Not as good as I thought it'd be

Rating: 6/10 (15 May 2016)

To start off: I am a big fan of Marvel comics, and enjoy most of their movies too. I also loved the Civil War comic event, which, to me, was probably the best crossover in comics.
I was excited about a movie based on it, but walked out of the theater rather... disappointed. Why?

Of course it wasn't possible to translate the whole story-line into a movie. There are hundreds and thousands of heroes involved in the comic version, and it's such a huge amount of comics in the event. However, the main-thing, the actual Superhero Registration Act, the law that divides the heroes plays almost no role at all in the movies. It comes up, gets explained, some sign, some don't, and then it's all about battles and that story-line with Zemo. That Act has potential... it does make sense, but at the same time, it is understandable why some heroes refuse to sign it. This isn't covered here.

Pacing and story. This feels like zapping between two different movies.Even though it's long, they tried to cram too much in here.

The battles were OK, but nothing as epic or fun as the final battle in Avengers. The airport fight... well, it was like a playground. No one was hurt here?

Too much focus on Winter Soldier, whom I don't find a terribly interesting hero. Are they setting up a death for Cap for WS to take over, like he did in the comics?

Plot-holes

Music is entirely forgettable

An uninteresting and cliché opponent

Yeah right, that German police mission in Bucharest was SO realistic. As if /sarcasm

The color palette of the movie felt cold, gray, dull and depressing. Was this on purpose? Why not let the story cause emotions, instead of paining everything in a dull gray? Why telegraph what we are supposed to feel?

The new Spide-Man was fun, but what are those stripes on the costume? Also, at the same time, I was bored quickly of him. Thanks to Marvel for the THIRD Spider-Man in 15 years. It gets dull and repetitive and its hard to care when it's ANOTHER. NEW.Spider-Man. Also, Spidey has a big role in CW, but here, it just feels odd that he is asked to help.

Now, one revolutionary thing Marvel did back in the day was to have these crossovers, heroes appearing in other comics, to make the world feel cohesive. However, does EVERY SINGLE EVENT, EVERY ITEM have to be connected to another movie or character? The whole thing about the death of Iron Mans parents was just..unnecessary. I mean, what's next? Was every parent of a hero killed by some other hero or villain now?

The helicopter scene. Evans himself called it biceps porn. It's silly, and had me laughing as it was so obvious. And how does he first hold the helicopter when not holding anything? Magnet shoes? Glue? It doesn't matter how strong Cap is! If he is not fixed to the roof somehow, just stands on it, only his weight matters and the helicopter could have taken off. He couldn't have applied force by dragging his feet! I have no problem suspending disbelief in a superhero-movie, but this was just silly

The good parts:

Ant-Man. Much needed comic relief delivered by him. Loved his movie, love him here.

Black Panther is pretty neat. The change with the Vibranium armor adds more credibility, because it's always the question how well such a character can stand against some totally overpowered heroes. BP looks cool, and has some nice scenes.

Scarlet Witch is doing OK. She mainly has 3 facial expressions, but she does the best she can with the script she was given.

Some fun battle scenes for all chars

Martin Short was nice.

Verdict: Too many cuts and changes of scenery, not enough focus on the actual Registration Act, too dull-looking, too many coincidences. This could have been amazing, but ends up merely OK,sadly