Captain America: Civil War

Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War is the twelfth cinematic installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it possesses just as huge a roster of main characters as Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), it may technically not counted as an Avengers movie as it features neither the Hulk nor Thor, though it is in the same franchise. Named after the Marvel Comics crossover event Civil War (2006-2007), the film follows the superheroes of the MCU divided into two opposing sides, led by Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans – the American actor, not the British comedian) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) respectively.

The film starts out similarly to the setup of the comic book. General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt, reprising his role from Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk (2008)) informs the Avengers that due to the number of casualties in previous films, caused either directly or indirectly by them, they are required to sign over to become a United States-supervised task force or else retire. As the premise suggests, the heroes form opposing sides based on their opinion – those who believe they should be kept in check to avoid the consequences of their actions, and those who believe they should have the freedom to respond to threats independently – resulting in the two sides fighting.

A major subplot in the story is Captain America’s mission to find and rescue his old friend Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), a sleeper agent branded a terrorist by the United Nations. This subplot also includes the introduction of T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), king of the fictional country Wakanda, out for revenge against the Winter Soldier.

On the opposing sides of the debate are fellow Avengers Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Vision (Paul Bettany), James Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). While all these actors, including Evans, Downey, Stan and Boseman, have talent as shown in previous film projects, most of them seem to adopt ‘neutral mask’-style performances in their roles. Their facial expressiveness is mostly minimal, which in some instances is either befitting of a particular character (for example, that of Black Widow, Winter Soldier or Vision), the mood of a scene, or having greater effect in previous Marvel movies where the cast was smaller. However, when a number of these characters use a similar technique to one another, albeit with a few examples of passionate or humorous conveyances, they blend into each other instead of appearing to have discernable personalities. In one or two scenes their vocal deliveries are too quiet also, either due to the vocal deliveries themselves or an issue with sound.

As is standard for the series, the action and effects are impressive. The opening action scene, however, is physically quite hard to look at. The camera is extremely and excessively shaky and the editing while fast-paced is sloppy. This is somewhat of an issue in a following action scene, but not to such of an extent as with the first. Another annoyance in the editing is the appearance of giant titles signifying location or time that pop up and obstruct the images onscreen, usually establishing shots or long shots, instead of taking a small bit of space at the bottom. Their size ironically makes them sometimes hard to read and the choice to have them part of the design in this way seems generally out of place.

Sometime into the second act improves upon the first. The action and drama builds and editing has better flow. Even given any complaints on the first act, the film maintains engaging action and tries hard to include relationships and development between the characters. However minimalistic performances there might be, the interpersonal drama and debate between the characters is easy to get invested in. Steve seems to act like a protective single father figure towards Wanda, and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has a similarly trusting relationship to her as a mentor character. The film establishes romantic feelings between Wanda and Vision, as is the case in the comic books, though the scenes where Vision partakes in domestic costumes and activities make him appear like a godlike being imitating Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. A preliminary romance is set up between Steve and Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp), there is a genuine friendship between Steve and Natasha, as well as the camaraderie between Cap, Falcon and Bucky, and the audience sees both Captain America and Iron Man compromised as they try to reach a decision. These relationships appear to be maintained throughout even as tensions between the two sides develop. The only relationship that is disappointingly represented is between Tony and Vision, as Vision was once Tony's A.I. assistant J.A.R.V.I.S., at least in part, yet the two don't exchange like they have in previous films.

The fight scenes are energetic, inventive and well choreographed, ranging from the heroes working together as a calculative team, a chase scene, the battle between the heroes, and the final showdown. The heroes show off new applications to their abilities, such as War Machine’s new weaponry and Falcon using his mechanical wings other than to fly while he shoots with handguns. The action scene where the two sides of the Avengers fight alongside and against each other is built up through progressive complications and is easily the most fun part of the entire film. Everybody switches between opponents, combines their abilities working as a team, showing off their powers and skills. It is a creative, energetic and amazing fight, with some funny parts here and there, between friends on opposite sides compelled to battle.

In what is basically appealing to the target audience, the film inserts two more heroes for the purposes of this incredible scene – Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) from Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man (2015), and the debut of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s own rendition of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland). They are barely in the picture as a whole, but they contribute an air of comedy that the other characters do not, at least not to such an extent. Tom Holland’s appearance and performance as Peter Parker seems just as consistently awkward as it is funny. This could be considered the balance between the extremes of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s portrayals in the past, as well as a more accurate representation as a teenager. The characterisation of the Spider-Man persona is also very likeable through his energy, humorous contribution, light-hearted nature and design. It may be too early or not much to go on to make a thorough assessment, but it is a pleasing portrayal of the character as it is. The costume is bright and simple, and the effects of his mask give its eyes an artificial expressiveness never seen before in previous cinematic versions of Spider-Man.

