Captain America: Civil War (Movie review)

I don't normally write movie reviews unless I am absolutely impressed by them, and I was absolutely impressed by this one. Read on to see why you should be too, and also, while your here, check out my other movie reviews here, here, here, here, and here.
Enjoy!

Well, its here. Its finally arrived. The Civil War that tore the Marvel Comics Universe apart looks to do the same to the Cinematic Universe, and, boy, does it ever.
Superhero vs. superhero is the name of the game, with all your favourites at odds with one another due to the government believing the heroes need to be held in check. Buildings are destroyed, innocents killed in the line of fire, and with more people fearing the good guys than they should, something needs to happen. A trust is broken, one that needs to be won back by the people, and those who rule the nations. The answer? The Superhero Registration Act, or, as far as this movie is concerned, the Sokovia Accords Act, which is pretty much the same thing.
Superheroes have been operating above the law for some time, and with SHIELD under, not to mention a growing population of super-powered individuals, the government can no longer tolerate free reign for our heroes. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, is against the act, due
to not wanting to be told who the bad guys are, and turning a blind eye to anyone. While Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, is all for it after being confronted by a grieving mother over her son's death in Sokovia (the fictional Eastern Europe country from Avengers: Age of Ultron, if you recall), his conscience is at an all time high in terms of grief and guilt and the Accords Act will, at least, lessen the number of civilian casualties. But with the United Nations being attacked, Rogers' BFF Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, being blamed for the violence, loyalties are divided that could very well reshape the Avengers and not for the better.
Who's side are you on?

I don't know what it is with Marvel Studios, but every movie they dish out just keeps getting better, and better. I don't know how they do it, but they do. With each escalating threat these heroes face, there's another one just as bad around the corner. The Avengers met this with first Loki, the Asgardian step brother to Thor, then Ultron, the maniacal robot built for peace who went south from his original programing. Now, they face something even greater; themselves.
Let's not get this twisted. Yes, the Avengers are featured heavily for the first time outside their own team up movie, but this is still a Captain America story, and with how far we've come from the past movies and what's been established it would be foolish not to feature the massive superhero group. And while the last two Avengers movies featured heavily on epic, large scale battles, this movie gives us a more condensed fight for survival between the two opposing sides, but don't let that concern you, its still an exciting turn out that'll have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
And while we're on the subject of size, the story for Civil War isn't as big as you'd imagine. Yes, there is the whole Civil War encounter that the trailer promises (which, by the way, is the stand out moment of the movie), and the situation that turns the heroes against one another, the story is more personal than you'd imagine. Villain of the piece, Baron Zemo, an old enemy to Captain America in the comics, plots to bring the Avengers down for good not involving world domination, but in tearing the group apart from within. Its a smaller plot than usual, but big in the scale of what's hanging in the balance if he succeeds. I appreciated the approach this movie took in telling
its story, with so many Marvel characters to introduce for later movies, and returning favourites, it would've been hard to recreate what Joss Whedon's Avengers gave us, not to mention repetitive.
So, a round of applause must be given to the Russo brothers (Anthony and Joesph V.) in not only giving us the second Captain America movie, that exceeded expectations from the first one, but for throwing our heroes in the thick of it and a preview of things to come. If that battle was anything to go by, then the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War movie in 2018 and '19, that they're also directing, will be immense.

But that's the future, this is the present, and what a gift Civil War is, especially with handling its characters and actors. Chris Evans does the American hero schtick well, having done it at least five times now, you get what you see, but the morality aspect of the character is brought out more so than before, giving us the illusion of a different trait when its something the character has had all along, its just taken a couple of writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely), and a capable actor, to show us all. But if anyone deserves the nod its Robert Downey Jr's complex character in Tony Stark, showing more sides to the egomaniac that many weren't aware of. Tony is torn between his friendship for Steve Rogers, and doing what he believes is right for the Avengers and the rest of the world. What follows is a five star performance from a veteran of the screen, who makes those audience members who sided with Captain America in this war to question their own loyalties.
The rest of the cast also deserve mentions; Paul Bettany's Vision and Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff play off each other like high school teenagers noticing each other for the first time in an endearing, and lovable series of scenes. Paul Rudd and Tom Holland's Ant-Man and Spider-Man respectively bring the laughs and are the crowd pleasers of the show, while Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther delivers both as a menacing presence and a strong heroic figure. A future film featuring his character is one I can't wait to see.

I don't have to tell you to go see Captain America: Civil War, but you should go see Captain America: Civil War. As of this writing, its the best movie Marvel Studios has put out, but that's not a knock on the other films that came before, as without those blockbusters we wouldn't have this spectacular display to foam at the mouth over. Whether you feel superhero movies are losing steam, or your just flat out bored with them, if they continue to tell compelling storylines with heart felt characters we can relate to, then the superhero flow of movies can keep on coming as far as I'm concerned.