The best marvel has produced but will divide the comicbook fans

Rating: 8/10 (10 May 2016)

When politics interferes in the Avengers activity it causes a divide
The third film in the Cpt America series and second stand alone Cpt America film set in the present. This one takes place during and kicks off phase 3 of MCU's cinematic story lines and is a direct commentary of everything that has come before it in the MCU universe (other than Deadpool which remains an brilliant anomaly in the MCU). Learning from the last eight years is the theme of this third film, in fact it could be boiled down to two things - characters and their consequences. No longer can superheroes level a city and get away with it, actions have consequences and it's about time they were looked at.
Where previous films have needed a bad guy or event unlike any other to be the main catalyst this just need a bad guy to push a button and watch the good guys go at it. That means there are no alien invaders, no AI terror and no cities floating (Sokovia).
A simple mission to bring down Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo) in Lagos goes slightly wrong and civilians (including Wakandan dignitaries) are killed, the UN makes a decision that the supers need to be regulated. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) resists while Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) agrees, thus the battle lines are drawn for a civil war. Throw in the resurfacing of Bucky Barnes/ Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and chaos reigns supreme. Camp Stark believe the Winter Soldier to be partly responsible for the chaos while Camp Rogers believe differently.
I didn't enjoy this as much as I was hoping to, maybe that's because the Civil War arc is one of my favourites in the Marvel comic universe and I was drawing on happy memories which weren't lived out on screen. I totally get that the film can't be a direct copy of the comics but still it just didn't feel right somehow. It felt drawn out in parts, maybe a little too choppy, and other parts were to quick to sink in properly. You seem to get lots of narrative and build up, then you'd get some random action, before being thrown back at the drawn out narrative. It felt like there was a lot of new/ different things (maybe too much) thrown in to create a spectacular film but also to build up for future films. This despite the fact that character and story development has already occurred in the previous phases / releases of MCU. While some of the established character in this movie didn't hit the mark for me, some of the newer characters actually came away with a lot more credibility than I was expecting from them. Black Panther/ T'Challa worked well, the suit, the mannerism in which Chadwick Boseman delivered the performance was great, he seemed to fit well into the Wakandan King's crown and mantle. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) was a welcomed and humorous addition to the casting - not having to drive the films narrative he was allowed to be funny. The new version of Spiderman (Tom Holland) was brilliant - my favourite film version of the web- slinger in fact, and that despite only having a minor appearance. He had a bigger part in this than I expected and it was played out very loyal to the comic book Spiderman which made me very happy. His constant talking and wise-cracking positively give me a smile on my nerdy little face. Even the Falcon (Anthony Mackie) walks away from this with a lot of credibility in this, not just in his political opinions in the film but also the action scenes he's part of.
With massive differences this certainly didn't feel like the Civil War of the comic world, which is a massive pity, but I understand it never could be - there aren't half as many players, carnage or history, and there isn't enough time to tell all the individual stories that lead up and contribute to it. The registration act of the comics is replaced with the Sokovia accords in the film.
Personally I think this shouldn't have been billed as Civil War but more so a precursor to it - a Civil dispute maybe. This way it could lay the foundations for a Civil War which would come during phase 4 or 5 maybe with more players and history having gone before it.
In it's own right this is still a great film, there is an awful lot of action in it which is beautifully choreographed, the airport fight scene at nearly 20mins is a masterpiece which exemplifies my statement. The acting is all fantastic, much like you'd expect with the other films before this all delivering well on acting skills too. The only person that looked out of place to me is Martin Freeman playing Everett Ross but maybe that's because I used to seeing him with a British accent and slightly downbeat glum performances. Villain's seem to be Marvel's downfall, Brock Rumlow is and Baron Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) both seem to be driven by revenge but other then that are fairly forgettable and 2 dimensional. The pairs future in the MCU will be interesting, especially if like me you are a comic fan and know what else they get up. The MCU really needs a bad-ass bad guy and can't just keep waiting for Thanos or relying on Loki's chaos, hopefully we'll see something positive in this area soon.
So, the acting is top notch, the action is plentiful, the dialogue may be drawn out at times but doesn't interfere, all in all this is probably one of the best films in the MCU and my negativity in this review mainly stems from my comparing the film to the wonderful comic arc which I remember fondly. If I take that away from it this film is still a solid 8 out of 10.