Captain America: Civil War dropped earlier this month. And, good Lord, did I need a palate cleanser from the last superhero movie I saw. Thankfully, Cap delivered on that front.
I suppose I’ll start by talking about Spider-Man, as that was the big deal in the lead up to the film. More than a few people accurately guessed that Tony Stark would make him a new costume in exchange for his help. What I’m certain everyone was worried about, namely that this is an adaptation of Civil War and we all know that “That Which Must Not Be Named” immediately followed that, is in fact a non-issue.
This Spider-Man is literally months into his career, his Aunt May is young and hot enough that she doesn’t remember what dinosaur farts smelled like, and Gwen Stacy is presumably still alive. As a matter of fact, his scenes interacting with Tony are some of the most entertaining in the movie. Which reminds me; add “implementing comedy in a drama” to the list of things Zack Snyder doesn’t get. They cast the part well.
Which leads to the elephant in the room. The original Civil War event left basically no one happy. Except Joe Quesada; see Another Diurnal Excursion, above. They had to know going into it that a straight adaptation would be like having the second movie in your cinematic universe involve “The Death of Superman”, no I can’t let that go, give up. As with Spider-Man, they sidestepped all of that mess, so you can allay your fears. It thankfully doesn’t play out or end like its source material, thus knocking it up a by an incredible number of notches on the scale. I know I wasn’t the only one questioning the adaptation to begin with, so I was pleasantly surprised to find my fears unwarranted.
The other big news was that this would be Black Panther’s first appearance. It’s also Wakanda’s first appearance in the MCU, as well. This would have to be an incredible balancing act, as at the very worst (cough cough Reggie Hudlin’s run cough) they come off as technologically advanced assholes that are even more useless than Reed Richards. Not only do they do him justice, they give him an excellent arc. I’ve always been fond of the sort of revenge arc that completely unravels into acceptance by the end, and this one was well made. He has a one track hate boner for Bucky for almost the entire film, and it takes literally everything that can possibly be thrown at him to stop him from getting what he wants. His realization at the end is clearly what helps him grow into his role as King. If the upcoming movie doesn’t use the series’ theme song while dumping absolutely everything else from Hudlin’s run, I’ll be disappointed.
Civil War feels more like an Avengers film than a Captain America film. Almost everyone is in it short of Nick Fury, Thor and The Hulk. There are, perhaps, a handful of scenes that pertain to to the Cap himself; the majority deal with the rift caused by the choices he and Tony made in regards to the Sokovia Accords.
The drama is meaningful and not overwrought, and no scene overstays its welcome. The brief comedic moments tap into that, lightening the tension properly. These are reasons why Marvel’s films have done better than DC’s; they’re fun and sit at the appropriate level for their source material, while DC’s are very concerned with being all adult and grown up that they forget to be fun and entertaining. Marvel movies are at least aware that they’re supposed to be at least a bit of a spectacle, and that even in grim situations people find their humor.
So, is Captain America: Civil War a good movie? Yes. It’s a popcorn flick; it’s never going to make film school professors touch themselves like they do with Citizen Kane or the like. It’s not likely to satisfy the sort that treats cinema in the same way as a wine snob treats wine. But if you want something fun and Deadpool isn’t playing in dollar theaters near you, you can definitely do far worse.
Final Thoughts:
- Peter’s original costume is truly horrible. He looks like a dumpster diver in that. Which he is.
- The bait and switch they had near the end actually had me going.
- It was hard not to see Peggy Carter’s funeral as being symbolic for her series’ cancellation.
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