Captain America: Civil War

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2016)

What the hell is next after Captain America: Civil War? Well, I guess I know what's next... the Phase 3 of Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will go through deep changes in the characters and the continuity which started 8 years ago, when Iron Man was released. What I didn't expect was the ending of Phase 2 to be so... I don't think I can finish that phrase not revealing more than I should, so I will limit myself to mention the reasons why I enjoyed Captain America: Civil War so much. The fans of the epic comic saga Civil War will recognize the same story in broad strokes, even though its dimension was considerably reduced. However, I don't mention that as something negative, because it was obvious that a 146-minute film wasn't going to be able to contain the hundreds of characters and sub-plots which integrated that "crossover" (not to mention the copyright nightmare implied by the legal rights of such many characters scattered between multiple studios). I will even say that the abbreviation of the conflict to a dozen of characters distillates the main ideas of the tale, making them more potent and forging not only an exciting and hugely entertaining film, but an appropriate punchline to the events which have been gestating since 2008; in other words: this was the ideal moment to make Captain America: Civil War... when we already know the characters very well, and we share their uncertainty on the mission of "avenging" the whole world. Besides, on a more visceral aspect, we already know what each hero is capable of doing, so when the unavoidable fights come, it's a pleasure too see them measuring their abilities, exchanging demolishing punches and fulfilling the fantasies of uncountable "fanboys" (like me), who many times wondered "who would win" in hypothetical fights with infinite permutations of opponents. But the most remarkable thing is that, even with such familiar characters, co-screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely found the way of surprising us with twists and unexpected tangents, while perfectly integrating the new heroes and villains to the narrative flow. The only thing I can say against Captain America: Civil War is that the tendency to the "shaky cam" obstructs the excellent choreography a bit during some of the action scenes. But despite that small complaint, I liked Captain America: Civil War very much, and I found it one of the best films from Marvel Studios (I would personally place it in the TOP 3, along with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy). I enthusiastically recommend it to the fans of Marvel's and those who like action cinema with a good dramatic endorsement, because Captain America: Civil War places as much importance on the characters and the story as on the action, instead of exclusively focusing on the special effects... which had exactly been one of the main problems of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.