13 – Captain America: Civil War
Ok, I know I’m way past the point of sounding like a broken record, but I don’t know how they keep doing it. They hit another home run. It is amazing, and it is why the MCU is one of my favorite franchises. So this one is a Captain America movie, but really, this probably should have been called and Avengers movie. It delved into the complex relationships between the members of the Avengers, set against the backdrop of the fallout of the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Avengers are split down the middle as the United Nations draws up a document that places a measure of control over the vigilante group of un-registered superheroes, any one of whom is a potential danger to the public.
And that’s the main conflict of the movie. Some of the team agree that there needs to be a measure of accountability and oversight to such a powerful force as the Avengers. Other see it as an unconstitutional and un-moralistic infringement on their personal freedoms and liberties. What makes the conflict so interesting, is that both sides are right. But when an actual villain, played by a simple human, whose life was destroyed by the disaster in Sokovia, finds a way to tear the super team apart from the inside. That villain is Helmut Zemo, played by Daniel Bruhl. He finds a way to re-activate the sinister brainwashing of the Winter Soldier, aka: Bucky Barns, and chaos ensues.
What made Civil War so fantastic, was not just those complex moral issues, but that the filmmakers were able to pull out all the stops and bring back all the great characters we have been following in all the preceding earth-bound MCU films. The extra-terrestrial characters like Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy were excluded.And they even brought in two significant new characters in their MCU debut: Spider-Man and Black Panther, played so awesomely by Tom Holland and Chadwick Boseman, and setting both of them up for their own solo movies.
Once again, the directors, the brothers, Anthony and Joe Russo, did so many things right. They gave us a cohesive story, they stayed true to the characters and their places in the overall tapestry of the Infinity Saga, they gave us incredible action, great drama, and even a few well-placed moments of humor. The film is engaging from the beginning to the end. There were a few moments in the film that always stand out to me as phenomenal are the airport battle, and the climactic fight between Captain America and Iron Man. In both cases, they pitted hero against hero, making it hard to know who to root for. The airport battle was just a chaotic special effects extravaganza as all the unique powers of combatants like Wanda Maximoff, Ant-Man, Vision, and Spider-Man went head to head less-fantastical, but no less incredible heroes like Black Widow, Falcon, Hawkeye, and War Machine.
But the final fight was both intense and heartbreaking. Cap and Iron Man go toe-to-toe. Tony Stark finds out the Bucky had murdered his parents as the Winter Soldier, and tries to kill him. Cap knows that it was not his friend’s fault, and tries to defend him. It is here that we get that iconic comic book cover brought to life of Rogers and Stark facing each other, Iron Man firing his repulse beam directly into Captain America’s shield. Man, that was an awesome shot! The battle is brutal, each man trying to defeat his friend. And they do beat the crap out of each other. They beat each other to the brink of killing each other. But in the end, Captain America wins and nearly murders Stark with his shield. But when he knows he has won, he walks away, leaving his opponent to call after him, “That shield doesn’t belong to you. You don’t deserve it!” So he drops it and leaves. So over-the-top dramatic, and it worked! The Russo Brothers really knew what they were doing! And you have to wonder… where do they go from here? Just wait. For a clue, make sure to watch the post-credit teaser scene. Thanos is coming!
Top 10 Favorite Parts
- The fight against Brock Rumlow in Lagos
- The meeting introducing the Sokovia Accords – Asking all the right moral questions. And the heroes’ discussion later.
- The talk between Natasha and Steve after Peggy’s funeral – showing that though they are on opposite sides, they still care for each other as friends.
- The UN Bombing – T’Chaka’s death
- The introduction of Black Panter and the street chase.
- Bucky gets reprogramed and Cap keeps his helicopter from leaving – Holy S…T! Those biceps!
- Hawkeye comes to free Wanda from her house arrest.
- The Airport Battle! I loved it when Spider-Man stops the Winter Soldier’s punch like it was nothing!
- Iron Man finds out about his parents.
- The fight between Cap, Iron Man, and Buckey, especially that iconic comic book cover shot. Also – Buckey loses his metal arm.