Avengers Disassemble

Rating: 7/10 (10 May 2016)

Now at the start of "Phase 3" Marvel has decided to open it up with one of its biggest films yet, putting together almost its entire roster of heroes in to one movie and taking on one of the biggest game changing conflicts within the entire history of Marvel. Whilst the film is at times clustered, the Russo brothers successfully create a blockbuster driven by a very personal conflict whilst still delivering some of the greatest action sequences of the franchise so far.
After a mission goes wrong and several civilians end up being killed, a proposal is put forward to place the Avengers and all its heroes under government control which divides the Avengers in to two factions. On the one side is Captain America (Chris Evans), who after the events of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" is distrusting of government interference and believes the Avengers are most effective working independently. On the other side Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who after feeling responsible for destruction caused by Ultron believes that even the Avengers need to be kept in check. But during all this a villain named Zemo (Daneil BrÃ¼hl, playing another Marvel villain who could have been very interesting but unfortunately goes completely underdeveloped throughout the film) hatches a plan involving Cap's former friend Bucky (AKA Winter Soldier) to further this divide between the Avengers.
This causes all the Marvel heroes to choose their respective sides, with each having their own personal motives and reasons for who they side with, all colliding against one another in an all-out brawl. To the films credit, the inclusion of all these superheroes never detracts from the core conflict between Captain America and Iron Man, with their emotional conflict always remaining the centrepiece of the film. But at the same time, every cast member gets their own moment in the spotlight. Whether you want to see scenes exploring the relationships between characters like Captain America and Black Widow further explored or just fun moments like seeing Ant-man being shot off one of Hawkeye's arrows, this film will have something for any fan of the Marvel Universe to enjoy.
Although out of the films massive cast the biggest standout of the film is Tom Holland as Spiderman. Whilst he only has around 10-15 minutes screen time, Tom Holland has the potential to be the best Spiderman yet. He's able to pull off both the awkward but charming Peter Parker and the fun quick witted web swinger better than either Maguire or Garfield were ever able to. Plus Holland works incredibly well off all the other heroes, particularly with Robert Downey Jr. as he and Holland appear to share a very natural chemistry with one another. The only drawback of Spiderman in the film is that at times the CGI appears very unnatural, looking a lot more like a video game character than he does an actual person. Nonetheless it was a great re-introduction to the character, without relying on the already familiar origin story, to be another great addition to the MCU.
However just like too many superhero movies lately, by having so many different characters to juggle the movie does feel clustered at times, with some plot lines not getting the attention that they deserved and being incredibly underdeveloped. Probably the worse effect of this is the Black Panther's origin story. It's an interesting story about honour and revenge which on its own would have been enough to fill an entire film, but doesn't get the time it needs here and thus his origin story ends up feeling wasted. It's a shame too since it's the first time the characters been introduced in any film and it could have been a great backstory if the film had the opportunity to properly develop it. Plus Chadwick Bosman gives a great performance in the short time that he's actually given a chance to. Hopefully his standalone film should give a better opportunity to give the character the attention he deserves.
Whilst there are a few problems with some of the films action sequences, with some scenes suffering from the overuse of fast paced editing techniques, for the most part the fight scenes have the same exciting tone and focus on practical effects that the Russo brothers demonstrated in Captain America: Winter Soldier. However the one scene in the film is the airport sequence, which sees both sides of the conflict and all the heroes collide together in an all-out brawl. I won't say anything specific about what happens in the fight, since it does have a lot of great surprises that shouldn't be spoiled, but it does just about everything that you'd want to see from these characters fighting and is probably one of the crowning achievements of the MCU so far. The only downside is that this scene is so incredible that afterwards the rest of the film ends up feeling fairly underwhelming in comparison.
Also the film does shy away from some of the darker aspects of the original Civil War storyline from the comics and the movie doesn't do anything that we haven't seen from other Marvel movies before. Whilst the conflict between Captain America and Iron Man is interesting, the snappy back and forth between both sides whilst fun and enjoyable leads the clear impression that neither side will be willing to take the fight too far, thus reducing the stakes of the film.
Saying this, Captain America: Civil War does just about everything that audiences expect from and want from the MCU. It's funny, it's exciting and it continues to explore the characters that have remained at the core of the Marvel Universe since its inception. On top of this the Russo brothers have once again proved themselves ready for the task of taking on the next Avengers movie.