Best Marvel Film Since Guardians

Rating: 9/10 (7 May 2016)

Wow. Marvel is not messing around anymore. Captain America - Civil War is the best comic book movie Marvel studios has put out since Guardians of the Galaxy, and may be better than the original Avengers film. Everything in this film was top notch from the character arcs, to the action, to the humor, and especially the story.
After viewing Batman Vs. Superman - Dawn of Justice in March, I must admit until a few days ago I was not looking forward to watching this movie. I felt as though the genre was wearing off on me. After viewing Civil War, I now can see how wrong I was to judge a film by its genre.
Civil War's story is the most sophisticated to date, drawing parallels to the real life issues about free will and public safety. Most will call this film a statement against "big government" but I think that that the issue is more complex than that. No matter what side of the debate each of the characters are on, we as the audience understand their reasoning and motivation on their opinion.
Captain America is a great lead in this film. At no point do you question if this is anyone else's movie, it is clearly Cap's. His dedication to Bucky and the ideals of freedom make him the perfect character to revolve the film around. Iron Man was also awesome in the film. He foils with Cap to further explore this interesting relationship that was started in the previous Avenger films. Robert Downey Jr. brings his A game to the role as always.
The rest of the supporting Avengers were also great, with Black Panther, Spider-Man and Ant-Man among some of the stand outs. Black Panther could have just been plopped into the movie to make toys but instead, the writers gave him a clear arc revolving around vengeance that parallels with Cap and Iron Man. Spider-Man' appearance also felt justified, and really made me excited for Tom Holland's future appearances as the Web Slinger. Lastly Ant-Man was better than expected. I actually wished that we got more of him. He brought a lot of humor to this film, and to see him turn into Giant Man was truly amazing. I must mention that while Zemo was decent villain considering that this is an MCU film, his motivation were much weaker than the other characters which did bring the film down slightly.
The Russo Brothers have managed to improve upon their previous effort in Winter Soldier which only has me more excited for Infinity Wars. Civil War will easily be in Top 10 lists of best comic book films for years to come.