One of Marvel's Best Efforts

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2016)

Trying to write a spoiler-free review (although I ticked the box just in case.) Civil War is a terrific movie; indeed I found it better than Age Of Ultron, which though good felt a little crammed to me. The Russo Brothers have managed to master the art of making a throughly compelling multi-super hero saga. This one proves just as enjoyable as Winter Soldier with some marvellous action stuff thrown in.
Would Marvel do a good job of bringing The Black Panther into the fold? And, most importantly, would they give us a Spider-Man that totally works? And the answer is a great big yes to both questions. The Panther is cool and Spidey is at last the character as he was in the comics, although I have to reserve full judgement until Homecoming is released, as he is the icing on the cake here rather than the cake itself. Looking forward to seeing Tom Holland in his own Spidey movie. On this evidence he will be the best one yet.
Robert Downey Jr probably gives his best performance as Stark in ages, adding depth and emotional pain to the character. But he does not, thankfully, overshadow Chris Evans. It's still a Captain America movie and Evans nails it.
The cast all get something great to do. Again trying to avoid spoilers but Ant-Man - just awesome. I never saw THAT coming. Sebastian Stan as the tormented Winter Soldier scores big here and Paul Bettany is a great Vision. Elizabeth Olson again is fine as the Scarlet Witch. Even the Stan Lee cameo is very funny this time out.
The only real quibbles (and very minor ones) is that Zemo is totally different to the comic book character - I wish they'd retained at least some of his traits, and Martin Freeman needed more screen time.
But the central fight is just a great example of how to do super hero battles in an imaginative way. It's everything I hoped it would be.
Great job Marvel. Movie number 13 ain't no bad luck number. Keep it up!