It is probably worth noting why Spider-Man appears so little and admittedly has very little bearing on the plot seeing as how the character held such a prominent role in the Civil War comic books. As Sony held the rights to the character during production, later to give them up to Marvel and cancel Marc Webb’s negatively received The Amazing Spider-Man film series, Spider-Man was inserted into Captain America: Civil War later on in production. As such the character has no influence on the story, so his presence in the film at all can only be to please the audience. Due to this issue with production and the rights to the character, and being an introduction without an origin (which, to be fair, we have seen several times), Spider-Man’s story in the crossover had to have been compromised to be adapted for MCU continuity. For example, he remains a teenager, he is neither married to Mary Jane Watson nor is she mentioned, and he doesn’t reveal his identity to the public at Iron Man’s request (which may actually be a blessing if it means the hated 2007 miniseries One More Day doesn’t get adapted to film). With so much going on in the story already, it’s not surprising that the character’s introduction to the MCU has so little focus on it. The involvement of Spider-Man in this film is an effort of the filmmakers that could be considered a kind gesture.

Lest we forget, the film does in fact have an antagonist in the form of Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl), known as Baron Zemo in the comic books. Now, Baron Zemo is one of Captain America’s biggest foes. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has somewhat of a reputation for having underdeveloped villains in many of its films, such as Whiplash from Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 (2010), Malekith from Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World (2013), Alexander Pierce from Anthony and Joe Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Ronan the Accuser from James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). And unfortunately Zemo is no exception in this film. While he does seem to be a clever and effective villain who influences the story, his motivation is ridiculously clichéd. While it does fit into a recurring theme in the movie, this motivation has been repeated in works throughout the MCU as well as other contemporary action films with themes regarding the American government or military.

Baron Zemo’s costume doesn’t make an appearance. Granted, the costume in the comics may be considered ridiculous by today’s standards – pink hood, gold coronet, purple jacket (or leather, alternatively), huge belt and fur shoulder pads. That said, it might have been interesting to see how this costume, belonging to one of Captain America’s all-time nemeses, would have been translated in film. As it is, there’s nothing about him visually or physically that distinguishes him, which seems out of place given the costumes of most of the main characters in the film, not excluding the appearance of Crossbones (Frank Grillo) at the beginning. One could argue this is more of a psychological or manipulative villain than he is a visual or physical one. But the way he finalises his plan at the end seems a tad convenient. In the event his plan might not have worked, it would have been good to see how this supposed ‘criminal entrepreneur’ might have backed himself up.

As an adaptation in a series that follows its own continuity, it’s understandable that some major events from the comic don’t come to pass in the film. One of the biggest parts of the source material, that shall remain nameless, perhaps wasn’t followed because the filmmakers felt it was unnecessary to the story, the message, or considering the future of the franchise. The film has a lot of characters to focus on, and therein lies a challenge to make them important, a few if not all, and show relationships between them worth getting invested in. Some relationships have more time dedicated to them than others, some are almost glanced over, and some are simply present due to previous films. Captain America’s goal is really more about clearing Bucky’s name rather than fighting for the freedom of the Avengers; the Registration Act in the movie is a complication to this mission, and the heroes fighting each other is an obstacle Captain America must partake in to reach his goal.

Is it a good story in its own right? It establishes its characters and themes fairly enough. The protagonist is sympathetic, proactive and has clear goals and obstacles. The narrative focus is on the progression of the story, rather than the development of the characters, though it does show significant conflict between them. The narrative itself flows and builds well, and the rules of necessity and probability never seem to be ignored, with a few exceptions. There aren’t very many notable twists in the story, so any surprises would be generally unexpected incidents or returning characters midway into the film. The antagonist’s motivation, though it fits into a recurring theme of the picture, is tired. The main subplot progresses the overall story, so one could make the case that the presence of an antagonist, if only to provide progressive complications, benefits the development of the conflict. However, an argument could also be made that the conflict developing into a battle between the heroes might have been more interesting if there were no antagonist to provoke them. In such a case, the challenge set upon the filmmakers would be substantially greater, and there’s no guarantee the film would be as pleasing as it already is. There are some instances when characters do things that, while perhaps explainable, conflict with what ground they’re supposed to take or what their mission or knowledge is. The setup to the final showdown is too convenient, and Tony seems generally out of character at that moment. All things considered, while it is perhaps not a great story per se, it is certainly no challenge to get invested in and enjoy. Even a lot of weaker aspects have debatably redeeming qualities.

It could be argued that the purpose of this film is simply to appeal to its loyal audience, as it certainly does. However, there is plenty to be said of the effort and love the filmmakers have given to excite and engage their audience. Having a main cast of this size, establishing or continuing relevant drama and relationships between so many characters, satisfying fan expectations, keeping the action, genre-related, emotional and visual appeal of the series, and telling a good if not halfway-decent story is an enormous undertaking. Even if it is an imperfect movie, for whatever reason, the work put into this is absolutely admirable, especially considering how well it turned out. As a story of friends driven to fight each other based on their ideologies, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War better illustrates what Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) should have been like, given the time in the film and the series of films as a whole dedicated to the focus, dramatic development and plausibility of the heroes and why they are fighting each other. Its advantages include its coherent narrative, fun story, characters and action, and a swell score by Henry Jackman. Overall, Captain America: Civil War is a satisfying addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, greatly enjoyable to one who follows the series, and an immensely admirable effort on the part of the filmmakers.