'Captain America: Civil War' A Review

Captain America: Civil War is the third Captain America(Chris Evans) movie, the latest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Probably more aptly titled Avengers 3 the movie primarily deals with the fallout from Avengers 2, the massive physical damage and civilian casualties perpetuated by the clash with Ultron and the resulting villain it produced. This tied with Cap's childhood-friend brainwashed-assassin Bucky aka The Winter Soldier(Sebastian Stan) coming out of hiding and being accused of a terrorist bombing. This causes Tony Stark(Robert Downey Jr.) to hook up with the UN to issue the Sokovia Accords which regulates people with "enhanced abilities". Cap doesn't agree with this and the Avengers are split in two.

As time goes on the MCU movies have become increasingly convoluted and dependent on knowledge of previous installments for plot comprehension. This is not an asset. Sacrificing satisfying stand-alone story telling in an effort to tell some kind of uber superhero narrative is a clinic in diminishing returns. Each installment has devolved into the moving of chess pieces with little actually happening. This is especially apparent in this movie because our typically charismatic and compelling heroes played by Downey and Evans are forced to act absurdly. There is a prevalent lack of motivation for their characters and/or they behave in a way that goes against what has previously been established about them. There is a lot illogical going on and instead of providing compelling dialogue and emotion to serve the characters they are simply pitted against each other(with little reasonable explanation) in order to get to the titular battle.

The action itself is very cool and well done. The introduction of both Spiderman(Tom Holland) and Black Panther(Chadwick Boseman) are great however they seem shoehorned in to an already bloated movie in order to set up their individual franchises rather than any narrative or emotional purpose. There is a lot of flash but little substance. This is also apparent in the lack of stakes. Seemingly no hero will ever die and will also never be in a situation where they are out of commission for more than twenty minutes. These elements combine to underline the fact nothing is truly happening in regards to story. The MCU has become an exercise in treading water.

Fun to look at, crumbles under any kind of thought.

Don't See It.