Captain America: Civil War

Rating: 7/10 (13 May 2016)

This is not technically a sequel to the Captain America series, it is more like another Avengers movie, the only Marvel characters missing are Nick Fury, Thor and the Hulk, so I looked forward to it, from director brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (Welcome to Collinwood, You, Me and Dupree, Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Basically the Avengers: Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson aka Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen, Mary-Kate and Ashley's sister) cause unintentional destruction whilst saving the world, the team are brought before U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt). Ross informs the team that the United Nations (UN) will have a panel determine their control for protection of the world, the team is divided: Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) supports oversight because he feels the destruction, but Rogers has more faith in his judgement than the government. A bomb explosion occurs in Vienna, security footage indicates the bomber is brainwashed super-soldier Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), King T'Chaka (John Kani) is killed and his son T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) vows to kill the Barnes. The government intends to kill Barnes, Rogers wants to bring him, as his childhood friend and war comrade, Rogers and Wilson find him in Bucharest, but they, Barnes and T'Challa, as his alter ego the Black Panther, are arrested. Helmut Zemo (Rush's Daniel Brühl) kills Barnes's old Hydra handler and steals a book containing trigger words that activate Barnes's brainwashing, infiltrating the facility Barnes is being held Zemo recites these words to make Barnes obey him, Zemo questions him, then sends him on a rampage. Rogers stops Barnes, he regains his senses and explains that Zemo is the real Vienna bomber, he wanted the location of of the Siberian Hydra base, where other brainwashed super-soldiers are kept in cryogenic stasis, unwilling to wait for authorisation to apprehend Zemo, Rogers and Wilson go rogue, recruiting Maximoff, Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). Ross gives permission to Stark to capture the renegades, he assembles Romanoff and T'Challa in a team, along with Lieutenant James Rhodes aka War Machine (Don Cheadle), Vision (Paul Bettany) and new recruit Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (The Impossible's Tom Holland). Stark's team and Rogers' team come face to face at Leipzig/Halle Airport, they fight each other and cause destruction around them, until Romanoff allows Rogers and Barnes to escape, the rest of Rogers' team are captured and held at the Raft prison, Vision inadvertently shot down Rhodes causing him to be partially paralysed, and Romanoff is forced to go into hiding. Stark discovers evidence that Zemo framed Barnes and shows Wilson the evidence, Wilson gives Rogers' location, Stark goes to the Siberian Hydra facility, Rogers and Barnes are there and they strike a truce, T'Challa secretly followed, they discover the other super-soldiers have been killed Zemo, who shows Hydra archive footage that brainwashed Barnes was responsible for the death of Stark's parents, thought to be killed in an automobile accident. Stark is enraged that Rogers was aware of this and turns on them, blasting off Barnes' robotic arm, Rogers disables Stark's armour and escapes with Barnes, leaving his shield behind, Zemo is satisfied he has fractured the Avengers and attempts suicide, but T'Challa stops him and takes him to the authorities. In the aftermath, Rhodes is provided with exoskeletal leg braces to walk again, Rogers breaks his allies out of the Raft, Barnes is granted asylum by T'Challa and put into cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing can be found, Stark reads a letter from Rogers which assures him there can be a future for the Avengers, and Parker is seen testing a new gadget from Stark. Also starring Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May Parker, John Slattery as Howard Stark, Hope Davis as Maria Stark, Alfre Woodard as Miriam Sharpe and Stan Lee as FedEx Driver. Evans and Downey Jr. dominate most of the picture with their acting skills, but it is great to see all the superheroes together again, the highlight is when they all clash, fight together and destroy an airport, the introductions of the Black Panther and web-slinging Spider-Men is well done, there is a good mixture of high-octane energy and a little needed humour, the special effects for the super powers and explosions are fantastic, and the story is relatively interesting, all in all it is a great fun action adventure. Very good!