The hardest thing to do after watching a movie you love is try not to tell the movie to the ones who haven’t seen it yet. If you haven’t seen Civil War yet then I have no idea what to tell you. It may have taken me some time to write this but I had to get my thoughts on paper after watching it for a fourth time.
As I am learning with these new age Superhero movies whether it be Marvel or DC is that single titles are the way to go. The more you try to add to the cast the more the movie becomes less about the main character.
Marvel has had a slew of movies with three Iron Man’s, two Incredible Hulks, two Thor’s, 3 Fantastic Fours, 4 Spider-Man’s, X-Men, Wolverines and more but the one that has shined the brightest by far has been the Captain America movies. The Hulk movies had the opportunity to be just as good as the Captain America’s but it seemed they had no idea of what to do with the script. Tell me, when watching The Avengers you couldn’t wait for a Hulk scene. Hulk is all force, no emotion, which should make for an action-packed film but the writers felt it would be better to pair him with other heroes in their solo projects than taking another run at a Hulk film.
Thor’s story line is love and fighting his brother Loki. While it may make for a great script the action scenes are well below the standard for a powerful God like Thor. The first Thor was awesome as we got to see more of his human side than the warrior as he and Jane looked to build a relationship. The fact that his powers were banished made it all the more believing. But in Thor 2, it seemed the script was thrown together in a few weeks as it had no real direction. Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy were more comedic than anything and I’m still on the fence about seeing any sequel. The Spider-Man movies started great but changing characters after so many reboots got a bit tiring. The new Spidey seems like a throwback to the comic and cartoon models and might be able to pull off the screen presence that Tobey Maguire had in the first two.
X-Men is still one of my favorites as they have taken a page out of the Star Wars book and placed the franchise back in the early years of the characters. But like the Star Wars franchise, we know the ending already. We know Jean Grey becomes the Phoenix and kills almost everyone until Wolverine has to step in and kill the love of his life. I still watch because they somehow managed to fit a cast of characters into one movie and still make it seem like we are watching one movie and not 10 others like The Avengers.
While each one has its good parts they have their flaws as well, which lead us to why CW tops them all.
Iron Man set the tone for the latest installment of hero movies as Tony Stark hit the ground running with action-packed scenes and that ever quick and witty Stark humor. As great as the Iron Man movies were there was something that always seemed to be missing. The action, humor, and technology was there but I was never invested in the villains. I mean Stark put on an iron suit to fight, Cap is chemically enhanced, Thor is considered a God and the Hulk, well he is just roid-angry.
While each Marvel movie has had their moments it’s now easy for me to say that Civil War is the best. I didn’t think they could top Winter Solider with that rich story line about the friendship between him and Bucky but Civil War goes deeper, so deep that Cap took a stance that would forever change the Avengers.
I’m not a comic buff so I am going off strictly movie-based notions here. Civil War is a Captain America movie that never swayed away from Captain America as the lead character. Both Avengers movies had too many sub plots to deal with, with so many other heroes but CW even with Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Vision, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Winter Soldier and War Machine still managed to keep our interest on Cap and the tough decisions he had to make as an Avenger and friend.
CW is about friendship, leadership, and loyalty all the way through and not just from Cap. Stark has put the team in a weird situation with the Sokovia Accord where the United Nations will have control over the Avengers but not everyone is on board with his decision and that divides the team of heroes, most notably Cap and Iron Man. It’s no secret there has always been tension between the two but in CW that all comes to a head and not with some heated argument in the Compound.
With Cap on one end and Stark on the other, the team has to choose sides. Stark believes that the team needs structure, basically taking a shot at the leadership of Cap while Cap who has been in the Armed Services knows what handing their power over to the government could do.
Who is right?
That alone makes for a great story-line but CW goes deeper than the Accord.
Revenge plays a huge role in this film as secrets come to light that causes so much friction that friendships are ended and new enemies are born. We have seen the many trailers that were released with the big fight between Cap and Iron Man but it’s a thing of beauty to see how they got to that point. And when it actually reaches its climax and we get to see it play out, there is no other Marvel movie that has captured the intense emotion of those fight scenes.
What about the new additions?
Oh, Black Panther was awesome, can’t wait for his solo project but the scene-stealer of this movie is Spidey. Throughout the years there has been reboot after reboot of the Spider-Man franchise but this one in CW was perfect. From his introduction to the movie, you could tell they went back to the raw, innocence of Peter Parker with the wit and not so much bravado that past Parker’s has had in earlier films.
All in all, Civil War was more than I expected and I expect plenty from Marvel movies. Now the feeling might not be the same for the comic buffs who may know the back story and what happens in the future but for a person that just enjoys the big screen adaption, I was totally blown away with the story, action and fight scenes we were provided.
If this was it as there is no word on any future Captain America’s movie I just say they went out in style. While the movie ended on a weird note, I am to believe that Infinity Wars will pick up where CW left off but I would love to see one more Cap movie as all three have been outstandingly done.
Hats off to you Marvel for finally putting all the pieces together in one film.