This is a movie that has something for everyone. There’s humor, action, explosions, superpowers, pathos, political intrigue and even a little romance (although not necessarily from the quarters you might think it would be coming from). This is the third installment from this series (and supposedly the final one to feature Chris Evans as Cap) although he may be back for the next Avengers movie. Either way, Evans has stated that he wants to retire as an actor to focus more on directing.
This movie may very well be the start of his send-off, then. Here he finds himself going head to head with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) when the United Nations attempts to put a leash on super heroes who are causing as much mayhem and destruction as the foes they fight. After a particularly devastating incident that costs the lives of innocent civilians, Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross (William Hurt) has approached Stark about signing a UN accord that allows the organization to curtail the activities of the superheroes until such a time as the UN feels they are needed. Typical.
As anyone who has ever used a loaded gun in their own defense will tell you, you only appreciate having one around when you need it the most and wish you had one when it isn’t there. And therein lays the political intrigue that comes to a boil throughout the movie. The entertainment comes from the battling that ensues between Stark and his team of conformists and Captain America and his team of renegades who refuse to sign the accords or live under them.
A superhero is just that — super and a hero, meaning that, when an incident occurs that requires their unique talents to come into play, they are there to lend whatever hand they are able within their abilities to help ensure an outcome that is favorable to rendering bad guys irrelevant and inert. To that end, each team ends up recruiting heroes to bolster support for their team and quite often this ends up pitting friends and lovers against each other.
Among the new recruits into the ranks of Stark’s side, we meet Tom Holland as Spiderman, even though Spidey never actually joined the Avengers and has always been identified as a loner hero. Ironically, too, his mantra is, “with great power comes great responsibility” which is the reason the renegades aren’t abiding by the accords so one would think Spidey’s allegiance should have been with the other side — but I digress..
Spidey’s wisecracking and quips play off nicely with Stark’s and are a great counterpoint to the seriousness and stoicism of Captain America and the members of the renegade team. He even gets to pay homage to the best Star Wars movie of all time.
Also newly recruited is T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) the prince of Wakanda who is a defender for his people known as the Black Panther. Boseman’s casting is inspired and he moves with the cunning and grace one would expect from a character whose abilities are supposed to be cat-like.
Anthony Mackie gets to spread his wings (pun intended) a little more as Cap’s sidekick, the Falcon and Elizabeth Olsen is back as the Scarlet Witch and her powers are getting freakier than ever. Even Paul Rudd gets in on the action as Ant-Man and Jeremy Renner (ever the anarchist) is back as Hawkeye, the archer.
On the other side, we get to see more of Vision (Paul Bettany) and War Machine (Don Cheadle), along with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow.
It’s getting tougher to keep track of the characters without a scorecard and those of us who have been comic book fans of the Marvel Universe for years will certainly find it easier to do so than the casual fan. But everyone who sees this movie should get some level of enjoyment out of it.
The one good thing is, the movie doesn’t take sides or bias the viewer into leaning one way or the other. It simply presents a situation and lets the viewer make their own decision as to which philosophy they best agree with. Suffice to say, though, there will be marked repercussions that will ripple throughout the Marvel movie universe as a result of the outcome of this story.
The reason I always liked Marvel more than DC was the way they integrated the characters into the “real world” as opposed to the fictional constructed one known as Gotham and Metropolis. Our reality does have an effect on the heroes who are based in cities like New York and Washington, DC.
We certainly will be seeing the ramifications too in upcoming movies featuring Ant-Man, Black Panther and another Spiderman reboot.
Oh, and stick around for the final scenes in the movie, too. There are two Easter eggs (one in the middle of the end credits and one at the very end) that will lend some insight into what is yet to come.
I’ve heard some people say that this is the best Marvel movie yet and I have to say I agree. I give “Captain America: Civil War” five out of five stars!
