Captain America: Civil War (2016) Movie Review

Captain America: Civil War (2016) Movie Review

Overall, this movie was fantastic. Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), and most of the other characters performed incredibly. I think Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) was kind of dramatic at times, and this led to a lot of unneeded conflict. It was somewhat confusing the way Captain America and Winter Soldier had a friendship, after all - the Winter Soldier had dragged Captain America through intense battles and hard times. Still, it is somewhat understandable because Winter Soldier was under Hydra’s mind control because they said the magic words. Speaking of the magic words, they could have explained what the words actually meant to Bucky (Winter Soldier). I mean, what do “nine” and “daybreak” and “freight car” even mean? Why do these make Winter Soldier “bad” again?

As for Crossbones (Frank Grillo), he was OK. I was expecting a little more, but he was as intense and rough as I imagined him being. I have to admit, his costume was pretty cool.

T’Challa (Black Panther) (Chadwick Boseman) was definitely cooler when he was Black Panther than when he was just himself. He was just kind of a prince in a tuxedo walking around being a drama queen. He was awesome when he was in battle, though. The fact that he used his claws to scale buildings was pure coolness. Also, I liked his wardrobe. The scene where Black Panther, Captain America, and Winter Soldier are in a chase in that tunnel was probably one of the best in the movie. Black Panther was basically hitchhiking Captain America’s “borrowed” car.

It seemed kind of like the police in this movie were desperate to arrest any superhero on sight. They needed to take a chill pill on the arresting. Falcon (Anthony Mackie) seemed a little grumpy in this movie, and so did Iron Man. But still, Iron Man was by far one of the best characters in the movie.

Back to Black Panther. A few too many people in this movie were freaking out about dead family members and parents: Black Panther, Iron Man, Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl), Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), and that lady that had a son die in the Sokovia battle. The whole movie I couldn’t really tell what the big deal was with Sokovia. All I know is that the Avengers battled Crossbones there (and his little gang of mercenaries). Also, I didn’t understand why Captain America referred to Crossbones as “Rumlow” instead of Crossbones. Why did Captain America notice his name was Brock Rumlow and no one else did?

I was surprised Nick Fury Jr. wasn’t in this movie. Actually, since there were just so many people in the Civil War in the comics, I was actually surprised the following were missing: Thing, Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, and Ragnarok. Ragnarok was a huge part of the Civil War in the comics, but then again, Thor 3 is all about Ragnarok.

War Machine (Don Cheadle) in this movie in my opinion was better than he was in the Iron Man movies. He was more friendly, and more pleasing. Plus, he will always rock the suit. I couldn’t tell at the end if James Rhodes (War Machine) had lost his legs or if they were in cases. When he crashed, it looked like he still had legs.

Spider-Man (Tom Holland) was interesting. He was funny, the right age, and seemed a lot like Spider-Man, even though it took a second to get used to the fact that he wasn’t being played by Tobey MaGuire, even though Andrew Garfield was him for a second. But this time, it was Tom Holland, which was something new altogether. He honestly added color to the movie, even if he really didn’t need to be in the movie. Yet again, he was a big part of the comics. I really liked the way he came up with the AT-AT theory about Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). The funny part was a.) I am a huge Star Wars and Spider-Man fan, and b.) I said to my sister that Spider-Man was like a snowspeeder and Ant-Man was like an AT-AT about thirty seconds before Spider-Man said that. We both silently freaked out at the coincidence. I think Tom Holland could be a good Spider-Man for Spider-Man: Homecoming.

But back to the… Civil War! Speaking of Ant-Man, he was absolutely amazing in this movie. He was funny, action-packed, and just a great guy to watch. His jokes were almost as good as Spider-Man’s. He really fit into the Captain America’s ally mold, and he was exceptionally hilarious, just like in Ant-Man. It was almighty the way he turned huge. Even though I totally saw it coming, it still probably made it onto the top ten moments of the movie. And I also liked the part when Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) put Ant Man on his arrow and sent him into Iron Man’s armor. Look up “Avengers #223” right this instant for something I realized while watching this scene.

