Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Genre

Action | Sci-Fi

Directors

Anthony Russo | Joe Russo

Country

USA

Cast

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Tom Holland, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, Daniel Brühl, John Slattery, Kerry Condon, Martin Freeman, John Kani, Marisa Tomei, Hope Davis, Stan Lee

Storyline

After another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, the government decides to push for the Anti-Hero Registration Act, a law that limits heroes actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America (Chris Evans) feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world.

Opinion

Captain America movies have always been my favourites of the Marvel Cinematic Universe because they always manage to be a notch above the others, and the Russo brothers did it again with "Captain America: Civil War", a solid superhero flick as well as a complex, intelligent film that provides food for thoughts.

The story is simple but well constructed and keeps going smoothly until the end, there are no dead moments and the two and a half hours fly by. What I loved more about it is that the story isn't about the villain, but about the conflict between the two superheros factions: on one side we have Captain America, who believe they should be able to do their best to save the world and they should not reply on the government; on the other side we have Iron Man, who instead believes superheroes' actions should be controlled by the government to prevent more cities from being destroyed, and more people from dying. This is the beating heart of the film, and I was surprised by how well they managed to handle this matter, and by how the conflict is - or not - resolved (I won't spoil anything).

The film isn't by any mean perfect though. There are a lot of characters involved in this film it seems more like an Avenger movie than a sequel to "The Winter Soldier". Having said that, while each character has his duty and finds a place in the story - I was very excited to see Black Panther, a great Chadwick Boseman, for the first time and the new Spider-Man played by Tom Holland (I missed Andrew Garfield to be honest) -, there are just too many of them and there isn't enough time to develop them all.

Since the film mostly focused on the conflict, the villains are also kind of weak. While it gives him a good motivation and an ingenious plan, the screenplay doesn't leave much room for Baron Zemo, which is, by the way, wonderfully portrayed by Daniel Brühl - he even manages to make you sympathise with him. The second disappointment in the villains area is Crossbones. He is nothing more than a plot device and I was really hoping to see more of him.

And now the action. Just let me tell you this, if you are an action lover, you're going to love it. The action is arguably the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the much anticipated airport scene is spectacular.

The familiar faces on the cast do as usual, but two deserves to be mentioned because they really stepped up their game: Chris Evans and especially Robert Downey Jr. who gives a great perfomrance as a guilt ridden Tony Stark.

And at last but not least the inevitable comparison with Snyder's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice". If you read my review, you know I liked the film, but like this one had some issues. Therefore I was worried about very quick reconciliations and one of the teams being portrayed as the wrong side, but thank god that didn't happen.