"Captain America: Civil War" is the sequel to "Captain America: the Winter Soldier." With the Russo brothers directing again. In this film, the avengers are forced to make a tough decision. While their actions are noble in helping save citizens and keeping the planet safe. A lot of collateral damage happens during their battles. Several innocent people get hurt or killed in the crossfire. The government wants the avengers to be under more control and communicate with them before they take action. This is where the divide occurs, Tony Stark feels the avengers need to be under more control.
While Steve Rogers does not want the government involved with what the avengers do. This sets up a very entertaining and compelling film. What the movie does well is not making it black and white for the audience. I understood both sides of the argument and flip-flopped several times on who I thought was right. Stark and Rogers have always had disagreements in previous movies most notably in the original avengers film. It's taken to another level in this film. All the performances are good, with Robert Downy Jr. giving his best portrayal of iron man to date in my opinion. Chris Evans is also good as Steve Rogers. The action is also great, there is a battle in the airport that is just spectacular. It is one of the best action sequences I've seen in a comic book film.
I also want to discuss some of the supporting characters starting with black panther. He's a character I didn't know much about going into the movie, now I can't wait for his stand alone film. Chadwick Boseman completely embodies the character giving a terrific performance. He showed his range in this film, this is a much different performance than his portrayal of Jackie Robinson in "42." He has his own agenda in the story. His dad was murdered by Captain America's best friend Bucky Barnes at least that's what he initially thought. His whole story line is avenging his fathers death. He kicks ass throughout the film, his costume is bad ass and his fighting style is fast and brutal. His best action scene was him trying to chase down Bucky, while dodging cars.
Now let's talk "Spider-Man." This is his first time in a marvel cinematic universe movie. He was only in the film for about fifteen minutes but he was spectacular. Spidy was my favorite superhero growing up but I started getting fatigued with him, due to how much I disliked his last movie. The bad taste was washed away after seeing him in action again. Tom Holland does a great job as Spider-Man and he had great chemistry with Robert Downy Jr. This is the best on screen Spider-Man I've seen since 2004. The action was great with him and all his jokes landed.
The final battle was also great. What makes this fight between Iron man and Captain America so good, is I actually cared about the characters. When there is no substance behind a fight it lessens the impact. The battle had an emotional impact because it's so hard to choose a side to root for when both characters have reasonable stances for their actions. Overall this film is well paced has a great story and characters. With some of the best action I've seen in a comic book film.
My only issue with the movie was the villain behind scenes pulling the strings. Marvel has had trouble making good villains in their films with the exception of Loki. I just didn't think Zemo had to be in this film. The heroes were already at odds without Zemo's agenda. He was boring and just unnecessary. One other problem I had was some shaky camera during the beginning of the movie during an action scene and that's it. This is now my second favorite marvel movie of all time only behind the Avengers 2012.
