Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr, Scarlett Johannson, William Hurt, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Paul Bettany, Daniel Bruhl, Tom Holland, Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle
Captain America: Civil War is a de facto Avengers movie minus Thor and Hulk. I didn't miss them. Avengers: Age of Ultron was a mess. I can honestly do without any more movies with "Avengers" in the title because they exist in their own universe where everything of substance from the "solo" efforts is forgotten. Captain America: Civil War puts the Marvel universe back on track. It is a logical extension of the inner conflict Cap faced in the previous Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Unlike the previous Avengers movie, it is not a free-for-all of mayhem. There is an actual story here.
If you recall, Captain America: The Winter Soldier introduced The Winter Soldier, a deadly, brainwashed assassin who was in fact Cap's childhood friend Bucky Barnes (Stan). This started a moral battle on top of the physical one for both men. Would Cap be able to reach through the brainwashing to find his old friend on the other side? This continues in this installment, but once a terrorist explosion occurs and Winter Soldier is presumed to be the suspect, the rest of the Avengers are drawn in as well. The Avengers were not solid even before this, due to recent United Nations accords forcing oversight on the group. This is not surprising, considering how much property damage and lost lives occurred in their recent outings. Cap believes The Avengers should choose their battles, while Tony Stark/Iron Man (Downey) agrees with the accords. The other members choose their sides.
Captain America: Civil War reintroduces us to Spider-Man (Holland), a nerdy kid with the spider powers and introduces a new Avenger Black Panther (Boseman), who seeks revenge after his father is killed in the explosion. Both Holland and Boseman are engaging and are welcome additions to an already-crowded Marvel universe. Fortunately, the movie wisely decides not to introduce giant super monsters, unlike Batman v. Superman. It does not hedge its bets. There is a villain (Bruhl), whose motives and plan are intensely personal and maybe even understandable. I enjoy movies where things are not black and white. Captain America: Civil War, besides the obligatory fighting which people paid their money to see, raises questions and does not give us easy answers or payoffs.
Is The Winter Soldier truly responsible for his previous actions, which we learn directly affected Stark, if he was brainwashed? Is Captain America right or wrong to stand by his friend at the expense of his other friends? Are the Avengers self-appointed vigilantes and is that a bad thing? Instead of dulling my mind and senses with simply loud, choppily edited action, Captain America: Civil War doesn't duck these questions or hastily sidestep them. If I've seen one building exploding, I've seen a thousand. Fistfights don't thrill anymore. Neither do explosions, cars flipping over, and punches that sound like the sound mixers are pounding the hell out of a sofa. Civil War contains just enough of these sequences without losing sight of the story.
Nonetheless, the showdown between all of the Avengers is quite fun. They're trying to establish their respective agendas and reach their objectives. Do they want to hurt each other? No. But, they also want to win. So what to do? Like everything else about Civil War, the answers are not tidy or easy. Thank goodness directors Joe and Anthony Russo did not forget what made their previous Captain America outing special and unique. They built upon it instead of giving us a movie where things are blown up and bodies fly around at a dizzying pace.
No comments:
Post a Comment