Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo

Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely

Captain America: Civil War is the movie that Avengers: Age of Ultron wanted to be. I think that’s one of the most important things about it. It’s the downer ending movie, the one where the good guys are dealt a significant defeat before they can arise stronger than ever to save the day. It’s a problematic movie for a lot of reasons, but at the end of the day I do think it serves a necessary purpose within the Marvel universe. The basics of the plot are that due to a series of international incidents, the United Nations wants to get the Avengers under control, and not everyone on the team thinks it’s the best direction for them to go. Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr. with a part almost equal to the title character’s) is the head of the pro-oversight group, and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leads those who want to maintain their independence. The apparent return of Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) causes things to escalate until the two teams are out-and-out fighting each other over Bucky’s life and their collective futures as heroes.

Almost all of the conversation around this movie, and really the foundation for whether people like it or not, is based in how believable they find the conflict. There are some who don’t think that the Steve-Tony friendship is sold well enough to justify emotional investment in the two. There are others who think the supposed cause of the strife, the Avengers’ failure in Sokovia, isn’t well enough established in that previous movie. Still others dislike the speed with which the conflict escalates, or the sides that particular heroes choose in it. Because of this, it’s a very divisive film. For those who buy in to the central conflict, it’s often a personal favorite, but for those who don’t it often ranks towards the bottom of their lists. For the most part, these positions are pretty firm, so I don’t operate under the illusion that this review will probably change any minds on the topic. I will, however, attempt to clarify exactly what my position is and why.

Overall, the movie and its conflict works for me, and I think the reason is that it effectively sells how messy and complicated human conflict is in a way that I believe is intentional. So, here’s my argument: I think the movie goes out of its way to make it clear that there is no one cause for the fight that happens between Cap and Iron Man. While watching the movie this time, I tried to make particular note of the reasons that both Steve and Tony seem to have for their dispute. For Tony: guilt over being personally accused of the death of an innocent, guilt over having achieved the exact opposite of the Accords when trying to secure the world himself, regret over having driven away the woman he loves due to the above, resentment of Captain America as a goody two-shoes (which is tied into Tony’s own issues with his father), and grief over the untimely loss of his parents. For Steve: an incredibly pointed eulogy at the funeral of the only woman he ever loved, the desire to save the only other person who actually remembers him from his past life, a very recent encounter with an attempt at a totalitarian takeover wrapped in the guise of a global security initiative, and a sense of paternal responsibility to the youngest member of the Avengers. To be clear, none of this is me doing work for the movie or connecting the gaps. All of this is directly, textually brought up in the movie depending on the scene and the mood of the characters involved. It’s my assertion that the movie is trying to show that there is rarely any single thing that causes a fight like this. Until the very end of the movie, Tony still just wants to help Steve, and “bring him in.” I could belabor this issue for the entire review, but suffice it to say that the conflict (for the most part) works for me, and that’s why.

There’s so much else to talk about in this movie, though. This is the movie that heralds the incredibly unfortunate introduction of quick-cut handy-cam action to the MCU. In an attempt to ape the success of other purely action franchises, almost every fight scene in this movie features a camera that jitters around like the cameraman is having a grand mal. It ruins the clean lines of the last Captain America‘s action scenes, and makes the action feel confusing. Shaky-cam can absolutely be used well, but it isn’t here. A treatise on its proper applications doesn’t really have a place in this review, unfortunately. The only action scene mostly free of it is the big airport fight, which unsurprisingly is the best fight scene in the movie by a long shot. Here, it makes most of the action scenes a difficult-to-parse bore, where you’ve tuned out before it’s halfway over. Off the top of my head, this applies to the opening scene against Crossbones, the big car chase where Panther is introduced, and even the final fight to a degree. It’s a real problem when your action movie has bad action, but it’s a surprisingly consistent issue with MCU movies, unfortunately, and I feel like the introduction of shaky-cam made it worse, not better. Thankfully, there is at least the airport fight. It’s amazing. It’s everything that people want from this kind of movie. It’s the first movie since the original Avengers to recapture that beautiful sense of possibility and imagination. Who would win in a fight? How would these two match up? It’s a joy, and I’m only sad that it’s an isolated incident in a film that could have given us so much more of that.

Other than the action, the character stuff still works. At this point, Marvel knows it’s the characters that people are coming back for, and they make sure to include moments for just about every character in this movie. The friendly rivalry between Falcon and Bucky for Cap’s affection is adorable. I buy the paternal love between King T’Chaka (John Kani) and his son T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) in a mere 30 seconds of screentime, and that’s an astonishing feat. Stark’s background scene of his last moment with his parents is emotionally fraught as well. This movie does a great job of following up on beats set up by previous movies, too. Cap and Natasha’s friendship from the last Captain America movie is great. Tony and Steve’s companionship from Ultron is obviously the centerpiece of the movie. The two new Avengers that came out of that movie also work really well together. As for our new characters, the immediate and resounding approval of both Black Panther and the new Spider-Man speaks for itself. Both characters were an immediate hit; one because of his gravitas and pathos, the other because of the irrepressible sense of fun he brings to his few scenes. The only real problem with all of this is that the movie does feel, at times, overstuffed. There are just so many characters at this point, with so many backstories and relationships, that it can be a bit overwhelming. I mean, just look at all the tags at the top of this article. If Ultron broke under the weight of the universe, this one holds up, but only just. The emotional core of it works for me, and that strong thematic thread manages to support the cameos, crossovers, and complicated motives of everyone involved, but if that central tenet fails for you, the whole movie will topple as a result.

Overall:

Stray Thoughts:

• How I couldn’t even find space to discuss Baron Zemo in this review I’ll never know. He’s a really solid villain, with a plan far smarter than most. I think he’s upper echelon for Marvel movie villains.
• On that note, the superheroes misunderstanding what Zemo means by “toppling an empire” works really well both to characterize their hubris and as a fun little twist at the end of the movie.
• I love the gigantic, block-letter place names smashed across the screen for each new location.
• Ant-Man vs. Iron Man is one of those fights I didn’t know how badly I needed until I had it. “This is your conscience. We don’t talk much anymore.”
• This movie does not have the problem with undercutting the serious moments with jokes. This one is very serious business throughout.
• Bucky’s story is really sad. He remembers all of them.
• I don’t really like the romance for Steve with the niece of the woman he loved previously. It feels icky, and I don’t think they do really anything to counteract that creepiness.
• Post Credits scene 1: Good. Foreshadows Black Panther in an interesting way, starts to clue us in on Wakanda’s super science.
• Post Credits scene 2: Again, a little tease for another phase 3 movie, this time Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s fine, but slight.
• Stan Lee cameo: Excellent. The funniest one (not my favorite, mind). Nothing is funnier than Tony Stank.