viewpoints.  Hell, the upcoming election has divided America to the point that I’ve heard the words “civil war” more than once.

The team begins to bicker among themselves as to what is the best way to go.  Tony feels that they’ve gotten out of hand to the point that they’re no better than the bad guys.  Steve cannot comprehend a world where he wouldn’t be allowed to help someone.  Vision (Paul Bettany) explains that the sudden abundance of people with extreme abilities in the world is an example of power that induces challenge, which will cause carnage. Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) surprises everyone when she sides with Tony, telling Rogers that “one hand on the steering wheel still gives them control.” It’s better than the alternative, which is retirement.

It’s painful to see these characters not on the same side.  It’s to Marvel’s credit that we’ve been allowed to get to know them over the course of multiple stories, so that their disagreements are like watching great friends argue while you’re helpless to stop it.  To make matters worse, the divide between the two groups grows wider once the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) assassinates someone at the ceremony held to announce the accountability act.  This causes the stakes to personally raise for Steve as he now has a friend to protect while the government just wants to bring Bucky/The Winter Soldier down.  I loved the way that the relationship between Rogers and Barnes has been the focal point of the Captain America trilogy.  Despite all of the moving pieces in Civil War it remains a Captain America film, concluding his story with grace…for now.

Evans is so good as Rogers.  For all of the actors in these Marvel films, Evans has become the heart.  And that heart is on full display here.  Cap’s relationship with Peggy Carter and Bucky Barnes is what drives him.  It’s what makes his decisions easy to justify.  He knows they’ll be consequences, but those consequences are not as important as doing the right thing.

Marvel owes Robert Downey Jr.everything.  If his Iron Man failed, then the ship would’ve sunk before it got out of the dock.  It did not fail, and in Civil War he gives his best performance as Tony to date.  Perhaps because Tony has become a far more emotional and beaten man, allowing Downey to add layers to his already layered billionaire.

Both men are flanked by brothers and sisters in arms.  Stan, Johansson, and Anthony Mackie provide Evans with a great support system while Don Cheadle does the same for Downey.  Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olson get to have a few human moments between them; I liked how both characters are attracted to one another as outsiders, and how their time with the Avengers has humanized them even more.  Jeremy Renner and Paul Rudd get to provide some comic relief while also getting their own moments to shine.  What I found most impressive is when these characters first came on screen, I didn’t think “oh there’s Paul Rudd” or “there’s Scarlet.”  I saw the characters.

Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther is going to be something else.  He’ll be able to carry his own film with charisma and ease; he mostly plays the role with rage, but it’s an understandable rage.  And he’s able to find much more than that by the film’s end.

Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man is the best version of the character I’ve ever seen.  There is absolutely no reason that he should’ve made such an impact with his screen-time here.  But he does, with an exclamation point.

The action centerpiece involving all of the characters fighting at an airport is one of the best I’ve seen in a superhero movie.  It’s like something out of your childhood that relentlessly continues in an awesome wave until it builds to an amazing climax involving Ant-Man of all people.  The rest of the action in the film is presented as a brutal dance.  The Russo Brothers, who directed, make every punch and kick feel like it came from a superhero.  But they keep things grounded with the moral dilemma always taking focus along with a wit we should be used to by now.  The film isn’t going to win any cinematography awards, but it’s a price worth paying for what we do get.

I haven’t mentioned the villain of the piece played by Daniel Bruhl, because though the character has ill intentions, it’s all in the service of the morals in question.  He may be the bad guy, but he’s one that the Russo’s wisely avoid feeling tacked on.  And you may even find yourself understanding his actions just as much as Steve and Tony’s.

The final fight feels wrong.  It makes perfect sense, but there’s no one to root against.  Unlike Batman v Superman, I cared about every hard struck blow as much as every painful word.  And while the ending of the film may not deliver the body count one might hope for in a story with this much going on, it doesn’t fall into the trap that Ultron did.  Even if the results of this film will be undone once Thanos arrives, everything that happens here feels important.

It helps that the film is exceptional.

Grade: A