By: James Graves
The summer blockbuster season has officially begun with the release of Disney & Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War.
After the tremendous success of Deadpool, and the bittersweet feeling many fan’s had after watching Batman Vs Superman; Captain America: Civil War could not have come at a better time. Captain America: Civil War kicks off with an event that causes the world to call into question our hero’s actions. Fresh off the devastation that we saw in Sokovia at the end of Age of Ultron the United Nations decides to give our hero’s a choice.
The choice either register yourselves as Agents of the United Nations, or disband.
Now one of the best things Civil War does is present both sides of this argument and why it is such a divisive issue for our heroes. This particularly rang true for Tony Stark as he’s been searching for redemption since he first donned the Iron Man Mark 1 suit.
On the other hand, Captain America is a soldier who was just betrayed by an agency he was assigned to be an agent for and Civil War has no problem reminding us of the Hydra/SHIELD betrayal from Winter Soldier. After the respective sides are chosen, the movie moves along fairly quickly.
Black Panther is introduced within the first half hour of the movie. I was pleasantly surprised at how fleshed out his character was. In what could’ve been a glorified cameo, Civil War actually takes time to introduce who he is, why he’s anywhere near the events that take place in the movie, and even had his fair share of character development.
Character development is by far one of the strongest aspects of the films that make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Civil War is no different in this aspect as every hero on screen are different then when we last saw them, and evolve even further throughout the course of the movie.
Okay! let’s talk about why you’re all really here. Spider-Man is breathtaking in his MCU debut.
Shout out Tom Holland for a great start and if this is any indication of what we can expect from the next Solo Spidey film I am all for it. While the MCU films have all been great there is one thing that they are criticized for the most. The MCU has been littered with one-note villains, Civil War attempts to correct this with Baron Zemo.
Zemo fit the movie perfectly as the whole point of this movie is to have our two hero’s; Captain America and Iron man face-off so a grandiose villain would have detracted from this aspect of the story.
Fortunately, Zemo was not that.
Zemo wasn’t ambitious like Loki, greedy like Stane, or power-hungry like Thanos. Zemo was a heartbroken man who has lost everything that was ever important to him. This is what ultimately leads to Zemo’s actions and I feel he is the first villain Marvel actually succeeded in portraying as more than just an obstacle for our heroes to inevitably conquer.
The comedy, and drama all work in Civil War. Fans are also treated to what is arguably the most breathtaking action sequence in any of their movies so far. If you are on the wall about it or concerned that Civil War may not live up to its hype, rest assured Civil War delivers on all fronts and I for one cannot wait until I see it again.
Rating: 9.5/10
Editor’s Note: This article also appears here on Nuts and Bolts Sports, a content partner of INSCMagazine.