Monday 2 May 2016

Captain America: Civil War (2016) - Movie Review




Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Tom Holland, Daniel Brühl, William Hurt

Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

Synopsis: Political interference in the Avengers' activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.
                -IMDb.com

Captain America: Civil War (2016) on IMDb
Review: WARNING – Spoilers ahead!
Where do I start? The whole movie was a rollercoaster ride that poses some questions in a world full of superheroes that not all things are ‘fine and dandy’ and that even heroes have to face the consequences when fighting the ‘bad guys’. To put it simply, the world owes the Avengers a great debt as they have saved the world two times (well from the two movies) from catastrophic consequences. But, the governments have decided that even though these heroes have done a great deal to save countless lives, in the process they have not been able to save everybody. This has prompted the United Nations to come to a decision that the heroes have to be ‘put in check’, and that their actions have to be monitored by a panel and not act on their own as a private organization.

This is where I just have to say that Marvel has done a terrific job on foreshadowing this conflict from ‘Age of Ultron’ as Tony Stark feels that his ever deepening guilt from his creation was bound to destroy the world, where in the beginning sequences of the movie an elderly woman’s son was killed by the rag-tag action that happened in Sarkovia sometime prior to the movie. This guilt is what makes Tony feel so strongly about the need for the Avengers to be under control, so that innocent lives are not lost in the blunder of their own mess. However, Captain America, on the other hand, has seen that government control is not safe, with had happened from World War II with ‘Hydra’ and after being unfrozen from the ice how ‘Hydra’ had lived on secretly within S.H.I.E.L.D. This was a fantastic set-up for the conflict between the two.

In a fictional world with superheroes and supervillains, and although the movie doesn’t take it too seriously upon itself, brings the concept of liberalism and totalitarianism which had spurred the conflict between the two. But to quite frank, the two sides leaders’ Captain America and Iron Man, were never really portrayed as friends and more as comrades, but comrades who respect each other a lot. When Bucky had somehow became intertwined into this mess, Rogers just couldn’t help and watch his childhood friend and somewhat idol get tossed aside. Thus, the conflict between the two group of superheroes was more of an emotional conflict, as Tony felt as if own creations had only deterred the world of being a better place and the good Captain believing that ‘the safest hands are our own’. Vision addresses this elegantly:
“Our very strength incites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe.Supervision is not something to be dismissed out-of-hand.”


The introduction of Spider-Man into the movie was handled brilliantly, and with such a young webslinger being cast, I had my doubts. But Tom Holland definitely had owned this role and although in my mind Tobey Maguire will always be the best of the dorkiest kids to have played Spider-Man, the casting choice was perfect and the mentor-student relationship between Iron Man and Spider-Man was handled brilliantly and he definitely can pull of the jokes that Spider-Man would in the comics.
Without spoiling the ending of the movie, I would like to say that the primary antagonist was not some gigantic overlord that the heroes had to team up to defeat, but someone with a more personal agenda which had made the movie more interesting and more focused on the heroes’ inner battles.

Kudos to Marvel for creating a movie that is well-paced and action sequences that were fun, not too drawn out and still pulling a few trump cards from their sleeve with Ant-Man growing twice his size, which was a nice touch and a big surprise. The dialogue in this movie is well-balanced to say the least, as it is both funny in some instances and serious in the given situation and environment. The directors handled the set-up brilliantly, as I had liked their work from their previous installment from “Captain America: Winter Solider”.

 My Rating: 8.5/10

---
So tell me avid readers, where you 'Team Cap' or 'Team Iron Man'? What did you think about the movie? Leave a comment in the comment section below to tell me all about it!

I’d like to point out that my reviews are from a simple movie-goer perspective. Although I’d like to think of myself as a movie buff, but when it comes to superhero movies I am not heavily indulged into the mythos that actual fans who have been reading the comics for years or since their childhood would get the reference. I simply differentiate myself from the rest of the majority of people who go to see these movies just for a good time by watching a superhero/supervillain origins video from WatchMojo on Youtube to get a little backstory from them before going into the movies. If you enjoyed this review, please follow the blog or follow me on social media!


-Saquib

2 comments: