Captain America: Civil War Film Review

by

Bobbie L. Washington

What are you going to do when you are a superhero and you save lives but are conflicted when there is collateral damage in the form of innocent lives? That is the heart of the matter running through the movie Captain America: Civil War. As with the other superhero franchise, Batman VS. Superman, where this topic was also explored. In Batman VS. Superman, the Batman goes after Superman for causing the deaths of many of his altar ego's employees at the Wayne Building. In Captain America: Civil War, there is an opposing view between Captain America and Iron Man on the topic of the Superheroes Registration Act where these more than capable bad guy fighters will be forced to register under the United Nations following a rise in loss of lives and property of foreign and domestic lands.

Iron Man aka Tony Stark feel that it is necessary after running into a woman whose son had died in a conflict that involved The Avengers and The Ultron. Tony has guilt because he feels responsible even though he wasn't directly responsible. Steve Rogers aka Captain America on the other hand feels that the team can't be reigned in by a bureaucratic institution when danger can happen at any minute and to wait for a committee meeting would jeopardize any future action.

What complicates this premise is that there is a bad guy, of course there is a bad guy or we wouldn't be here. Now this bad guy, Zemo, has an agenda, of course, and that is to make Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier the fall guy to a crime and it's a whopper. And there is a reason behind the criminal act that we discover later in the telling of the story.

We are also feted with a new Spiderman in a new incarnation with a hot younger Aunt May and we are introduced to a new superhero, The Black Panther. Tom Holland plays an effective Spiderman and Chadwick Boseman for the latter. We also say goodbye to Agent Peggy Carter who had succumb to Alzheimer. She was prominent in the first Captain America and was seen again in the second outing but as an matronly woman up in age. I had wondered in Agent Sharon Carter was related to her and we get that answer in this telling. Goodbye Peggy Carter, you won't be forgotten especially since Steven Rogers put the smack down on Sharon.

So, alliances are made for the sake of argument. There is Team Iron Man along with Black Widow, War Machine, Vision, Spiderman and Black Panther making up his team. Team Captain America consist of Ant Man, the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Falcon and the Scarlet Witch. The action scene did have me engaged because at first I felt like I've been here before with The Avengers/Captain America body of films. But as I kept watching, I got wrapped up with the action. This film clocks in at two and one half hours and it didn't feel like it at all. Only if you are really jaded by it all will you reject the outline of Civil War because this has been a long running series of characters. By introducing a new Spiderman, a new Black Panther and elevating Sharon Carter to a more engaging role is Marvel's attempt to reinvigorate the franchise. We may not be necessarily bored with the characters but in each telling of the tale, you have to come up with something new to top the last thing that you just did.

Ultron wasn't as heavy in the bad robot department, mostly bluster, but Loki and his minions was the better Avenger movie that had a bit of humor in it. I didn't find much humor with Civil War. Ant Man and Spiderman gave a little, way little. In this one, it comes to an inconclusive end with many of team Captain America locked up even though what they did proved that the Winter Soldier was framed but he had done something in his past that impacted Tony Stark's life to the point where is was unforgivable. Where this will go next is undetermined. At some point Marvel will have to decide that they will need to introduce other people in these parts to jump start it like they've done with reinventing Spiderman. Overall, Captain America; Civil War is ranked at four out of five stars.