Story: Political interference into The Avengers activities causes a rift to form between former allies Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr).
The second big superhero flick to hit theatres this year, the last being the exhilarating Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It is, in reality, a war between DC cinematic universe and Marvel's cinematic universe as the two are competing as to which is the better cinematic superhero juggernaut. One difference though is Zack Snyder is fast tracking the Justice League movie while Disney made 5 movies in 4 years that built up the characters backstories leading up to The Avengers. Warner Bros rebooted Superman and then did a direct sequel building on the aftermath of Superman's destruction of Metropolis.
Captain America: Civil War plays out as the epic conclusion to one of the most highly rated Marvel trilogies. The First Avenger was a classic introduction to one of Marvel's celebrated heroes, The Winter Solider was the Bourn modelled entry where our hero learned the troublesome ideals of Shield and the conspiracies hiding within the government. Civil War continues the look and tone of the previous chapter and also goes on to tie up loose ends started in Winter Soilder.
With the final chapter, Marvel adapts the popular comic book series Civil War to the big screen which sees Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man) take on a full on role in the movie. New additions to the series rooster include Black Panther from Wakanda and your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man from Queens.
With so many heroes in one film and such an enormous cast you would think the film would feel bloated and it doesn't, essentially the film is a follow up to Age of Ultron as well. It was terrific to have Robert Downey Jr. have a pivotal role in the movie and he really has a fantastic story arc in this film where we get a better understanding of his parents and what happened to them. Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie continue to develop their characters from the last two Captain America movies. Canadian starlet Emily VanCamp finally gets a bigger role here and shines in the moments she gets to delve deeper into her character. As for the rest of the cast everyone gets a chance to shine and continue to build on their characters.
There is a villain here who gets The Avengers to fight with one another, similar to what Lex Luthor did with Batman and Superman. Daniel Bruhl plays the bad guy here and he never reveals his true motives, only to someone outside The Avengers. While Lex reveals his master plan all to Superman! There are some moments in Civil War that better those in DC's BVS, but its a different universe with characters and different plot threads. I enjoyed both movies, but yes Civil War was actually more serious than Batman v Superman. It was more real while BVS seemed too dark to truly be real, that and the amount of CGI. Its Superman but there just seems to be a huge amount of CGI that isn't needed in places. At least Civil War works well with its bigger use of practical effects.
Each one of the two new characters get the perfect moments in the film. I am a huge Spider-man fan, I loved Tobey Maguire as Spider-man. Tom Holland plays the role of a young Peter Parker, the youngest so far. As with Aunt May. It adds for some great humour as (SPOILER!) Tony Stark is the one who comes knocking to pick him up. Tom is by far the truest to the ultimate version of Spider-man. All of his scenes are the truest to the character, even Marisa Tomei is true to form as Aunt May. Black Panther also gets a great build up as his character is portrayed brilliantly by Chadwick Boseman.
As for the music we get Henry Jackman returning to the helm. While critics tore his score to Winter Solider to shreds (many missed the tunes played by Alan Silvestri) I loved The Winter Solider theme and he uses that theme as a jumping off point here and crafts a riveting score. BVS had Hans Zimmer returning teaming up with his protege, Junkie Xl (also named Tom Holkenborg). They teamed up to bring new themes to Batman and crafted completely original themes to Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor. One thing to note, Hans Zimmer found the experience so exhausting he has now sworn off doing any more superhero themed scores (his other contributions include The Dark Knight trilogy with James Newton Howard and The Amazing Spiderman 2). Thankfully, Henry Jackman hasn't. He's set to bring Jack Reacher back to the silver screens and has his first video game score coming out for Uncharted 4.
When it comes to comparisons, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was more comic book that realistic thriller while Captain America: Civil War had the comic book heroes but flowed more like an actual intense thriller. Captain America: Civil War succeeds in that it had time to build up all the heroes in separate movies so that when it came to this film, there was no need to jam pack the film full of information and character backstories (like BVS). Batman v Superman is a entertaining comic book movie but Civil War was able to be more than that. Plus, it gives us the best iteration of one of my all time favourite heroes, Spider-man.
Captain America: Civil War stands up along side films such as Spider-man 2 and The Dark Knight as being a film about comic book heroes while having the stakes be real and an added dose of consequence, no one gets off easy.
Rating: A++
P.S Spiderman will Return!
