A Good Movie but a Terrible Adaptation

Rating: 8/10 (16 December 2017)

In the most daring adaptation of a graphic novel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) so far, the Russo Brothers try to bring one of the biggest events of the Marvel comic universe to the big screen but, besides being a relatively good movie, it stands way too far from being a good adaptation.
The original story has 7 official editions named "Civil War". Additionally, a lot of simultaneous comics were written about specific characters/groups and their participation/whereabout in the Civil War events, summing up to more than a 100 editions attached to the saga.
One of the biggest differences between the original and the adaptation is the number of participants. While in the comics universe there were more than 100 superheroes and villains involved, there were about 13 heroes and a really unfaithfully adapted villain, Helmut Zemo, who was represented as a normal soldier with a simple plot and motive.
Another big difference is the number of big fights between the heroes. While there are a lot of instances in the graphic novel, there is only one conflict in the movie version - in which nothing is settled, by the way. Another major difference is that, in the original, characters die, including really important ones. Some of the events prior to the conflict are different too, as well as some of the characters in the movie who didn't participate in the graphic novel, such as Scarlet Witch and Ant-Man.
Apart from poetic license (such Hank Pym being an old Michael Douglas in the movies and not being Gigantic Man) and legal reasons (e.g. X-Men and Fantastic Four rights not belonging Marvel) which also contributed to the minimized version of the story and the differences mentioned earlier, what can be emphasized as problems in the adaptation?
By far the biggest problem, which compromises the faithfulness of the adaptation, is the lack of fairness in the character's motivations, that is, the obvious bias for Captain America's side (hence the title: CAPTAIN AMERICA - Civil War). I mean, in the graphic novel, both sides have a really strong argument, with a lot of motives and reasoning to it. Meanwhile, in the movie version, it is clear for the audience from the very beginning that Roger's side will win, while Stark represents a B-villain. While Roger's motives are similar to the comics, Tony's are a whole lot different, being, in the movie, emotionally-driven, instead of logically, politically and rationally-driven like in the comics.
In addition to all this, there are the facts of Bucky's participation in the novel being close to none, while Spiderman's being of HUGE importance, as the pivot of the conflict and later changing his allegiance, aspects which were also wildly changed in the adaptation. Lastly, the kickstarter for the accords in the movie is the Sokovia incident, in which Stark created Ultron and ended up with a huge catastrophe. However, in the graphic novel, it was for a whole different event, the explosion of a block, including an elementary school, by Nitro (Captain Marvel's villain) when the New Warriors, a group of inexperienced superheroes, tried to catch Nitro (and other villains who were in a hideout) for a reality television show.
There are so many differences between the original work and the cinematic adaptation, but I tried to sum the most critical ones.
Being one of the most economically successful blockbusters in the MCU, it is really impeccably made, in every technical aspect: production, directing, acting, etc.
I think one of the things worth mentioning in this part is that the co-directors, the Russo Brothers, are well-known for their more action-driven movies (as you can clearly see in Captain America - Winter Soldier, which is more of an action/secret service movie than a superhero one, hence the lack of super abilities for the most part of it). This explains why the movie is more interested in having visual-appealing action scenes than a thought-driven plot.
Although the plot is a little shallow and the whole movie in a way is a means to an end, as expected for the MCU, the movie works well on its own, with a beautiful production and some good action setpieces and average dialogue - besides the unnecessary unfunny out-of-place lines.
It is really important to mention that the Russo Brothers were given an impossible task: to adapt one of the most important and beloved storylines in Marvel's universe and they manage to execute it quite well, given their limitations. Not only they do not own all Marvel's characters' cinematic rights, they also had to deal with what they currently had in the MCU, having no participation in prior movies beside Captain America's ones. That being said, I don't think the directors should take any blame for any complain whatsoever about the lack of faithfulness in the adaptation, they did what they could and it was a good movie nonetheless. Regardless, being a fan of the universe myself, I stand disappointed and hopeless for a more faithful adaptation in the future