It's Not Perfect But It's a Damn Fine Follow-Up To The Winter Soldier

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2016)

Batman v Superman got to go first and now we get to see Marvel's counter punch in Captain America: Civil War. You can't help but compare them, collectively they're two of the three biggest movie releases of the year (the third is Star Wars: Rogue One). But I'll get into that later. I liked Avengers: Age of Ultron but the reality is that the reaction to it was mixed and Marvel/Disney needed to step it up for their next ensemble film. On paper, this seems like the story line to do it with, their own battle of titans, Captain America vs. Ironman, who doesn't want to see that? They brought their A game here too though, not only delivering on the action/adventure front but asking some unique philosophical questions. That's what separates the good from the great in this genre of movie, all of them have the big budget set pieces, it's bringing something different to the table that makes something memorable.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* We start in 1991 at a Hydra stronghold. We see The Winter Soldier aka Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) being reanimated from cryo-sleep. They then activate him with some seemingly random code words spoken in Russian. He is ordered to perform an extraction mission and to make sure there are no witnesses. He performs a hit and run on a vehicle and kills the two passengers. He pulls 5 blue blood bags out of the trunk and delivers them to Hydra command.
We then go to Lagos where some of the Avengers are tracking Crossbones (Frank Grillo) who's trying to obtain a biological weapon. Captain America (Chris Evans), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Falcon (Anthony Mackie ) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) are there to stop him and after fighting through his group of mercenaries, they recover the weapon and corner Crossbones. Crossbones tries to detonate a bomb to kill both himself and Captain America. Scarlet is able to contain it but only for a short amount of time. She deflects the blast into a building, saving some but killing others. The media shows the carnage brought on by the blast and it leads to many people calling for the Avengers to face regulation/justice.
The subtext of the movie isn't necessarily anything new. It's very much a similar debate that existed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Freedom vs. security. But the difference is that it's expanded upon in Civil War. I think the movie does a decent job initially of showing both sides of that debate. Tony's obviously feeling guilty over the events of Ultron and is willing to accept that maybe his judgment isn't infallible overall. Steve meanwhile is still distrusting of oversight after the events of the Winter Soldier. The only gripe I had with the movie is that it doesn't really stay impartial the whole way through. I get it's technically Captain America's movie but the objectivity gets abandoned and it slowly shifts toward pushing you to Cap's side. I was actually on Tony's side for most to if not all of the movie (I don't want to really get into why, form your own conclusions but even if Bucky was brainwashed I don't think he should have just got free reign after what he did, psychiatric care should at least have been the minimum which Rogers won't even let him submit to). I realize that I'm coming from the minority though and compared to most superhero movies, this movie does a great job with the subtext.
Next let's get the inevitable comparison out of the way. Yes, I enjoyed this movie much more than Batman v Superman but Batman v Superman wasn't all bad either. While both movies had impressive set pieces and great fights (I think that Civil War has the best superhero fight I've yet to see), I think Civil War does a better job of introducing it's new characters and shying away from shoving the characters it has already developed into type. Wonder Woman and Batman were great and I thought Black Panther and Spiderman were equally impressive here but they were also worked into the story more organically. I also think characters like Captain America and Ironman progress a lot more naturally in this movie as opposed to Superman who was even more unfeeling. To be fair, Marvel has had many movies to set things up where the DCU is just beginning. Lastly, I liked Zemo a lot as a bad guy because he was the opposite of Lex Luthor. He was much more understated, he used manipulation as opposed to force and his objective was completed through clear and concise means.
I haven't even touched on the cast, all you need to know is that there isn't a weak link. Evans and Downey Jr. are both excellent, they have been playing these characters for a while and it shows. I also thought Boseman and Holland were great as the big new additions, I look forward to their respective solo efforts going forward. I would also give a shout out to Daniel Bruhl for helping form a solid Marvel villain (admittedly outside of Loki, villains have been a weak point when it comes to Marvel movies).
This is one of those movies that had a huge amount of hype and it actually lived up to it. I think this is easily among the top 5 Marvel movies. It gives you the gigantic Cap vs. Ironman fight you want but makes sure there is enough of a plot so you're not hopping up and down till the next action scene. Go see this if you can, I highly recommend it.