I was getting a little worried about Marvel Studios. The Avengers was such a fun romp and precedent changing superhero movie that I worried the studio had peaked, never to return. Enter Joe and Anthony Russo and their ability to juggle stuffed scripts, and a giant sigh of relief and giddies has been had. Captain America: Civil War, or Avengers 3, is Marvel studios operating in peak form: stunning action set pieces, witty repartee, character based conflicts, and a little questionable morality discussion. Plus the biggest asset: the Spiderman I’d been waiting for since I saw the cartoon as a kid.
After some collateral damage in Africa from an Avenger led operation, the Secretary of State (William Hurt) requests the team consent to oversight by the UN. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) agrees, haunted by people he has hurt, but Captain America (Chris Evans) is wary of governments thanks to the events and actions of the Winter Soldier (played by Sebastian Stan) and wants to remain independent. While the superheroes are busy picking sides in the conflict, a guy called Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) is conspiring something nefarious in the background designed to rip apart the team.
Civil War succeeds effortlessly. The Russo Brothers cram all these new characters and requests of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with a “Sure, why not?” approach. What’s amazing about their accomplishment is how each addition not only isn’t extremely forced, but how it ties into the overall narrative. Scarlet Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) moral arguments with the Vision (Paul Bettany), sure, why not? Those two can represent humanity and pure advancement. Add in Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Spiderman (Tom Holland), sure why not? We’ll give the Panther a vendetta, and Spidey a need for resources. Reference other missing MCU people, sure, why not? Tony Stark’s dad (John Slattery), Captain America’s squeezes (Hayley Atwell and Emily VanCamp), and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) all give the leads necessary character shading that builds to their visceral conflicts. The bevy of new material and characters the Russo’s use as assets to help build and escalate the conflict in their story, and give real emotional stakes for many of the characters involved.
But enough about emotional and moral complexity, how are the fights bro? GOOD LORD, I haven’t had this much fun watching fights between superpowered individuals since the first Avengers (screw you, Zack Snyder). Each character gets a moment to shine and look pretty cool. What the Russo’s execute so well with the battles is different staging. The first fight is in a crowded market and shows how hard it is to prevent collateral damage. The second is a chase through Bucharest’s claustrophobic hallways and tunnels, and holy crap, the Russo’s show us how well Cap, Black Panther, and The Winter Soldier execute their powers in tight spaces. And then it happens: the battle equal of that first Avenger battle: the clash between the heroes in the abandoned airport (e.g. open air). Marvel had built to this moment when we figured out there were character issues between the heroes, but watching battles between characters whose powers we had seen, and maybe some powers we hadn’t, captures the pure joy of comic book adaptations that I loved since the Tobey Maguire Spidermans. I was laughing and gasping for a euphoric 30 minutes that may end up being the movie highlight of the year. But the Russo’s have a trick up their sleeve: that big battle is awesome, but it also escalates the divide between Cap and Iron Man to potentially friendship shattering proportions. The final battle isn’t as big, but because of a clever twist, really makes the emotional aspect of the battle MEAN something, and legitimately worry something BAD might happen for the leads. Captain America: Civil War brings you back to the feeling of that first cartoon, first comic book, that first movie that expanded your idea of how much fun something could be.
Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, when given great material like the Russo brothers, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely give them, know how to mine the most from it. We know that already. We also already know that Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner and Scarlett Johansson will deliver the goods too; here, they graciously take a back seat to people we need to learn more about (though credit to Mackie’s ability to sell jokes). Sebastian Shaw deserves lots of credit for Civil War’s success; Shaw is the catalyst for the war to start, and his take on Cap’s friend turned military mercenary is that of tragic participant who we want to root for but can’t trust. It’s critical Shaw makes the audience like him for the third act to resonate, and Shaw succeeds. Paul Bettany has lots of fun trying to play Vision as computer trying to understand humanity, and Elizabeth Olsen plays to her strengths emotionally grounding a superhero story, though she needed just a tad more screentime. But the newcomers are what make this movie special. Daniel Bruhl, in very limited screen time, gives us a fascinating non-traditional villain who I legitimately cared for by the end of the film. Chadwick Boseman brings a regal and commanding presence to T’Challa, the Black Panther. His sublot gives me a grasp of what motivates this character, and he will be a welcome addition to the Marvel team. Paul Rudd and Tom Holland steal the show though; turns out Marvel needed fanboy sidekicks to comment on everything. Rudd’s Ant-Man is brought in for that big airport fight, and the script frees him up to highlight Rudd’s joy and likeability, the things his own film subdued too much. Ant-Man also gets the best moment in that superhero fight, and that’s saying something. With all due respect though, I am most happy for Tom Holland’s addition. This Peter Parker is the one most people are familiar with and fell in love with, and Holland’s presence commenting on the battle delivers the biggest laughs in a movie filled with them. I am as excited for a Spiderman film as I was since the very first, not an easy feat after 5 previous movies about the character, thanks to Holland and the Russos.
What do you do when your superhero universe has a dearth of villains? Why have them fight each other of course!! You know a summer blockbuster when you see one, and Captain America: Civil War checks all the boxes. Thanks to Civil War, with the uneasy state the Earth will be in when the Infinity War starts, I’m very excited to see what the Russo’s can do with an intergalactic battle. Three words: Spidey in Space!!