Good movie that risks nothing

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2016)

Problems with MCU were first sighted in Avengers Age of Ultron, continued to show themselves in Ant-Man, and everyone was expecting Civil War to fix that. Unfortunately, Civil War lead MCU down a path that I fear will be hard to come back from.
I find it unnecessary to review the acting because all of these actors are so connected to their roles they do not act anymore, they are those characters. They were seen in a bunch of other MCU movies and got a grip of what every one of them should actually do in certain situations. I feel that directorial guidance for the long runners such as Downey Jr., Evans and Johansson, was completely unneeded.
So, where did the directors focus their efforts? It is clear that when directors do not burden themselves with the cast much more can be done with the quality of the movie itself. The result is visible in this movie. Civil War was greatly directed, feels compact and is technically superb. But, Civil War messed up in the most crucial part - the story. Civil War needed to be a dark and gritty story, difficult and layered. All of that was destroyed by over stuffing the story with irrelevant characters.
The story was nicely introduced, with general outlines of how it will develop, getting hopes up. Then, somewhere at the middle of the movie, the story begins to deteriorate rapidly, and the reason is an unnecessary introduction of Spider man and Ant man. If this was done purely because Spider man needed an intro into his own movie, it is unforgivable. Killing 20 min just to pull him into the MCU is playing with fire (and nerves). On the bright side, it was a good presentation of Spider man. Ant man, on the other hand was a character that was completely irrelevant and was there to fill up the space. But, as a newcomer, Black panther was a perfect fit to the MCU. Unlike Spider man and Ant man, he actually had a story behind him in the movie, so he could develop his character and work on him (also, Boseman as Black panther really stole every scene he was in).
The all-out battle on the airfield was supposed to be the highlight of the Civil War. But, it felt shoved together, overly caricatured, and not at all what it was meant to be. It had good fight coordination and nice CGI, but all in all, it just didn't feel as tense and complex as it was intended to be. Unlike the very end of the movie, when the true story of all the characters is revealed, the real Civil War begins. The battle of Iron man and Captain America is the climactic highlight that punches you in the teeth, leaves you breathless and just will not let go. So, upon considering the movie finale, and regarding what this movie could have been, Civil War starts to feel like a huge flat line.
The last three MCU movies all had miraculous potential, magnificent cast and superb technical performance, but they all lacked that final kick, that comic book style highlight. It seems that MCU has a problem with doing something new and shocking, which it did so marvelously in the past. Also, a concern and doubt is lurking in most minds now. If Civil War felt this shoved and overstuffed, how exactly is Infinity war going to look like? Especially when one knows who is to direct.
All in all, Civil war is a splendid movie, technically strong and acted superbly, but lacks risk, potency and darkness. For a story of this magnitude, different approaches were a necessity, more risk in storytelling and less characters. Still, the movie is fun and delivers another great chapter in the MCU. Unfortunately, it leaves a bittersweet taste with a feeling of underdevelopment. This truly could have been the greatest superhero movie ever made. Like this it's just cool.