Speaking of Hawkeye, I enjoyed him more than I thought I would. I’ve never really been the biggest Hawkeye fan, but in this movie he nailed it. I didn’t expect that he was retired or whatever, though. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) was good as usual, except I’m still surprised she wasn’t on Cap’s team. But near the end, she gave Black Panther a little shock to stop him from catching Captain America.

Baron Zemo was confusing. I admit I was waiting for him to be in a movie, but here he didn’t have his iconic purple-pink and golden mask, and he was just kind of murderous.

When he drowned the dude in the house I couldn’t understand what was happening. And then the creepy, bloody bathtub scene - what the heck? Then he lures Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Iron Man to some abandoned Hydra facility out in the arctic or somewhere and gives them some mysterious speech, lets them fight each other, and then chills with Black Panther outside talking about life. Then he attempts to shoot Black Panther and then he vanishes, only to be found in some kind of custody Bucky Barnes was in. Technically, this would have functioned asCaptain America: Winter Soldier Part 2. Or even The Avengers 3. 

Winter Soldier was in this a little too much in my opinion. Falcon (again) fseemed really grouchy in this film. He only seemed sympathetic for War Machine to be discarded by Iron Man. Vision (Paul Bettany) was cool, even though he was a little arrogant as usual. And this was the same guy who popped out of a coffin three-fourths through the movie, fought Ultron, and then joined the Avengers in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) was good, but I would only give her a B+. I felt she could’ve controlled her powers a little better instead of accidentally killing, like, an extra million people every time she used her powers. In the comics, she is very unstable and has the power to change reality, so I guess they tried to show that the best they could here. Now that we know Quicksilver is really dead, we’ll have to deal with Wanda for now.

Oh yeah, and how did Vision escape that 200-foot magical pothole in the Avengers Compound? I guess he just used his little “phasing” power again, but then why did he let Hawkeye escape with Scarlet Witch? Sigh. I like the fact that he knew what a pizza was. Another thing I noticed about Vision was that he’s an android, but if you look closely when he’s trying to make Wanda’s favorite dish or whatever, I see little hairs on his fingers. There can never be too much good editing.

Another thing I noticed about the whole movie was that the actual action parts in the movie, particularly in the battle with Crossbones, the punches seemed pretty fake. I could tell that it wasn’t actually happening.

I want Black Panther to join the Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War. He had a good enough showing here that I think he deserves it. I am also looking forward to the movie Black Panther in 2018.

In the end, almost half the Avengers end up in jail. I guess Cap is going to break them all out, but still. It was a little strange. And what happened to Sharon Carter during the big battles? Where was she? These are the questions that somewhat bother me, but still, the movie itself was great. It was probably one of the best Marvels yet, and I liked it. I would probably give it a 92% and an A. 

But what was that big thing Baron Zemo was hiding in his apartment? It looked like a big spool of metal thread, and then it blows up later in the movie without explanation. Another thing that surprised me was how willing they all were to try and hurt each other, except for little Spider-Man and Ant Man, who are just a little too silly to be as cold-blooded. Iron Man himself was just like any other Iron Man that had been in a Avengers or Iron Man movie: intense, funny, and half-joking and half-not. It was a Captain America movie, and honestly the other characters stole the show. He was great, but I wanted to see more of him. Winter Soldier has stolen the spotlight quite a bit, and Cap’s thunder is taken completely. But still, overall, this movie was a movie worth watching and a great mix of humor, action, adventure, and suspense.

Oh yeah: I forgot about that army of Winter Soldiers Hydra made that went crazy and everyone was scared of until we realized Baron Zemo killed them all and then they were just chilling completely dead in tiny little storage chambers. Which was kind of confusing. Quite a movie.