You gotta hand it to Marvel... they're doing something pretty fantastic. Not only did they piece together a shit load of A-listers one by one with solo films only to get them all together for The Avengers films, but they keep bringing them back to continue the story and the mythology. Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johannson could legitimately do any movie they wanted to right now, but they keep doing these Marvel films. That's a testament to the kind of film empire Marvel has right now. Some of the films have been very good (the first Avengers, the first two Captain America's, and the first and third Iron Man's) and some have been mediocre to crap (Thor 2, any and all Hulk movie and the second Avengers), but the one thing they are is consistent. They connect everything together to make a well-oiled cohesive superhero collective that can be a lot of fun to watch. Can be. Captain America: Civil War, or what essentially amounts to The Avengers 3, is a bit of a blah mess to me. I understand that people who have lived the comic books since childhood thought it was a pretty great representation-- but as a movie lover and outside observer... I was just left kind of meh.
I'm sure you've all seen the movie by now but a quick rundown of the plot would be that the world is tired of the Avengers running amok and protecting the "world" but causing devastation throughout as well. The question begged is: "if one civilian dies in the midst of the protection-- is it worth it?" It's a great theme to explore, but it's sort of set aside in favor of computer animated action scenes. Anyway, the United Nations has decided to make some sort of treaty that they all have to sign in order to stop them from going out and superhero-ing on their own. They need guidance. So, half decide it's a good idea (Iron Man) and the other half think it's bullshit (Cap). Then there's a bunch of subplots involving a rogue CIA dude, Bucky aka the Winter Soldier causing shit and Cap not manning up to put a stop to it, an African diplomat in spandex, etc. It's legitimately too overcrowded it get it all into one meaningless summary. But, that's kinda how I felt about the movie. As cool as it was seeing everyone together (and there are literally more superheros in this movie than there are in the first Avengers film), it's just too much to keep track of everyone. Especially when they're fighting each other over something that could take place at a table with some cups of coffee.
And that's the biggest thing for me-- as a movie lover, not as a comic book reader-- that their feud or civil war or whatever just didn't make any damn sense to me. There's an entire scene at an airport where they just innocently fight one another, though not try and harm one another, over who has the bigger swinging dick. I'm right, no I'm right, no I'm right-- please. If the movie is exploring themes as responsibility of one's actions and yet they haven't learned a damn thing in their family feud... what point is actually being made. First, it was upsetting how 'convenient' it was that the airport that staged the fight just happened to be abandoned, but second, if half of this team is fighting to keep themselves in check-- why in the hell are they causing all this damage to an innocent European airport. I mean, there are no civilians, but buildings and planes are crumbling in loud, CGI fashion. The Cap/Iron Man/Winter Soldier fight at the end-- I had no problem with it. It had built to one inevitable conclusion and the reasons surrounding the fight made sense. This first one, though (in which Johannson literally asks Jeremy Renner as they're fighting each other, "we're still friends right?"), made no sense whatsoever and was a futile fight effort. You know no one is actually going to hurt anyone else and half of those dudes didn't need to be there in the first place.
Another gripe I have with the movie-- and again this could be explained better in the comics, I don't know, I haven't read them-- is the motivations of Cappy and Iron Man. Cap, to me, was a goody-goody who followed the rules and did what was best for his country. Therefore, if his country wanted to lock them into a treaty-- everything we know about his character suggests he'd be all for it. Iron Man, on the other hand, is a wild card who gets off on challenging the status quo, yet HE'S the one trying to convince [apparently now rogue] Captain America to get on board. I didn't believe either of their character changes for a second. Finally, one of my last gripes is a big spoiler, so if you want to read it... go down past the grade and check it out.
Personally, I felt that this was the least entertaining Captain America film even though it felt nothing like a standalone Cappy movie. I think what Marvel has going for it is that they do have good actors and the writing for most of the characters is solid. They're able to weave very serious themes throughout the films with very real characters. There's also a good amount of levity with some of the humor that plays throughout. All of the acting is strong, but I couldn't help but feel as if this one was just a louder version of everything leading up to it. It was far too crowded of a movie and a lot of what could've made an interesting story made way for huge action sequences with, yet, more CGI buildings crumbling to the ground. I don't feel as if there's anything new being thrown my way. It's just louder explosions in different locations. And, if the writing wasn't so good, it could be a forgotten Michael Bay-esque adventure. There were really no stakes for any of the characters and what I mean by that is I didn't think anyone's lives were actually in danger.
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it-- I'm just sick of the superhero genre taking over. It's getting to the point where it's repetitive and boring (which is why I loved Guardians of the Galaxy so much-- it was different, it was fresh, it was new). From what I've heard this is leaps and bounds better than Batman v. Superman and I can definitely tell that it's true. However, it just didn't do anything for me to bring me back to the excitement I had when the first Iron Man movie was released and we were just on the cusp of seeing how great the Marvel universe on film could be. One of these days Marvel is going to realize their repetition and, hopefully, HOPEFULLY, grow a pair of balls.
D+
********SPOILERS BELOW*********
For those of you who have seen the film, it really upset me that Marvel has zero balls. Like, none. DC doesn't make the high quality films that Marvel does, but they have balls to actually put people in danger and, God forbid, kill someone. Cap and Iron Man both survive their fight with nothing more than their egos hurt. Shit, they couldn't even kill Rhodes. They had to immediately show us that his heart was still beating. No one is ever in danger. No villains ever get what's coming to them. No stakes are ever raised. If I go into a movie knowing everyone survives and it's actually a civil war (brother versus brother) I want to be able to think that one of them may possibly lose their life. But, Marvel, owned by Disney, has no balls at all. Zero. None. No one gets that hurt. No one's life is threatened. No one is in any danger. Man up Marvel. Or sit the hell down.
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